Patent ID: 7280745

Claim:
A process for managing memory space of a hard disk in a computing device comprising a random access memory receiving a plurality of audio/video data streams, the process comprising: dividing at least a portion of the memory space into a useful space comprising contiguous logical tracks of variable size corresponding to a ratio of a size of a physical track at a center of the hard disk to a size of a physical track at a periphery of the hard disk, and into a control space comprising an allocation table corresponding to occupancy of the logical tracks; dividing the useful space into a plurality of adjacent areas of equal storage capacity, the plurality of adjacent areas including the contiguous logical tracks; wherein respective storage capacities of the contiguous logical tracks decrease from a maximum value corresponding to the storage capacity of the logical tracks of the area at the periphery of the hard disk to a minimum value corresponding to the storage capacity of the logical tracks of the area at the center of the hard disk; and wherein a ratio of the minimum value to the maximum value corresponds to the ratio of the size of the physical track at the center of the hard disk to the size of the physical track at the periphery of the hard disk; duplicating the allocation table in the random access memory; recording the plurality of audio/video data streams in an interleaved fashion on free logical tracks selected based upon the allocation table duplicated in the random access memory; formulating relationships between logical tracks assigned to a same audio/video data stream; and updating the allocation table in the control space based upon the allocation table in the random access memory.