1. A device comprising:
a first semiconductor chip including a plurality of first terminals, a plurality of second terminals, and a first circuit coupled between the first and second terminals and configured to control combinations of the first terminals to be electrically connected to the second terminals; and
a second semiconductor chip including a plurality of third terminals coupled respectively to the second terminals, an internal circuit, and a second circuit coupled between the third terminals and the internal circuit and configured to activate the internal circuit when a combination of signals appearing at the third terminals indicates a chip selection,
wherein the third terminals are smaller in number than the first terminals,
wherein the first semiconductor chip further includes a mode register temporarily storing mode information, and the first circuit is configured to electrically connect selected ones of the first terminals respectively to the second terminals in response to a content of the mode information, and
wherein the mode information takes a selected one of first and second modes, and the first circuit is configured to electrically connect first selected ones of the first terminals respectively to the second terminals in response to the mode information taking the first mode and second selected ones of the first terminals respectively to the second terminals in response to the mode information taking the second mode, the first selected ones being different from the second selected ones.
2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the internal circuit of the second semiconductor chip comprises a memory circuit, and the first terminal includes a plurality of address terminals supplied with address signals for designating an address of the memory circuit from and into which data are to be read and written.
3. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second semiconductor chip includes a plurality of penetration electrodes each penetrating the second semiconductor chip, the second semiconductor chip being stacked over the first semiconductor chip, and the second terminals being connected to the third terminals through the penetration electrodes, respectively.
4. A device comprising:
a first semiconductor chip including a plurality of first terminals, a plurality of second terminals, and a first circuit coupled between the first and second terminals and configured to control combinations of the first terminals to be electrically connected to the second terminals; and
a second semiconductor chip including a plurality of third terminals coupled respectively to the second terminals, an internal circuit, and a second circuit coupled between the third terminals and the internal circuit and configured to activate the internal circuit when a combination of signals appearing at the third terminals indicates a chip selection,
wherein the second circuit comprises a chip address storage circuit and a comparison circuit, the chip address storage circuit storing a chip address, the comparison circuit being coupled to the third terminals and the chip address storage circuit and configured to compare the chip address stored in the chip address storage circuit with the signals appearing at the third terminals and produce an access allowance signal when the chip selection is indicated.
5. The device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the internal circuit comprises an access circuit and a data storage circuit coupled to the access circuit, the access circuit being configured to perform data read and write operations on the data storage circuit in response to the access allowance signal.
6. The device as claimed in claim 4, further comprising a third semiconductor chip, the third semiconductor chip including a plurality of fourth terminals coupled respectively to the second terminals, an additional internal circuit, and a third circuit coupled between the fourth terminals and the additional internal circuit and configured to activate the additional internal circuit when a combination of signals appearing at the fourth terminals indicates a chip selection.
7. The device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the first, second and third semiconductor chips are stacked with one another so that the second semiconductor chip is between the first and third semiconductor chips.
8. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the second semiconductor chip includes a plurality of penetration electrodes each penetrating the second semiconductor chip, each of the penetration electrodes electrically connects an associated one of the second terminals of the first semiconductor chips, an associated one of the third terminals of the second semiconductor chips and an associated one of the fourth terminals of the third semiconductor chip to one another.
9. A device comprising:
a first semiconductor chip including a plurality of first terminals, a plurality of second terminals, and a first circuit coupled between the first and second terminals and configured to control combinations of the first terminals to be electrically connected to the second terminals;
a second semiconductor chip including a plurality of third terminals coupled respectively to the second terminals, a first internal circuit, and a second circuit coupled between the third terminals and the first internal circuit and configured to activate the first internal circuit when signals appearing at the third terminals indicate a selection of the second semiconductor chip; and
a third semiconductor chip including a plurality of fourth terminals coupled respectively to the second terminals, a second internal circuit, and a third circuit coupled between the fourth terminals and the second internal circuit and configured to activate the second internal circuit when signals appearing at the fourth terminals indicate a selection of the third semiconductor chip,
wherein the first semiconductor chip further includes a mode register temporarily storing mode information that takes a selected one of first and second modes, and
wherein the first circuit is configured to electrically connect first selected ones of the first terminals respectively to the second terminals in response to the mode information taking the first mode and second selected ones of the first terminals respectively to the second terminals in response to the mode information taking the second mode, the first selected ones being different from the second selected ones.
10. The device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first, second and third semiconductor chips are stacked with one another so that the second semiconductor chip is between the first and third semiconductor chips.
11. The device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the second semiconductor chip includes a plurality of penetration electrodes each penetrating the second semiconductor chip, each of the penetration electrodes electrically connects an associated one of the second terminals of the first semiconductor chips, an associated one of the third terminals of the second semiconductor chip and an associated one of the fourth terminals of the third semiconductor chip to one another.
12. The device as claimed in claim 9,
wherein the first internal circuit of the second semiconductor chip includes a first memory cell array and a first access circuit coupled to the first memory cell array, the first access circuit performing, when activated, data read and write operations on the first memory cell array to transfer data between the first and second semiconductor chips; and
wherein the second internal circuit of the third semiconductor chip includes a second memory cell array and a second access circuit coupled to the second memory cell array, the second access circuit performing, when activated, data read and write operations on the second memory cell array to transfer data between the first and third semiconductor chips.
13. The device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the first, second and third semiconductor chips are stacked with one another so that second semiconductor chip is between the first and third semiconductor chips.
14. The device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the second semiconductor chip includes a plurality of first penetration electrodes each penetrating the second semiconductor chip and a plurality of second penetration electrodes each penetrating the second semiconductor chip, each of the first penetration electrodes electrically connects an associated one of the second terminals of the first semiconductor chips, an associated one of the third terminals of the second semiconductor chip and an associated one of the fourth terminals of the third semiconductor chip to one another, and the second penetration electrodes electrically connect the first access circuit of the second semiconductor chip and the second access circuit of the third semiconductor chip to the first semiconductor chip.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A recording medium comprising:
a data area in which data is recorded; and
a management area in which management information of the data is recorded,
wherein an area in which reading control information for controlling reading of the data is recorded is assigned to the management area.
2. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the reading control information is information for controlling the reading of all or a specific part of the data recorded on the recording medium.
3. The recording medium according to claim 2, wherein the management area includes a field having recorded therein address information of an area in which the data reading is controlled.
4. The recording medium according to claim 3, wherein the area in which the data reading is controlled is an area specified by a user in the data area recorded on the recording medium when recording the reading control information.
5. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the reading control information includes a first rule applied when the recording medium is recognized and a second rule applied when the recording medium is not recognized.
6. The recording medium according to claim 5, wherein it is determined whether the recording medium is recognized or not, on the basis of an identity (ID) included in the reading control information.
7. The recording medium according to claim 5, wherein the first rule or the second rule includes a request for input of the same password as a password stored previously.
8. The recording medium according to claim 7, wherein the password is set when recording the reading control information.
9. The recording medium according to claim 5, wherein the management area includes a field having recorded therein address information of a first area in which the data reading is controlled according to the first rule and a field having recorded therein address information of a second area in which the data reading is controlled according to the second rule.
10. The recording medium according to claim 9, wherein the management area further includes a field having recorded therein information for specifying a target area in the first area or the second area when the first rule or the second rule is applied.
11. The recording medium according to claim 5, wherein an area in which the data reading is controlled according to the first rule and an area in which the data reading is controlled according to the second rule are different from each other.
12. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the management area further includes status information of read protection information indicating an onoff status of the read protection information.
13. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the management area further includes a control information field for restricting initialization of the recording medium.
14. A method for reproducing data recorded on a recording medium, the method comprising:
obtaining reading control information recorded in a management area of the recording medium; and
controlling access for reading the data with respect to the data recorded on the recording medium or a predetermined area in which the data is recorded, according to the reading control information.
15. The method according to claim 14, wherein different rules for controlling the access for reading the data are applied depending on whether the recording medium is recognized or not.
16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the rules include a first rule which is applied when the recording medium is recognized and a second rule which is applied when the recording medium is not recognized.
17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising determining whether a user has a right of reading the data in the first rule or the second rule.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the determining of whether the user has the right of reading the data comprises requesting the same password as a password stored previously to be input.
19. The method according to claim 16, wherein the first rule is applied to first segment information for specifying a partial area of the recording medium and a second rule is applied to second segment information.
20. The method according to claim 16, further comprising selecting a target area from the first segment information and the second segment information of the recording medium when the first rule or the second rule is applied.
21. The method according to claim 15, wherein it is determined whether the recording medium is recognized or not, on the basis of an identity (ID) included in the reading control information.
22. The method according to claim 21, wherein it is determined that the recording medium is recognized, when the ID included in the reading control information is identical to any one of stored IDs.
23. The method according to claim 14, wherein access for reading a part or all of user data recorded on the recording medium is controlled.
24. The method according to claim 14, further comprising checking an onoff status of read protection information of the recording medium.
25. The method according to claim 24, further comprising checking whether the read protection information is changed to the off status after reading the data.
26. A method for recording data on a recording medium, the method comprising:
recording the data in a data area of the recording medium; and
recording management information of the data in a management area of the recording medium,
wherein the management information includes reading control information for controlling reading of the recorded data.
27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the reading control information controls the reading of all or a part of the data.
28. The method according to claim 26, wherein the data of which the reading is controlled or address information of an area in which the data is recorded are recorded together.
29. The method according to claim 26, wherein the reading control information includes a first rule which is applied when the recording medium is recognized and a second rule which is applied when the recording medium is not recognized.
30. The method according to claim 29, wherein it is determined whether the recording medium is recognized or not, on the basis of an identity (ID) included in the reading control information.
31. The method according to claim 29, wherein address information of a first area having recorded therein data to which the first rule is applied and address information of a second area having recorded therein data to which the second rule is applied are recorded together.
32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the first area and the second area are different from each other.
33. The method according to claim 26, wherein the reading control information includes a field indicating whether a password is set or not.
34. The method according to claim 26, further comprising recording status information indicating an onoff status of the reading control information.
35. An apparatus for recordingreproducing data onfrom a recording medium, the apparatus comprising:
a pickup unit; and
a controller which controls access for reading the data with respect to the data recorded on the recording medium or a predetermined area in which the data is recorded, according to reading control information recorded in a management area of the recording medium.
36. The apparatus according to claim 36, wherein the controller applies different rules for controlling the access for reading the data, depending on whether the recording medium is recognized or not.
37. The apparatus according to claim 36, wherein the rules include a first rule which is applied when the recording medium is recognized and a second rule which is applied when the recording medium is not recognized.
38. The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein the controller determines whether a user has a right of reading the data and applies the first rule or the second rule.
39. The apparatus according to claim 38, wherein the controller compares a password input by the user with a password stored previously so as to determine whether the user has the right of reading the data.
40. The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein the controller compares an identity (ID) included in the reading control information with stored IDs so as to determine whether the recording medium is recognized or not.