JP3051014B2 - Data storage device and data system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a storage processor for improving data storage capability and a data processor for performing data processing using the storage processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various data compression methods have been proposed for effectively utilizing the storage capacity of a data storage device. By performing this data compression, the storage capacity for storing data can be reduced substantially in the same manner. Therefore, data compression has conventionally been used for storing various data.

On the other hand, there are various types of data compression. The optimal compression method differs depending on the type of data and the mode of data. For this reason, if an attempt is made to adopt an optimal compression method, the compression method will be changed according to the type of data. Therefore, optimal (most efficient) data compression is performed by changing the data compression method for each data file.

When a plurality of data compression methods are used in this way, data for the data compression method must be stored for each data file. Usually, the size of one data file is quite large. For this reason, even if each data file has data on the data compression method, the data amount for the data compression method is negligible compared to the effect of the compression, and does not pose a problem.

[0005]

However, in a game software that has been widely used in recent years, there is a problem in that a plurality of data compression methods are used for each data file. That is, in conventional game software, data compression is not usually performed in order to maintain high-speed operation, and even if data compression is performed, only one type of data compression method is employed.

Here, if the data compression is performed, the storage capacity can be reduced accordingly, so that the storage data amount is increased,
It can have clearer data such as images. Also,
The processing functions and the like of the CPU are increasing, and it is now possible to cope with such an increase in the data amount. Further, with respect to the data decompression processing corresponding to the data compression, if this is executed by a hardware circuit, no problem occurs in the processing time. Therefore, if the storage amount of data can be considerably reduced, adopting a plurality of data compression methods is also effective.

However, in the case of game software, it is necessary to have various kinds of display data for each character appearing.
Many data files have a very small size. If each data file has data on the data compression method, even if this data is 1 byte, it cannot be ignored. That is, if the data itself is several bytes, 1-byte data also occupies a considerable proportion, and the effect of changing the data compression method for each data file cannot be obtained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and a data storage device capable of efficiently compressing a small data file by using a plurality of data compression methods and a storage device having the same. An object of the present invention is to provide a data processing system that uses the data processing system.

[0009]

A data storage device according to the present invention classifies a plurality of data files compressed by a plurality of compression methods according to the compression method, and sequentially stores the data files in a storage area for each compression method. And a region address storage unit provided separately from the data storage unit and storing a start address of a storage region for each compression method of the data storage unit. Further, the compression method of the data file can be specified from the address. Further, it is characterized by having a program storage unit for storing a program for determining the compression method of the data file read from the data storage unit based on the head address read from the area address storage unit.

A data processing system according to the present invention reads out program data and various types of data, and performs data processing in accordance with the data.
A program storage unit for storing a predetermined operation program,
A data file for sequentially storing data files for the various types of data recorded in a plurality of compression schemes in a predetermined order for each compression scheme, and an area for storing each head address of data compressed in each data compression scheme An address storage unit, program execution means for executing a program stored in the program storage unit, and area data for reading each head address stored in the area address storage unit based on a command generated by execution of the program. Reading means, register writing means for storing the read area data in a register, and a data reading address signal based on a data reading address signal based on a reading command of various data generated according to execution of the program. Data reading means for reading data; A determination unit that compares the address signal with an address value stored in the register to determine the number of the compression method; and an expansion processing unit that expands read data based on a determination result of the determination unit. It is characterized by the following.

[0011]

As described above, according to the present invention, data files stored by a plurality of compression methods are stored in a predetermined order. Therefore, it is not necessary to have data on the compression processing method for each data file. Therefore, even for small data files, change the data compression method,
Efficient data storage can be performed. Further, in a data processing system utilizing this, the determination means can determine the compression method according to the read address and perform the decompression processing according to the determined compression method. Effective data processing can be performed.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the embodiment, which comprises a main body 10 and a cassette 20. The main body 10 has a boot program storage unit 1 therein.
2. Microcomputer 14 and interface 1
The microcomputer 14 executes the boot program stored in the boot program storage unit 12 in response to power-on, and enters a program input state from the interface 16. Although not shown, a circuit and the like for displaying data on the processing result are included therein.

On the other hand, the cassette 20 has a program storage section 22 for storing various programs which are the center of the game software.
And a data storage unit 24 for storing display data of various characters and the like. In the present embodiment, a decompression circuit 26 for decompressing the data from the data storage area 24 in accordance with the compression processing method. And at that time,
It has a register 28 for recognizing the compression processing method. The data storage area 24 has, at the beginning, an area address storage section 24a for sequentially storing the start addresses of data storage areas according to the respective compression processing methods, an area 24b for storing data compressed according to various compression methods, 24
c, 24d. The register 28 stores the address value stored in the area address storage unit 24a.
In accordance with the address stored in the microcomputer 14 and the read address supplied from the microcomputer 14 via the interface 16.

When the power of the main body 10 is turned on, the microcomputer 14 waits for data input from the cassette 20 side.
Is mounted, the microcomputer 14 reads out the program in the program storage unit 22 in the cassette 20, and starts the execution. The program in the program storage unit 22 stores a program for reading data from the area address storage unit 24a in the data storage area 24 and setting the contents of the data in the register 28 at the head side. Therefore, the microcomputer 14 writes the area address stored in the area address storage section 24a into the register 28 by executing the program in the program storage section 22. Next, the microcomputer 14 performs various processes by sequentially executing the programs read from the program storage unit 22. In the execution of this program, if there is a data read command of various characters in the data storage area 24, The data written in the data storage area 24 is read according to the access address written in the program. The expansion circuit 26 stores the address in the data storage area 24 read by the microcomputer 14 in the register 2
8 is compared with the address stored therein, and the position where the address exists is determined.

Since the relationship between the address and the compression method is predetermined, the decompression circuit selects a corresponding decompression method according to the result of the comparison. Therefore, the microcomputer 14 stores the program storage unit 22
When the data stored in the data storage area 24 is read during execution of the program stored in the data storage area 24, the expansion circuit 26 compares the supplied read address with the address of the register 28 in accordance with the read address. The compression method is recognized, and the decompression processing method in the decompression circuit is selected. The data read from the data storage area 24 is subjected to a decompression process in the decompression circuit 26 in accordance with whether the area is in any one of 24b, 24c, and 24d. 14 will be provided. Therefore, the microcomputer 14 can receive the data that has undergone the decompression process regardless of the data compression method, and can perform a normal process and perform the process according to the data. it can.

In particular, in the present embodiment, the data compression method is not set for each data file in the data storage area 24. That is, the regions 24b, 24c, 24
d is composed of a plurality of data files.
That is, in displaying game software, character data for displaying a small character or the like from various directions is data of a considerably small number of bytes. Many such small data files are stored,
The preferred compression method for the data file depends on the content of the data. That is,
As shown in FIG. 2, the compression ratio of each data (data 1 to data 10) is different between the case where compression using the slide dictionary method and the case where compression using Huffman coding are performed. In this example, for the data 1, 3, 8, and 10, the slide dictionary method has a good compression ratio, and the data 2, 4, 5, and
6, 7, and 9 have better compression ratios in the Huffman method. For such data, two compression methods are adopted, and these are collectively stored in the data storage area 24. The area address storage unit 24a stores two addresses, a head address of the data storage area 24b by the slide dictionary method and a head address of the storage area 24c obtained by data compression by Huffman coding.

In the actual processing, the data stored in the area address storage section 24a is stored in the register 28, and the microcomputer 14 performs access by a read address generated by executing the program, thereby expanding the data. The circuit 26 automatically performs the corresponding decompression processing and provides the data to the microcomputer 14. As described above, according to the present embodiment, the data in the data storage area 24 need only be stored in the area address storage unit 24a for the data in the data storage area 24 despite the use of a plurality of compression schemes. . Therefore, when storing a large number of small-capacity data files, the data compression method may be an amount corresponding to the number of data compression methods actually used. Therefore, in a file of such a format, the data compression efficiency can be improved by optimizing the data compression method without increasing the storage capacity.

Here, in this embodiment, the decompression circuit 2
6. The register 28 is provided on the cassette 20 side. For this reason, there is no need to change the circuit of the main body 10 at all, and it is possible to adopt the circuit that does not use conventionally used data compression as it is.

Although the expansion circuit 26 and the register 28 are provided on the cassette side, these circuits may be provided on the main body 10 side. When the expansion circuit is provided on the main body side in this manner, each data storage area 24 is stored in the program storage unit 22.
Data about the compression method corresponding to b, 24c, and 24d is written. Then, when the microcomputer executes the program written in the program storage unit 22, the correspondence may be stored and the selection of the expansion circuit may be controlled.

[0020]

As described above, according to the data storage device and the data processing system using the same according to the present invention, a data file stored in a plurality of compression schemes can be used.
It is only necessary to store the data in a predetermined order, and the data storage capacity for the data processing method can be compressed.
Therefore, even for a small data file, the data compression method is changed to enable efficient data storage. Further, in a data processing system utilizing this, the determination means determines a compression method according to the read address,
Since decompression processing can be performed according to the determined compression method, effective data processing can be performed using the storage device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a compression ratio for each compression method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Main body 14 Microcomputer 20 Cassette 22 Program storage unit 24 Data storage area 26 Decompression circuit 28 Register

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-342014 (JP, A) JP-A-4-284551 (JP, A) JP-A-1-111244 (JP, A) JP-A-62-162 131348 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model 4-2168 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 5/00 G06F 12/00 H03M 7/30 H04N 1/41

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A data storage unit for classifying a plurality of data files compressed by a plurality of compression systems according to the compression system, and sequentially storing the data files in storage areas for each compression system. And a region address storage unit provided for storing a start address of a storage region for each compression scheme of the data storage unit. 2. A data storage section for classifying a plurality of data files compressed by a plurality of compression schemes according to the compression scheme, and sequentially storing the data files in storage areas for each compression scheme. And a region address storage unit for storing a start address of a storage region for each compression method of the data storage unit, wherein the compression method of the data file can be specified from the address. 3. A data storage unit for classifying a plurality of data files compressed by a plurality of compression systems according to the compression system, and sequentially storing the data files in a storage area for each compression system. An area address storage unit that stores a start address of a storage area for each compression method in the data storage unit; and a compression method of a data file read from the data storage unit based on the start address read from the area address storage unit. A data storage device comprising: a program storage unit that stores a program to be determined; and a data file compression method that can be specified from its address. 4. A data processing system for reading out program data and various data and performing data processing in accordance with the program data, a program storage unit for storing a predetermined operation program, and recording in a predetermined order by a plurality of compression methods. A data file for sequentially storing the data files for the various types of data for each compression method, an area address storage unit for storing each head address of data compressed by each data compression method, and a program storage unit. Based on program execution means for executing the program, and instructions generated by execution of the program.
Area data reading means for reading each head address stored in the area address storage unit; register writing means for storing the read area data in a register; and various data read commands generated in accordance with the execution of the program A data read means for reading data at a corresponding address of a data file in accordance with a data read address signal based on the data file, and comparing the address signal with an address value stored in a register to determine a compression method. A data system comprising: a determination unit; and a decompression processing unit that decompresses read data based on a determination result of the determination unit.