JPH05189154A - Disk filing device for sequential operation - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the disk filing device for reducing the load of a host by realizing real-time data transfer in the manner of a hardware concerning the input/output of sequential data requesting real-time ability required to be conventionally managed on the side of a software. CONSTITUTION:The disk device to record and reproduce data is composed of a command analysis part 12 to analyze the transfer command of data transmitted from the host computer, double buffer part 15 to be independently accessed from the host and the disk device, host interface to request transfer to the host side synchronously to a timer based on the data format of the sequential data, and controller part 18 for the disk device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a secondary storage device of a computer, and more particularly to a disk file device capable of efficiently reading and writing large-capacity sequential data such as moving images / audio.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As computer systems have become more sophisticated and complex, there are more and more opportunities to handle large-capacity sequential data such as voice or images on a computer. However, in a normal disk file device, one command is simultaneously input / output to / from a host computer for one command. (For example,
ANSI X3 / 131-1986 "Small C
computer System Interfac
e "). In such a disk-dedicated interface, when a command is issued to the disk on the initiator side of the host computer, only a single command is processed. At this time, the disk device side only performs one process at a time. Not executed, that is, I / O with the disk had to be processed in non-real time with the host computer.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention Currently, generally used disk interfaces can process only a single command at a time. Also,
The operation is only possible as a slave that can be executed only when there is a request from the host. Therefore, when handling a large amount of sequential data, the data transfer rate will change depending on the load condition on the host side,
For sequential data such as audio / video, it is necessary for the software to manage the processing according to the form of the data. As a result, there is a drawback in that the processing of the host computer is heavily loaded.

[0004]

The means provided by the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a disk device for recording and reproducing data, and interprets a data transfer command sent from a host computer. A command interpreter, a double buffer that can be accessed independently from the host and disk devices, and a host interface that requests transfer to the host computer in synchronization with a timer based on the data format of sequential data sent from the host computer. And a controller unit of the disk device.

Another means provided by the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a disk device for recording / reproducing data, and interpreting a plurality of data transfer commands sent from a host computer. A command interpreter, a switching buffer that can be accessed independently from the host and multiple disk devices, a host interface that requests transfer from the host computer based on the data format of sequential data sent from the host computer, and a disk. And a controller unit of the apparatus.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the disk device for recording / reproducing data is provided with the double buffer section which can be accessed independently from the host and the disk device. This allows the host side and the disk side to operate independently, and does not affect the host such as waiting for the disk to rotate. At the same time, depending on the format of the sequential data on the disc,
It is possible to issue a transfer request to the host in synchronism with a timer and issue a scheduling or data transfer request independently of the host process.

Further, according to the present invention, the disk device for recording / reproducing data is provided with a command interpreting unit for interpreting a plurality of transfer commands sent from the host computer at a time. As a result, command execution can be scheduled according to the processing time. Therefore, the host side can perform processing in response to a processing request from the disk file device without considering the processing load.

[0008]

Embodiment An embodiment of the invention described in claim 1 will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the embodiment, FIG. 3 is a data processing flow in the embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a sequential data format in the embodiment. Here, one hard disk device is shown as the secondary storage device, but the present invention can be similarly applied when the secondary storage device includes a plurality of optical disks, magnetic tapes, or the like.

In order to execute the sequential data transfer sequence, the secondary storage device side waits for the block structure as shown in FIG. Bus phase control unit 1 of command control unit
1 manages a data transfer phase, which will be described later, reads out a command for the secondary storage device 19 from the phase, and transmits it to the command interpreting unit 12. The command interpreting unit 12 controls the disk controller 18 to read the data format when data is input / output, and transfers it to the data format managing unit 14. The data format management unit 14 manages the time information of the format and then requests the bus phase control unit 11 to acquire the bus under the control of the timer control unit 13 and the command interpretation unit 12. The bus phase control unit 11 requests the host computer for the bus, but if the real-time transfer based on the time management information becomes impossible, request the bus and withdraw it.
The time-out is returned to the command interpreter 16. When the bus is acquired, the data transfer is executed.

FIG. 3 shows a processing flow of commands and data between the host computer and the command control unit via the data bus DB and the control signal CB, and each processing name is a phase name.

Normally, the host computer is the secondary storage device 1.
If there is no access request for 9, the bus request is waited in the bus free phase. When an access request to the secondary storage device 19 occurs, the bus is acquired and the device selection phase is entered. Here, after the secondary storage device 19 on the receiving side is selected, a command out phase is entered and a command is output. Standard commands are specified as commands, but the input / output length / format of data is not specified.

The command control unit that receives the command performs processing based on the command, but reads and interprets the sequential data format for the data input / output command. The sequential data format is recorded in the header portion of the data shown in FIG. 3, and the data length, page frame size, time management information, etc. are registered. The frame number and time code are recorded for each frame. Based on such time management information, page frame number, and operation of the timer control unit, the bus phase control unit 11 does not lose the real-time property of data.
Acquires the data bus with the host. If the bus cannot be acquired within the time limit, the bus is free until the data transfer request for the next page frame.

In the data in / out phase, the format data transmitted in the format in phase is
Input and output in page frame units. Further, in the case where sequential data transfer is continuously executed, the bus is once opened, the bus free phase is entered, and then the bus arbitration phase is entered.

In the status phase, a normal completion status is returned when the data transfer is normally completed. If any error occurs during data transfer, the error status is returned.

Next, an embodiment of the invention described in claim 2 will be described. FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of this embodiment. Here, a hard disk device is used as the secondary storage device 29.
Although it is shown in the table, the same can be applied to the case where the secondary storage device includes a plurality of optical disks, magnetic tapes, or the like or a mixture thereof.

The bus phase control unit 21 manages the data transfer phase, reads out a command for the secondary storage device 29 from the data transfer phase, and transmits it to the command interpretation unit 22. The command interpreting unit 22 can receive a plurality of data input / output requests, and in the case of an access request for different disks accompanying data input / output, the disk controller is controlled to transfer the data.
Transfer to. The data management unit 14 simultaneously manages the data in the sequential data format and the data in the normal data format as necessary, and the data having higher real-time property than the data of the data format and the information of the timer control unit 23 is given a priority order to transfer the data. Request to the phase control unit 21. The bus phase control unit 21 requests the bus from the host computer, but when the data transfer based on the time management information becomes impossible, the bus phase control unit 21 withdraws the request for the bus and returns a time over to the command interpreting unit 22. When the bus is acquired, the data transfer is executed.

These data transfers are executed based on the data processing flow between the host computer and the command control unit as shown in FIG. 3, as in the case of the first embodiment.

[0018]

According to the present invention, a disk device for recording and reproducing data can independently issue processing scheduling and data transfer request to a host, and the host and the disk file device do not interfere with each other. I am trying. Therefore, the host side only has to perform the processing in response to the processing request from the disk file device, which eliminates the need for the host side to perform management for the purpose of load balancing of the processing of the hardware, and the load of the host computer. Becomes lighter.

At the same time, the large-capacity sequential data that is difficult to manage in the conventional disk file device can be easily read and written, the load on the host computer is minimized, and the efficient use of the bus is realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an embodiment of a sequential operation disk file device according to the invention of claim 1;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining an embodiment of a sequential operation disk file device according to the invention of claim 2;

FIG. 3 is a processing flow for explaining an embodiment of a data transfer system of a sequential operation disk file device according to the inventions of claims 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a format of sequential data handled by the sequential operation disk file device according to the first and second aspects of the invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Bus Phase Control Section 12 Command Interpretation Section 13 Timer Control Section 14 Data Format Section 15 Double Buffer 16 Format Management Section Control Signal 17 Disk Controller Control Signal 18 Disk Controller 19 Hard Disk 21 Bus Phase Control Section 22 Command Interpretation Section 23 Timer Control Section 24 Data format unit 25 Double buffer 26 Format management unit control signal 27 Disk controller control signal 28 Disk controller 29 Hard disk CH channel DB Data bus CB Disk control signal TC Timer synchronization control signal IS Bus request interrupt signal to host

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A disk device for recording / reproducing data, comprising: a command interpreting unit for interpreting a data transfer command sent from a host computer; and a double buffer unit independently accessible from the host and the disk device. A sequential operation disk file device comprising a host interface that requests transfer to the host computer in synchronization with a timer based on the data format of sequential data sent from the host computer, and a controller unit of the disk device. 2. In a disk device for recording / reproducing data, a command interpreting section for interpreting a plurality of data transfer commands sent from a host computer, and a host and the plurality of disk devices can be accessed independently. A sequential operation disk file device comprising a switching buffer unit, a host interface for requesting transfer to the host computer based on a data format of sequential data sent from the host computer, and a controller unit of the disk device.