GB759670A - Data transfer mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

759,670. Electric digital-data-storage apparatus. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. Dec. 17, 1954 [Dec. 21, 1953], No. 36568/54. Class 106 (1). A data transfer system comprises a cyclically movable member for storing data magnetically in a plurality of storage locations and a plurality of separate transfer means for transferring data from a data input source to a first segment on said member, from said first segment to any selected one of said storage locations, from any selected one of said storage locations to a second segment on said member and from said second segment to an output device. As prescribed, data from a data source (punched-card reader) always flows to a first part of a buffer track 12 on a magnetic drum, via a gate 25, the data that was originally in the first part of the buffer track being transferred via a gate 22 to a selected one of tracks 13, which form a main store of a data processing machine, immediately before the arrival of a fresh block of data-the clearing of the first part of the buffer track prior to the reception of fresh data being controlled for example by a signal produced when a punchedcard begins to move. When data has to be extracted from the main store it passes first to a second part of the buffer track via a gate 29, and then via a gate 22 to a utilization device, for example a card-punch. The arrangement is said to permit data to be entered into and extracted from a data processing machine without interfering with data processing operations.