IE71948B1 - Computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

In a computer system for manufacturing disk pack assemblies from a set of master diskettes, master data is input to index and image databases 11 and 12 respectively. The image database 12 contains images of the master disks and the index database 11 contains related product information such as product name and number of disks and also contains address codes which point to the locations fo the disk images in the image data base 12. When a run of disk pack assemblies is required, a program 16 generates a work order which contains inter alia the address codes of the required disk images and also the quantity of disk pack assemblies to be produced. The work order information is usable at any one of a number of duplication statins 17 where the disk image information in the image database 12 is accessed using the address codes.

Description

Computer System This invention relates to a computer system for manufacturing disk pack assemblies by the reproduction of disk image information received on master disks. A disk pack assembly is a software product comprising a packaged set of magnetic diskettes containing programs and/or data for use on a personal computer or personal computer-based workstation.

According to the present invention there is provided a computer system for manufacturing disk pack assemblies by the reproduction of disk image information received on a set of master disks, the system comprising master data input means for entering images of the master disks into a first database and related product information into a second database, the product information including address codes which define the location of each disk image in the first database, work order means for extracting the address codes from the second database when it is desired to duplicate disk pack assemblies and for passing the address codes and the number of disk pack assemblies to be duplicated to a duplication station, the duplication station being responsive to the information provided by the work order means to access the first database at the locations defined by the address codes to read the disk images for use by a disk duplicating machine.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: *1 948 dr - 2 Figure 1 is a block schematic diagram of a system according to the invention, and Figure 2 shows the information contained in the two . databases shown in figure 1. c.

When a set of master disks is received for a particular software product, the product details and the disk image information contained on the master disks are entered into two databases under the control of a Master Data Input Program 10. These databases, which are an Index Database 11 and an Image Database 12, are organised as shown in figure 2.

In the Index Database 11 each product has a header file 13 and a number of disk information files 14. The header file 13 contains the product number, which is an internal reference number, the product name, for example DBASE IV COMPILER, the number of disks for the product (and hence the number of disks in disk pack assemblies manufactured for the product), the type of verification CKD or CRC used for each disk of the product, the disk type (3.5 or 5.25), and the initial serial number for disk pack assemblies run off for the product.

The serial number is common to all the disks of a particular disk pack assembly, and is updated in the a. header file 13 each time a run of disk pack assemblies is made for that product. Thus, if the initial serial number for a given product is N, then after a rum of 500 disk pack assemblies for that product the serial number is updated to the next available serial number for that product, which will be a function of (N+500). The header file 13 also has a locked/unlocked flag. The flag is set locked until the product has been quality controlled, after which it is set unlocked. When the flag is set locked the Work Order Program to be described is unable to issue an order for duplication of the information from the Image Database to manufacture disk pack assemblies for that product.

Each disk information file 14 contains information specific to a different disk of the product. This information includes a disk number, which is a unique ID for that disk, a CKD or CRC checksum, the number of files on that disk, and the size in bytes of the files on that disk. The file 14 also includes a trace number which is an address used by a duplication machine to be described.

The Image Database 12 contains the image information for each disk of each product in the Index Database 11, stored by trace number. In other words, for each disk information file 14 in the Index Database 11 the corresponding image information 15 is contained in the Image Database under the associated trace number.

When it is desired to manufacture a run of disk pack assemblies of a particular product, a Work Order Program 16 reads the Index Database 11 to generate a work order.

The work order contains product index information including the product number, the next available serial number (which will be the serial number of the first disk pack assembly in the run with the serial numbers for each successive disk pack assembly in the run being automatically derived by incrementing the previous serial number by one), the size of the run in terms of the quantity of disk pack assemblies to be manufactured, and the trace codes of the disk images in the Image Database 12 relating to the selected product. The Work Order Program also updates the Next available serial number in the header file 13 for the product concerned.

The work order is provided to any one of several duplication stations or cells 17. At the selected cell , the relevant disk image information 15 in the Image Database 12 for each disk of the product is accessed by t trace code and the specified quantity of discs is duplicated in a duplicator 18. At the same time labels are printed in a label printer 19. Then, the labels are applied to the disks at a label applicator 20 and finally the disks are collated and packaged in a disk collator 21 to provide the final disk pack assemblies.

The computer system as described above may be based around a computer network where the Index and Image Databases are stored in a central host computer and the Master Data Input and Work Order Programs are run at remote workstations.

Claims (3)

CLAIMS:

1. A computer system for manufacturing disk pack assemblies by the reproduction of disk image information received on a set of master disks, the system comprising master data input means for entering images of the master disks into a first database and related product information into a second database, the product information including address codes which define the location of each disk image in the first database, work order means for extracting the address codes from the second database when it is desired to duplicate disk pack assemblies and for passing the address codes and the number of disk pack assemblies to be duplicated to a duplication station, the duplication station being responsive to the information provided by the work order means to access the first database at the locations defined by the address codes to read the disk images for use by a disk duplicating machine.

2. A computer system as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is a plurality of duplication stations any of which is able to duplicate disk pack assemblies in response to the information from the work order means.

3. A computer system substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.