JPH05250386A - Data reference device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the referring speed of data stored in a low-speed, mass- storage device. CONSTITUTION:The data reference device has a 1st storage part 24, a 2nd storage part 22 which is faster in speed than the 1st storage part 24 and stored with part of data stored in the 1st storage part 24, a reference part 20, and an update part 21; and the reference part 20 retrieves the 2nd storage part 22 to refer to corresponding data when the data is present and record the 2nd frequency of reference to the data, or retrieves the 1st storage part 24 when the data is not present to refer to data and also record the 1st frequency of reference to the data in the 1st storage part 24, and the update part 21 compares the 1st frequency of reference to the 2nd frequency of reference to each data in a specific period, and substitutes the data on the 2nd reference frequency for the data on the 1st reference frequency when there is data whose 1st reference frequency is a specific value larger than the 2nd reference frequency and registers the data in the 2nd storage part 22.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to improvements in data referencing devices. In a POS terminal device using a scanner, a price reference file (hereinafter PL
U file, referred to as Price Look Up File) is referred to for product registration (settlement process).

This PLU file is provided in the host device (this PLU file is hereinafter referred to as a central PLU file, and referring to the central PLU file is referred to as a central PLU), and a plurality of PLUs connected by lines are provided.
Although referred to by the OS terminal device, in recent years, a PLU file is provided to each POS terminal device (hereinafter, a local PLU file, a reference to a local PLU file is referred to as a local PLU) so as to be able to deal with a case where a line abnormality occurs.
Have. However, since the local PLU file is conventionally stored in the RAM, it has a high speed but has a limited capacity. Therefore, when the number of products handled increases, it becomes impossible to refer to the prices of all the products.

Therefore, a data reference device having a large capacity and a high reference speed is required.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional example. In FIG. 4, the POS terminal device 4 includes a scanner 6 that reads a barcode printed on a product, transmits the product code read and demodulated by the scanner 6 to the center device 1, receives a unit price, and registers the product. To do. The center device 1 stores the product code (hereinafter, PLU1 to PLU) in the disk device 2.
It has a central PLU file 3 in which the unit price and the unit price are associated with each other, and responds to the price reference requests from the plurality of POS terminal devices 4 by searching the corresponding product codes.

As described above, since each POS terminal device 4 inquires the price of the product to the center device 1 via the line to register the product, an abnormality may occur in the line.
If a failure occurs in the center device 1, product registration cannot be performed, which hinders business.

Therefore, a part of the central PLU file 3 (for example, one with a high sales frequency) is transferred to the RAM of each POS terminal device, and if the central device 1 cannot be used, the local PLU file 5 is transferred. Refer to for product registration. However, the capacity of the RAM is limited, and the PLU files of all products cannot be registered. For products for which data does not exist in the local PLU file 5, the operator performs registration by key operation.

[0007]

As described above,
Since the conventional local PLU file 5 is provided in the RAM, the number of products that can be stored in the local PLU file 5 is limited, and the registration of products that cannot be stored depends on the operator's operation. Therefore, it is possible to store the local PLU file 5 in a large-capacity disk device, but there is a problem that the access speed is slow.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a data reference device which can store a large amount of data and can be referred to at high speed.

[0009]

In the principle diagram of the present invention, reference numeral 24 is a first storage section in which all data to be referred to are stored. 22 is a second storage unit, and the first storage unit 24
The speed is higher, and a part of the data stored in the first storage unit 24 is stored. Reference numeral 20 denotes a reference unit that searches the second storage unit and, if the corresponding data exists, refers to the data and records the second reference count of the data, and the data exists in the second storage unit. If not, the first storage unit is searched to refer to the data, and the first reference count of the data in the first storage unit is recorded. An updating unit 21 compares the first reference count and the second reference count of each data in a predetermined period, and if there is data having a first reference count that is a predetermined number larger than the second reference count. , The first reference count data is replaced with the second reference count data and registered in the second storage unit.

[0010]

The reference unit 20 searches the second storage unit 22 for the data to be referenced, refers to the data if it exists, and records the reference count (second reference count) of the data. If it does not exist, the first storage unit 24 is searched and referenced, and the number of times the data is referenced (first number of references)
To record.

The updating unit 21 compares the first reference count and the second reference count of each data in a predetermined period,
If there is data having a first reference count that is a predetermined number greater than the second reference count, then the second storage unit replaces the first reference count data with the second reference count data that is less than the predetermined reference count. Register with.

As described above, all the data is stored in the first storage unit 24, which is slow but has a large capacity, and the data having a higher reference frequency among the data is stored in the second storage unit having a high access speed. Since the data is stored in the memory 22 for reference, the data reference speed can be generally increased even if a small capacity RAM is used.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an operation flow chart. Hereafter, the local P of the POS terminal device
Taking LU as an example, when referring to the PLU file 19 of the first storage unit 24 (disk device 9 in FIG. 2), the referred data is registered in the registration file 18 provided in the RAM 8, and the number of registrations is increased. An example will be described in which (first reference count) is recorded and update processing is performed for each registration.

FIG. 2 shows a main part of the POS terminal device. The scanner 6 reads a bar code and demodulates it.
Data such as a product code is passed to the POS terminal device 10. The printer 7 is attached to the POS terminal device 10, and issues a receipt / journal when registering a product. POS terminal device
10 is a processor unit and memory RAM (not shown)
8, a disk device 9 and the like, the price corresponding to the product code received from the scanner 6 is acquired from the PLU file, product registration (settlement) is performed, and the printer 7 issues a receipt / journal.

Disk device 9 (corresponding to the first storage unit 24)
Stores a PLU file 19 in which the prices of all the products prepared in the store are registered. A predetermined area (second storage unit 22) in the RAM 8 is a part of the PLU file 19, and A quick file 17 to be referred to first is provided, and another area of the RAM 8 is provided with a registration file 18 in which reference data is registered when the PLU file 19 is referred to. This Quick File 17 and Registration File 18
Each product code (PLU1 to PLU4, see FIG. 3) therein has a column for recording the reference count (second reference count) and the registration count (first reference count). It is updated each time the PLU file 19 is referenced.

In the RAM 8, a task monitor 13 for controlling each task, a scanner task 11 for exchanging data with the scanner 6, a printer task 12 for outputting print data to the printer 7, a product name, a unit price, and a quantity. Registration, etc.
Product registration task 14, which performs product registration processing such as total processing and output processing to printer task 12, PLU processing task 15 (corresponding to reference unit 20 in FIG. 1), file update task 16
A program such as (corresponding to the updating unit 21) is stored and operates on a processor (not shown).

In the POS terminal device configured as described above, the following price reference processing is performed. (Refer to FIG. 3) Here, when the PLU processing task 15 is connected to the host device, the PLU processing task 15 transmits the product code to the host device via the communication control unit (not shown) and receives the corresponding unit price. In the following description, only the local PLU processing when the host device cannot be used due to a line failure or the like will be described. The quick file 17 at the time of switching to the local PLU may have predetermined data initially registered from the local PLU file 19 or may be in a clear state. (1) When the product code is received from the scanner 6, the scanner task 11 passes the product code to the product registration task 14 (RA
The data is stored in a predetermined area of M8, and the started task reads and receives the predetermined area. The same operation will be performed.) The task monitor 13 is requested to start the commodity registration task 14. As a result, the product registration task 14 passes the product code to the PLU processing task 15 and requests the task monitor 13 to activate the PLU processing task 15. (2) The activated PLU processing task 15 first searches the quick file 17 based on the received product code (S1 in FIG. 3).

Required data in the quick file 17 (see FIG. 3)
If PLU3 in the quick file in the left column exists), the data is passed to the product registration task 14 to perform product registration processing (S8), and the reference count of the data PLU3 is +
Do 1 (S9).

After that, the file update task 16 verifies the quick file 17 and sorts the data in the order of the number of references according to the search order (S10). Here, PLU3 and PLU
Swapping 2 and. (3) The desired data (here, PL
If there is no U4), the PLU processing task 15 refers to the local PLU file 19 (S2).

Since the local PLU file 19 always contains PLU data (PLU4) to be referred to, this record is extracted and passed to the product registration task 14 to perform product registration processing (S3), and at the same time, to the registration file 18. The data (record) of the product code PLU4 is registered, and the registration count "1" is recorded (S4).

The same PLU data is the PLU file.
When referred from 19, only the number of registrations will be added. (4) The file update task 16 is started for each reference. If the reference data exists in the quick file 17, the product codes are sorted according to the reference count as described above, and if the PLU file 19 is referenced and registered,
Each reference count of the quick file 17 is decremented by 1 (S5), and the reference count of the quick file 17 and each registration count are compared (S6).

If the reference count ≧ the registration count, the PLU data of the product code registered in the registration file 18 is stored in the area of the quick file 17 corresponding to the product code corresponding to the reference count (S7). Replace.

As described above, the PLU data is stored in the quick file 17 in descending order of reference frequency, and the reference speed is improved. In the above example, for each registration,
Although the subtraction number of the reference count is set to 1, any subtraction number may be used, and the sorting process is performed each time the reference is performed, but may be performed at a constant time interval or after each product registration process is completed.

[0024]

As described above, in the data reference device of the present invention, all of the reference data are registered in the low-speed and large-capacity storage device, and the reference data are registered in the high-speed storage portion according to the reference frequency. Since it is configured as described above, there is an effect that a large amount of data can be referred to at high speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment.

[Fig. 3] Operation flowchart diagram

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional example

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Center device 2 Disk device 3 Central PLU file 4 POS terminal device 5 Local PLU file 6 Scanner 7 Printer 8 RAM 9 Disk device 10 POS terminal device 11 Scanner task 12 Printer task 13 Task monitor 14 Product registration task 15 PLU processing task 16 file Update task 17 Quick file 18 Registration file 19 PLU file 20 Reference section 21 Update section 22 Second storage section 24 First storage section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first storage unit (24) and a second storage unit (22) which is faster than the first storage unit and stores a part of the data stored in the first storage unit. ), A reference unit (20), and an update unit (21), and the reference unit (20) searches the second storage unit and refers to the corresponding data if the corresponding data exists. The second reference count of the data is recorded, and when the data does not exist in the second storage unit, the first storage unit is searched to refer to the data and the first reference of the data to the first storage unit is performed. The update unit (21) compares the first reference count and the second reference count in a predetermined period of each data, and determines the predetermined reference count from the second reference count. If there is a large number of data having the first reference count, the data having the first reference count is added to the second data.
The data referencing device is characterized in that it is replaced with the data of the reference frequency and is registered in the second storage unit.