JPH06259310A - File controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the processing efficiency by eliminating such uselessness that the same file is repeatedly read out of an external storage device. CONSTITUTION:A memory is provided with a file data area for storing file data and when there is an external command for reading optional file data out, it is judged whether or not the file data is saved in the file data area; when it is judged that the data is saved, the data in the file data area is processed, but when not, the whole file data of a corresponding kind are read out of the external storage device and processed, and the file data are stored in the file data area.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a file control device used in a store processor or the like for centrally managing a plurality of POS (point of sale information management) terminals for registering product sales data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art POS systems widely used in supermarkets, convenience stores, etc., connect store processors with communication lines to a plurality of POS terminals for registering product sales data, and register products at each POS terminal. The store processor centrally manages the work. The store processor corresponds to the individual product code such as product name and price corresponding to the individual product code of each product, corresponding to the member number of each member customer. Further, an external storage device is provided in which various files such as a member file in which member information such as name and expiration date of the member are preset.

The store processor is, for example, a PO.
When the inquiry message for the individual product code is received from the S terminal, all the contents of the product file are read from the external storage device, the product information of the inquired single product code is extracted, and the corresponding POS terminal is responded to to inquire about the membership number. When the electronic message is received, the entire contents of the member file are read from the external storage device, the validity of the member is judged from the member information of the member number inquired, and the judgment result is responded to the corresponding POS terminal. Was there.

By the way, the inquiry message of the single item code is P
It is generated every time product registration is performed at the OS terminal, and the inquiry message for the member number is generated every time a transaction with a customer contracted as a member occurs. For this reason, the frequency of use of various files formed in the external storage device differs depending on the file, and there are files that are frequently read such as product files.

[0005]

However, in the conventional store processor, every time a file data read command is issued by the inquiry message from the POS terminal, all the contents of the file of the corresponding type are read from the external storage device and processed. Therefore, when a frequently used file exists, the reading process of the same file is repeatedly performed, which causes a problem that the processing efficiency decreases.

Therefore, the present invention is intended to provide a file control device capable of eliminating the waste of repeatedly reading the same file from an external storage device and improving the processing efficiency.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a memory capable of writing and reading data at any time is provided, and an external storage device for storing various file data is provided, and data is selectively read from the external storage device. In a file control device that processes file data, a file data area for saving file data is provided in the memory, and when an external file data read command is issued, the file data is saved in the file data area. File determining means for determining whether or not there is the file, first data processing means for processing the data in the file data area when the file is determined to be saved by the determining means, and the data is not saved by the determining means. If it is determined, the entire file data of the corresponding type is saved from the external storage device. A second data processing means for processing out, in which a file data storage means for storing the file data read from the external storage device to the file data area by the second data processing means.

[0008]

According to the present invention having such a configuration, when an arbitrary file data read command is issued from the outside and the file data is not stored in the file data area on the memory, the corresponding data is read from the external storage device. The entire file data of the desired type is read and processed. At this time, the file data read from the external storage device is stored in the file data area.

On the other hand, when the file data for which an external read command is issued is stored in the file data area, the file data in the file data area is processed.

Therefore, the file data stored in the file data area is processed without reading the file data from the external storage device even if there is a read command from the outside.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the file control device of the present invention is applied to a store processor of a POS system will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the POS system of this embodiment comprises a plurality of POS terminals 1 for registering product sales data, and a store processor 2 for centrally managing these POS terminals 1. The store processor 2 is connected inline through a communication line 3 such as a LAN (local area network).
The host computer 4 is connected online via a communication line 5 such as a telephone line or a dedicated line.

Here, each terminal 1 is installed in each settlement place of a store, a store processor 2 is installed in an office of a store, and a host computer 4 is installed in a headquarters or the like that manages the entire store.

The store processor 2 has a hard disk device 6 as an external storage device. The hard disk device 6 has a product file in which product information such as product name and price corresponding to the individual product code of each product is preset, and member information such as name and membership expiration date corresponding to the member number of each member customer. Various files such as preset member files are formed by the down line loading operation from the host computer 4.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main structure of the store processor 2. The store processor 2 has a CPU (central processing unit) 21 which constitutes a main body of a control unit and a bus line 22 such as an address bus and a data bus. Through ROM
(Read-only memory) 23 and RAM (random access memory) 24, a hard disk controller 25 that controls writing and reading of data to and from the hard disk device 6, and each POS terminal 1 through the communication line 3. A communication interface 26 for controlling data communication with the host computer 4 and a communication interface 27 for controlling data communication with the host computer 4 are connected to each other through the communication line 5.

The ROM 23 is a memory in which fixed data such as a control program executed by the CPU 21 is stored in advance. The RAM 24 is a memory to and from which data is written and read by the CPU 21 at any time.
A file data area 3 for storing file data read from the hard disk device 6 as shown in FIG.
1 and a temporary buffer 32 for temporarily storing file data to be processed.

The file data area 31 is composed of data areas 31a, 31b, 31c and 31d for use frequency data, head sector number, number of sectors and file data, and can store a plurality of file data.

The usage frequency data is 2-byte data, and when the file data area 31 is initialized, each usage frequency data in the usage frequency data area 31a has the maximum value (FF).
(H)).

Incidentally, the sector is the minimum unit for accessing the hard disk drive 6, and the file data on the hard disk drive 6 is composed of a set of sectors.
Therefore, the entire file data is indicated by the head sector number and the number of sectors of the file data.

Then, the CPU 2 of the store processor 2
1 receives a message from the POS terminal 1 via the communication interface 26, and when the received message is a message for instructing the reading of arbitrary file data on the hard disk device 6, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. Is program controlled to run.

That is, the CPU 21 first detects the position on the hard disk device 6 of the file data for which a read command has been issued, and acquires the corresponding start sector number and sector number.

Next, in the usage frequency data area 31a in the file data area 31, the maximum value (FF (H)
All the usage frequency data other than) are incremented by +1.

Next, the head sector number area 31b corresponding to the area 31a in which the usage frequency data is counted up
Then, the sector number area 31c is searched in order from the beginning, and whether or not there is an area in which the leading sector number and the number of sectors of the file data for which the read command has been set exists, that is, the relevant file data is saved in the file data area 31 It is determined whether or not it is (file determination means).

If the start sector number area 31b and the sector number area 31c of the file data area 31 are set to the start sector number and the number of sectors of the corresponding file data, the frequency of use corresponding to the areas 31b and 31c. The usage frequency data of the data area 31a is set to "0", and the contents of the corresponding file data area 31d are transferred to the temporary buffer 32 for data processing (first data processing means).

On the other hand, the head sector number area 31b and the sector number area 31c of the file data area 31
If the start sector number and the number of sectors of the corresponding file data are not set, the respective information of the start sector number and the number of sectors of the corresponding file data is sent to the hard disk controller 25 together with the read command.

Then, since the hard disk controller 25 operates to read the entire file data of the corresponding type from the hard disk device 6, the file data is stored in the temporary buffer 32 and processed (second step).
Data processing means).

Next, the frequency-of-use data area 31a in the file data area 31 is sequentially searched from the beginning to detect the area with the highest frequency-of-use data. In addition,
When there are a plurality of areas with the maximum usage frequency data, the area closest to the top data of the file data area 31 is detected.

In this way, when the area 31a having the maximum usage frequency data is detected, the file data area 32d and the head sector number area 3 corresponding to the area 31a are detected.
2b, sector number area 32c, hard disk device 6
The file data read from the file and the corresponding start sector number and number of sectors are set, and the usage frequency data in the corresponding usage frequency data area 31a is set to "0", and this processing is terminated (file data saving means). ).

In the present embodiment thus constructed, for example, the sales of the product purchased by the customer is registered at the POS terminal 1, and the inquiry message of the single item code is transmitted from the POS terminal 1 to the store processor 2. Then, the store processor 2 first obtains the head sector number and the sector number of the product file on the hard disk device 6. The leading sector number and the number of sectors are the areas 31b and 31c of the file data area 31.
Is set, that is, whether the entire data of the product file is stored in the file data area 31.

If it is determined that the product file has not been saved, the hard disk device 6 is accessed under the control of the hard disk controller 25 and the entire data of the merchandise file is read. Then, product information such as product name and price corresponding to the inquired single product code is extracted and notified to the corresponding POS terminal 1.

Further, the data of the merchandise file read from the hard disk device 6 is stored and saved in the file data area 31 together with the head sector number and the sector number of the corresponding file.

On the other hand, when the data of the merchandise file is stored in the file data area 31, the merchandise file data in the file data area 31 is transferred to the temporary buffer 32 for data processing and an inquiry is made. The product information such as the product name and price corresponding to the individual product code is extracted and notified to the corresponding POS terminal 1.

In this way, when there is an instruction to read the file data stored and saved in the file data area 31, the processing is performed on the file data in the file data area 31. Therefore, the hard disk device 6
Since the processing of reading the corresponding file data from is omitted, the processing speed is increased and the processing efficiency is improved.

In particular, in the store processor 2, there are files such as merchandise files that are frequently read, and according to the present embodiment, a hard disk device is used for such frequently read commands. As long as the data is read once from 6 and saved in the file data area 31, the reading process is omitted.
The processing efficiency is greatly improved.

By the way, in this embodiment, the file data area 31 can store and store a plurality of file data, and each file data is stored corresponding to 2-byte usage frequency data. The usage frequency data is set to “0” at the time when the file data is stored, and then “+1” is added “FF (H)” every time there is an external command to read the file data other than the corresponding file data.
Is updated, and when there is a command to read the corresponding file data, it returns to "0".

When new file data is read from the hard disk device 6 when the file data area 31 is full, the file data having the largest usage frequency data is cleared and the newly read file is replaced. The data is stored and saved.

Therefore, since the file data having the largest usage frequency data is the data of the file that has been interrupted for the longest read command from the outside and is not the data of the file to which the read command is frequently applied, the file data area 3
Clearing from 1 does not adversely affect the processing efficiency.

Even if there is only one file data that can be stored and saved in the file data area 31, the process of reading the file data from the hard disk device 6 is omitted when the read command for the same file is issued successively. Therefore, the processing speed can be increased as compared with the conventional case. In this case, it goes without saying that the processing relating to the usage frequency data is unnecessary.

In addition to the above, the present invention can be applied to a file control device other than the file control device functioning as a store processor, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0040]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, a file data area for storing file data is provided in the memory, and when a file data read command is issued from the outside, the file data is stored as a file. It is judged whether or not it is saved in the data area. If it is judged that it is saved, the data in the file data area is processed, and if it is judged that it is not saved, it corresponds from the external storage device. Since the entire type of file data is read and processed and the file data is stored in the file data area, it is possible to eliminate the waste of repeatedly reading the same file from the external storage device and improve the processing efficiency. A file controller can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of a POS system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a store processor according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main memory area formed in a RAM of the store processor in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing processing when a file read command is input, which is executed by the CPU of the store processor in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ... Store processor, 6 ... Hard disk device (external storage device), 21 ... CPU, 23 ... ROM, 24 ... RAM, 25 ... Hard disk controller, 31 ... File data area.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A file control device comprising a memory capable of writing and reading data at any time, an external storage device for storing various file data, and processing file data selectively read from the external storage device. In the above, a file data area for storing file data is provided in the memory, and when there is an external command to read arbitrary file data, it is determined whether or not the file data is stored in the file data area. A file judging means, a first data processing means for processing the data in the file data area when the judging means judges that the file is stored, and a case where the judging means judges that the data has not been saved. Read the entire file data of the corresponding type from the external storage device. A second data processing means for processing Te, the second
And a file data storage unit for storing the file data read from the external storage device by the data processing unit in the file data area.