JPS5966758A - Information storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To constitute inexpensibly a large capacity buffer memory, by transferring information between at least >2 electronic buffer memories of small capacity and a rotary type memory. CONSTITUTION:A picture information signal transmitted in a specific transfer speed is stored in an electronic buffer memory 5 via a distributor 4 from a terminal S. When the electronic buffer memory 5 is occupied, the said input signal is stored successively to the electronic buffer memory 6 with the distributor. A control section 7 detects the occupancy of the electronic buffer memory 5 with information at the same time, the information is transferred to an optical head section 2 from the said electronic buffer memory 5 through the distributor 3 and it is recorded on a sector M1 of an optical disc 1. When all information is finished for transfer, the distributor 3 is switched to the electronic buffer memory 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an information storage device, and more particularly to an information storage device suitable for use as a buffer memory between devices that exchange information in the form of electrical signals.

In recent years, there has been a trend towards automation or integration of onis, and various information processing office machines are being interconnected via lines. This allows information to be exchanged between devices in the form of sequential electrical signals. The problem with this is that the input/output speeds of electrical signals are often different between devices.

Conventionally, in such cases, one piece of information is stored in a memory made of semiconductor memory or the like, and then the other party's receiver sends out an information signal in accordance with the input speed. I'm running around. This method is extremely effective when the amount of information per unit is relatively small, such as in the case of coded information, but when the amount of information per unit is extremely large, such as with image information. For example, it is necessary to have a buffer memory of several megabits or tens of megabits, which has the problem of extremely high memory costs. One typical example of this would be to transfer an electrical information signal from a digital copier that reads an A4 page in 1 to 2 seconds to a facsimile machine that receives an A4 page at a speed of several tens of seconds to several minutes. An example of this is when The amount of information signals read by a digital copier is 4 per A4 size even in the case of black and white binary information with a resolution of 8 dots.
In the case of information such as double resolution, halftone or color, it can actually be several sevens to hundreds of megabits, so it is impossible to argue about storing the entire page in the electronic buffer 47 memory. Almost impossible due to cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above facts, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive, large-capacity information storage device suitable for use as a buffer memory.

The present invention includes a rotating memory, at least two small-capacity electronic buffer memories, and information transfer between a specific electronic buffer memory among the plurality of electronic backup memories and the rotating memory. means for switching the particular electronic buffer memory according to the storage state of information in the plurality of electronic buffer memories; and means for sequentially inputting and outputting information to the plurality of electronic buffer memories. The purpose 'fc' is achieved by an information storage device comprising the following.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information storage device based on the present invention. In FIG. Optical head section, 6 and 4 are distributors, 5
and 6 are small-capacity digital buffer memories such as semiconductor memories, and 7 and 8 are the electronic buffer memories 5. and 6, respectively.
The control section detects the storage state of the information and instructs the optical head section 10 to record or reproduce the information.

Here, the optical disk 1 and the head section 2 constitute a rotary memory. As shown in FIG. 2, recording bit strings (hereinafter referred to as information tracks) recording information are formed concentrically on the optical disc 1-F. 9 indicates one round of this information track group.

Information is recorded in the information track 9 at high density in the direction of arrow A as a row of circular or elliptical recording bits with a diameter of about 1 micron. In this case, the optical disc rotates in the direction of arrow B. The 0 information trunk group is divided into areas 1h, 11z- at equal intervals with the radius indicated by 10 as a reference.
・11N...0 In the non-embodiment, for the sake of explanation, the information trunk 9 is assumed to be the M-th information track from the outside of the optical disc, and the portion of this information track 9 divided by the above-mentioned division area is used as a reference. With the line 10 as the head, the distance between sectors is 1+sector M2, respectively.・Fist・Sector MN + Sector MN-1
-1 is called conflict.

In this example, the information input process is shown in Figures 1 and 2.
This will be explained using figures. Input signal, e.g. defa memory 5
It will be stored in. Once the electronic buffer memory 5 is full, the input signal is subsequently stored in the electronic buffer memory B by the distributor. At the same time, the control section 7 detects that the reserved backup memory 5 is filled with information, and the information is transferred from the electronic buffer memory 5 to the optical head section 2 through the distributor 6. It is recorded in sector Ml. Once all the information has been transferred, the distributor 6 switches to the electronic buffer memory 6.

Here, the transfer from the electronic buffer memory 5 to the optical head section 2 is performed at a transfer speed that matches the recording speed of the optical disk, but since this recording speed is sufficiently high, the transfer is performed from the electronic buffer memory 5 to the optical head section 2. The process is completed while the input signal is stored in 6.

When the electronic buffer memory 6 becomes full, the input signal is stored in the empty electronic buffer memory 5 again by the distributor 4.

On the other hand, the information in the electronic buffer memory 6 is transferred to the optical head section 2 through the distributor 6 in response to instructions from the control section 8, and is recorded in the sector M2 of the optical disc 1. When the electronic buffer memory 6 becomes empty, the distributor 6 switches again to the electronic buffer memory 5, and when the electronic buffer memory 5 is filled with the input signal, it transfers information to the optical head section again. Repeat this step below,
All input image information is transferred to sector M of optical disk 1.
3. During the operations described above, the optical disk 1 continues to rotate at a constant speed, and the optical head is activated only when there is a recording instruction from the control unit 7 or 8. Recording is performed after section 2 reaches the beginning position of the sector to be recorded.

Next, the information output process of this embodiment will be similarly explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. First, the information recorded in the sector M1 is read out by the optical unit 2 and stored in the electronic backup memory 5 through the distributor 6. Then sector M
The information recorded in 2 is read out and stored in the electronic buffer memory 6 switched by the distributor B. During this time, the electronic memory register receives the output signal (
For example, the information signal is outputted from the terminal S through the distributor 4 in accordance with the transfer speed of the facsimile IJ, etc.).

When the electronic backup memory 5 becomes empty, the distributor 4 switches to the electronic backup memory 6 and continuously outputs the information stored therein. During this time, the optical disc 1 continues to rotate at a constant speed, but information is read out.
[Idle rotation c] However, when the control unit 7 detects that the electronic buffer memory 5 is empty,
Next, when the sector M3 comes to the reading position of the optical head section 2, the information recorded there is read out, transferred through the distributor 6, and stored in the electronic buffer-gamma memory 5.

By continuing the process as described above, an output signal of any transfer rate can be constantly taken out from the terminal S.

As mentioned above, since the information storage device of the present invention can input and output information at any transfer speed, any busy device can be connected as a memory. Further, if the present invention is used as an interface between devices having different transfer speeds, a large capacity buffer memory can be realized. Furthermore, by using the information storage device of the present invention as a file memory and the like, it is also possible to configure an inexpensive information processing system by making it function as a buffer memory between other devices.

The capacity required for the electronic backup memory used in the present invention depends on the ratio of the transfer speed between the electronic buffer memory and the rotary memory and the transfer speed of input/output signals, and depends on each case ( However, in most cases, the capacity is only about 64 bits, which is extremely small compared to the several megabits to tens of megabits required for the buffer memory that stores the entire page. Therefore, the information storage device of the present invention can be constructed relatively inexpensively.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, an optical disk memory composed of an optical disk and an optical head section was used as the rotating memory, but such a rotating memory is capable of transmitting electrical information signals in a large capacity. The present invention can be implemented using any type of storage device as long as it can be stored at low cost and can be loaded and unloaded at a sufficiently high transfer rate. However, considering that the recording medium is always rotating during operation in the present invention, from the viewpoint of the lifespan of the recording medium, the above-mentioned optical disk memory, which is characterized by non-contact recording and playback, is particularly recommended. Also, the distributor of the above embodiment, which gives a favorable result,
The configuration of the controllers L-x, Y-ru, etc. can be modified in various ways, but this does not detract from the spirit of the present invention. As explained above, the present invention The human output of information is ijJ at any transfer speed like a cloud memory.
In conventional information storage devices that are capable of

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, 6.4.
...Distributor 5,6...Electronic (sofa memory 7.811111111-control section 9.
I+- etc. information track 10...Reference line 111.112. ..., 11N, 11N month, ...
・・・・Segmented area Japanese Patent Publication No. 1983-6758 (4)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A rotating memory, at least two small-sized electronic buffer memories, and a connection between a specific electronic buffer memory and the rotating memory among the plurality of electronic buffer memories. means for transferring information; means for switching the particular electronic buffer memory according to the storage state of information in the plurality of electronic buffer memories; and means for sequentially inputting and outputting information to the plurality of electronic buffer memories. an information storage device comprising means. (2) The information storage device 0 according to claim 1, wherein the rotary memory is an optical disk memory.