JPS5931152B2 - magnetic bubble storage device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a magnetic bubble storage device, and more specifically, it is particularly effective when applied to a magnetic bubble storage device having a single loop configuration.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Supported by the remarkable development of electronic technology including semiconductor integrated circuit technology, electronic computers are rapidly becoming smaller and faster. Furthermore, the reliability has been significantly improved by making the circuit elements solid-state. Furthermore, as the use of electronic computers progresses, the storage capacity of storage devices continues to increase year by year, and there is a strong desire to reduce the unit cost and access time required for storage. In order to reliably store and retain large amounts of information, a highly reliable non-volatile large-capacity memory device is required, but this is impossible to achieve with volatile semiconductor memory, and non-volatile However, magnetic tape devices, magnetic disk devices, and the like have a fatal flaw in that they have moving parts, and it is difficult to say that these are memory devices that meet needs in terms of reliability.

Magnetic bubbles were invented in view of the above technical background.

When a bias magnetic field of an appropriate magnitude is applied perpendicularly to the surface of a magnetic thin plate such as garnet or orthoferrite having uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, a cylindrical magnetic domain, a so-called magnetic bubble, is generated.

Magnetic bubble utilization devices that utilize magnetic bubbles to store information, perform logical operations, etc. are non-volatile, are all-solid-state devices, can have large capacity, and are relatively fast. For these reasons, its practical application is rapidly progressing in fields that take advantage of these characteristics.

In particular, the present invention provides a so-called magnetic bubble storage device which has various advantages as described above in place of a magnetic tape cassette used as a storage device for a data collection terminal, a POS terminal, or a storage device with a built-in maintenance program. This invention relates to a magnetic bubble storage device that is effective when applied to a magnetic bubble cassette.

An object of the present invention is to realize a novel magnetic bubble storage device that can effectively use data storage areas without waste.

Another object of the present invention is to realize a magnetic bubble storage device in which timing control of each functional pattern such as a detector and an eraser constituting the magnetic bubble storage device can be easily controlled.

An object of the present invention is to arrange a divider, an eraser, and a merger in order along the bubble transfer direction on at least one closed loop, and a detector connected to the divider via a first transfer path. , in a magnetic bubble storage device comprising the combiner and a generator connected via a second transfer path, the length of the first transfer path is the length of the transfer path between the divider and the eraser. The length of the second transfer path is set to be approximately equal to the length of the transfer path of the eraser and combiner, and the read operation, erase operation, and write operation of the bubble are performed using the same timing clock. This can be achieved by creating a magnetic bubble storage device featuring the following characteristics.

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

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a magnetic bubble storage device according to the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is an information storage and transfer path that stores and transfers bubble information, 2 is a detector that detects incoming magnetic bubbles and is made of, for example, a magnetoresistive element, and 3 is connected at one end to the information storage and transfer path 1. A first transfer path whose other end is connected to the detector 2; 4 is a conductor pattern magnetically coupled to a part of the information storage and transfer path 1 to form a divider 5; 6 is a conductor pattern of the information storage and transfer path 1; A conductive pattern 8 is magnetically coupled with a part of the second transfer path 9, one end of which is connected to the information storage and transfer path 1 to form the eraser 7, and a conductive pattern 8 is magnetically coupled with a part of the second transfer path 9, which is connected to the information storage and transfer path 1 at one end to form the generator 1.
A conductive pattern 0 forms a conductor pattern, and a merging device 11 is arranged at a position where the information storage transfer path 1 and the second transfer path 9 intersect. In addition, in the figure, N is the number of bits indicating the distance from the eraser 7 to the combiner 11, N2 is the number of bits indicating the distance from the generator 10 to the combiner 11, and N3 is the number of bits indicating the distance from the divider 5 to the eraser 7. The number of bits, N4, indicates the number of bits from the divider 5 to the detector 2, respectively. What is important in the configuration of the present invention is the number of bits N from the divider 5 to the eraser 7.
3, the number of bits N4 from the divider 5 to the detector 2 is set equal or shorter, and the number N1 of bits from the eraser 7 to the combiner 11 and from the generator 10 to the combiner 1 are set equal or shorter.
This is because the number N2 of bits up to 1 is set equal. Even better is to set the bit numbers N3 and N4 to be equal. The operation of the magnetic bubble storage device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 for a case where the numbers of bits N3 and N4 are equal.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a data format applied to the magnetic bubble storage device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a time chart for explaining the operation of FIG. 1.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the data format used in the magnetic bubble storage device of the present invention is composed of a plurality of sectors 1 to 64 and a postamble in which information "O" is written. Bubble information consisting of the following information is allocated on the information storage and transfer path 1 in FIG.
Further, as shown in the figure, each sector is composed of a gap G1 consisting of a plurality of bytes of information "O", an index field IF, a data storage area DS, and a guard G2 consisting of, for example, one byte of information "0". Tutus field IF consists of sector address mark FEl, sector address SAl, error check bit CRCl, and data storage area DS includes zeta mark DM, data area DT,
It consists of an error check bit CRC2. Further, in FIG. 3, A is a basic timing clock sent out from the host device t, B is a detection data signal detected by the detector 2, and C is a signal for supplying current to the conductor pattern 6 constituting the eraser 7. The erase signal D is a write signal for supplying a current to the conductor pattern 8 constituting the generator 10 in accordance with the information to be written.

Now, information is written as follows. Bubble information stored on the information storage and transfer path 1 circulates along the information storage and transfer path by a driving magnetic field applied from the outside.

Bubble information that sequentially arrives at the divider 5 on the information storage and transfer path 1 is divided into two parts and duplicated by the divider 5, and one bubble is transferred to the detector 2 via the first transfer path, and the other bubble is transferred. The signal is transferred on path 1 and sent to eraser 7.

The detector 2 detects the sector address mark FE and sector address SA of the bubble information string that arrive one after another, inputs the detection signal to an address matching circuit (not shown), and checks whether the current address is the address to which new information should be written. Verify whether or not. These address information are sequentially read out by the detector 2 in synchronization with the clock A sent from the host device in synchronization with one driving cycle of the bubble shown in FIG. The period from gh in FIG.
The error check bit CRC is read by the detector.
After l is detected, the address information is checked by the address check circuit shown in the figure based on the signal from the detector, and if there is an error, the circuit performs a corrective operation.

In fact, the address check is performed within one cycle of the bubble 5 drive cycle. If there is no error as a result of the check, the data storage area DS following the index field IF is detected by the detector 2. At this time, the leading bubble of the data storage area transferred on the first transfer path 3 and detected by the detector 2 is transferred by N4 bits and is already copied by the divider 5 on the transfer path 1 at the same time as it reaches the detector. One of the generated bubbles has been transferred by N3 bits and has reached the eraser 7. Therefore, at the same time as B in the same figure when the detector starts reading out the data actually stored at time h in FIG. is supplied every cycle in synchronization with basic clock A (C in the figure). Furthermore, according to the present invention, data is detected and erased at time h in FIG. will be supplied. That is, the number of bits from the divider 5 to the detector 2 N4 and the number of bits from the divider to the eraser 7 N4
By setting the number of bits N1 from the eraser 7 to the confluencer 11 equal to the number N2 of bits from the generator 10 to the confluencer 11, the index field 1F can be detected by the detector at the same time. New bubble information can be written while erasing old bubble information in the data storage area.

Therefore, after detecting that it is a predetermined address and completing the error check operation, it is possible to erase the previous information and write new information.

This means that the detection (read) operation, erase operation, and write operation can all be performed at the same timing, making it easier to control the timing of the peripheral circuits that control each of these functions. means. This is particularly effective since it is possible to omit a counter or the like for monitoring the time relationship of each functional unit when rewriting one bit or the like. As explained above, according to the present invention, a write operation can be performed immediately after detection without providing a waiting time, so that data can be effectively arranged on the information storage and transfer path without waste.

Further, since mutual timing control of each functional section such as the detection section, erasing section, and generation section is facilitated, there is also an advantage that the timing control circuit thereof can be simplified. In particular, the present invention can omit counters, shift registers, etc. that are conventionally required in order to monitor the bit correspondence between read data and write data. Furthermore, the practical effects of applying this method to fields such as data collection terminals and POS terminals where shortening of access time is an issue are enormous.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a magnetic bubble storage device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram explaining a data format applied to the invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a magnetic bubble storage device according to the invention. It is a time chart explaining read/write control. In the figure, 1 is an information storage and transfer path, 2 is a detection section, 5 is a divider, 6 is an eraser, and 10 is a generator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A divider, an eraser, and a confluencer are arranged in order along the bubble transfer direction on at least one closed loop, and a detector is connected to the divider via a first transfer path. and a generator connected to the combiner via a second transfer path, in which the length of the first transfer path is defined as the length of the transfer path between the divider and the eraser. and the length of the second transfer path is set to be substantially equal to the length of the transfer path of the eraser and combiner, and the read operation, erase operation, and write operation of the bubble are performed with the same timing clock. A magnetic bubble storage device featuring: 2. In the magnetic bubble storage device according to claim 1, after the index mark containing the error check bit of the bubble information transferred on the closed loop is detected by the detector, the error check circuit detects the index mark containing the error check bit of the bubble information transferred on the closed loop. 1. A magnetic bubble storage device characterized in that upon detecting this, a reading operation of data information following the index mark is started, and at the same time the eraser and generator are operated.