JPH0132586B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (a) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a signal line for information writing/reading control and a magnetic The present invention relates to a magnetic disk device equipped with a head positioning control signal line, and more particularly to a magnetic disk device provided with means for transmitting and receiving additional information using the above-mentioned basic interface signal line with a host device.

(b) Background of the Technology Recently, magnetic disk devices such as floppy disk devices and 5-inch hard disk devices are increasingly being incorporated into information processing systems.

Recent information processing systems, such as online systems, have become more sophisticated and complex in their use, and therefore require stable operation at all times and quick recovery measures in the event of a breakdown.

On the other hand, magnetic disk drives such as floppy disk drives and 5-inch hard disk drives have only basic interface functions with host devices, so they do not have the ability to send status information generated inside the magnetic disk drive. do not have. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a method for transmitting the status information necessary to guarantee stable operation of an information processing system to a host device without significantly changing the current functions of a magnetic disk device such as a 5-inch hard disk device. requested.

(c) Prior art and problems Magnetic disk devices such as floppy disk devices and 5-inch hard disk devices use the simplest interface as a control method with host devices, but this method is Due to its simplicity and small number of signal line types, the control commands from the host device can only function as basic commands (write/read commands, positioning commands) for the magnetic disk device.

Therefore, for example, when an error occurs in a magnetic disk device, the system only transmits the presence or absence of an error to the host device, but has the disadvantage that it does not have the function of transmitting error status information and the like to the host device.

(d) Purpose of the Invention The object of the present invention is to provide a new magnetic disk device that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, and in particular, to provide a novel magnetic disk device that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, and particularly improves the conventional magnetic disk devices employed in floppy disk devices and 5-inch hard disk devices. An object of the present invention is to realize a magnetic disk device capable of transmitting status information such as error information within the magnetic disk device to a host device using the interface signal line.

(e) Structure of the Invention The present invention uses a signal line for controlling the writing/reading of information and a signal line for controlling the positioning of the magnetic head as an interface signal line for transmitting and receiving information between a host device and a magnetic disk device. The magnetic disk device is equipped with a magnetic disk device in which the positioning of the magnetic disk device is performed using step pulse signals for positioning control from the host device, wherein the number of step pulses for positioning control from the host device is counted, and the number of pulses is determined based on the counted number of pulses. A means for decoding and identifying whether it is a positioning control command or a command other than positioning control, and a means for transmitting information regarding the decoded and identified command other than positioning control through a signal line for transmitting read information from the magnetic disk device are provided. This can be achieved by a magnetic disk device characterized in that status information such as error information within the magnetic disk device is also transmitted to a host device.

(f) Examples of the invention The present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the magnetic disk device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows an operation diagram of FIG. 1.

In the figure, 1 is an interface section, 2 is a counter circuit, 3 is a decoder circuit, 4 is a shift register circuit, 5 and 6 are AND circuits, 7 is an OR circuit, and .about. indicates the status of signals.

Here, is a signal resulting from translation by the decoder circuit 3, is a positioning control signal, is a status information report command signal, is a step pulse for positioning control transferred from a host device, is a read clock signal for reading control, and is The read information or status information each indicates a seek complete signal indicating completion of positioning.

This embodiment consists of an interface section 1 for transmitting and receiving signals with a control device (not shown), a counter circuit 2 for counting step pulses for positioning control from the control device (not shown), and a counter circuit 2 for counting step pulses for positioning control from the control device (not shown). a decoder circuit 3 that translates the count value to determine whether it is a normal positioning command or another command; a shift register circuit 4 that temporarily stores status information generated within the magnetic disk device; the decoder circuit 3 and the shift register circuit. The AND circuit 5 calculates the logical product of the input signals from the decoder circuit 3 and outputs the result to the logical sum circuit 7. An AND circuit 6 calculates and outputs it to an OR circuit 7. An AND circuit 6 calculates an OR of the input signals from the AND circuit 5 and the AND circuit 6, and reads it and sends it to a control device (not shown) via an information signal line. It is composed of an OR circuit 7 for sending out data.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the operation diagram shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the maximum number of cylinders that the magnetic storage device has is 320 or less, and if the number of step pulses to be counted is 320 or less, it is decoded as a positioning command, and if it is 320 or more, it is decoded as another command.

In this embodiment, when the number of steps is 512, the command is used to send status information of the magnetic storage device. Further, the seek complete signal is a signal that is ``0'' during a normal positioning operation, becomes ``1'' when the positioning operation is completed, and reports the completion of the positioning operation to a control device (not shown).

Now, a step pulse is input from the control device (not shown) via interface section 1.
Assume that the result of counting by the counter circuit 2 is 512 steps. Counter circuit 2 outputs this signal to decoder circuit 3. Decoder circuit 3 is like this
The 512 step number is translated to determine that it is a status information reporting command, and this signal is output to the AND circuit 5.

On the other hand, the seek complete signal becomes '0' when a step pulse is received by a circuit (not shown), and the decoder circuit 3 decodes and recognizes that it is a status information report command signal, and outputs the status information stored in the shift register 4. As soon as it becomes possible to transfer
1' and reports the start of transfer to a control device (not shown) via a circuit not shown.

At the above time point, the state information stored in the shift register 4 is serially transferred from the AND circuit 5 to the read information sending signal line via the OR circuit 7 in response to the read clock signal.

If the number of steps is 320 or less, it is interpreted as a positioning control signal and moves by that number of steps. When the movement is completed, the read gate signal instructs normal reading, and the information read is sent to the AND circuit 6 and the OR circuit 7. The read information is transferred to a control device (not shown) via a read information transmission signal line.

(g) Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, status information, etc. in a magnetic disk device can be transferred to a host device using a simple interface signal line adopted in conventional floppy disk devices, etc. This has the effect of providing a magnetic disk device that is capable of

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the magnetic disk device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows an operation diagram of FIG. 1. In the figure, 1 is an interface section, 2 is a counter circuit, 3 is a decoder circuit, 4 is a shift register circuit, 5 and 6 are AND circuits, 7 is an OR circuit, and .about. indicates the status of signals.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A signal line for controlling the writing/reading of information and a signal line for controlling the positioning of the magnetic head are provided as interface signal lines for connecting the host device and the magnetic disk device and transmitting and receiving information, and the signal line for controlling the positioning of the magnetic head is provided. A magnetic disk device that performs positioning control using a step pulse signal for positioning control from the host device, which counts the number of step pulses for positioning control from the host device, and issues a positioning control command or a command other than positioning control based on the counted number of pulses. A magnetic disk device comprising means for decoding and identifying whether the command is a command, and means for transmitting information regarding the decoded and identified command other than positioning control via a signal line for transmitting read information from the magnetic disk device. .