Self-managing variable field storage system for handling nested data structures
First Claim
1. A variable field storage system for storing variable length data field segments, each of which starts with a beginning delimiter character and ends with an ending delimiter character, said system being capable of containing free space between said segments, said system comprising:
- a serial periodic storage media;
an input device coupled to said storage media;
an output device coupled to said storage media;
an input/output data bus;
an access shift register means coupled to said input device and said output device and to said input/output data bus to receive data segments from said data bus for transmission to said input device and to receive data segments from said output device for transmission to said data bus; and
a queue shift register means coupled to said input device and said output device to receive from said output device data segments that are to be temporarily retained to provide storage space for new data segments that are supplied to said input device from said access shift register when free storage space is available between stored segments.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This disclosure relates to a storage system employing a serial periodic memory as the storage mechanism. The storage mechanism has one or more control and access ports which control data transmission to and from the storage mechanism, each port including input and output devices associated with a data track of the storage mechanism. A queue shift register is coupled between the input and output devices to receive previously stored information characters which are to be temporarily held when newly received information characters are to be written into the storage media. Control of the system resides in the control ports and is activated by commands from the external sources. A character set is employed which includes a beginning delimiter character and an ending delimiter character such that information segments may be of any length up to the capacity of the storage mechanism. The system control ports manage, among other things, the explicit representation of the beginning and end of strings of data and the decomposition of strings into substrings, the automatic allocation and reclamation of unused storage space as strings of data increase or decrease in size, and the permission or prohibition of access to data strings depending on the requestor'"'"'s identity. Data strings may be accessed according to their order or by symbolic addressing.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A variable field storage system for storing variable length data field segments, each of which starts with a beginning delimiter character and ends with an ending delimiter character, said system being capable of containing free space between said segments, said system comprising:
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a serial periodic storage media; an input device coupled to said storage media; an output device coupled to said storage media; an input/output data bus; an access shift register means coupled to said input device and said output device and to said input/output data bus to receive data segments from said data bus for transmission to said input device and to receive data segments from said output device for transmission to said data bus; and a queue shift register means coupled to said input device and said output device to receive from said output device data segments that are to be temporarily retained to provide storage space for new data segments that are supplied to said input device from said access shift register when free storage space is available between stored segments. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A variable field storage system for storing variable length data field segments, each of which starts with a beginning delimiter character and ends with an ending delimiter character, said segments being capable of being nested to any level as determined by the number of beginning delimiter characters previously not matched by ending delimiter characters during the scanning of each segment from the beginning of an initial segment, said system comprising:
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a storage media; a serial input means coupled to said storage media; a serial output means coupled to said storage media; and a delimiter balance counter means coupled to said serial output means to maintain a count of the number of beginning delimiter characters for a given field segment which have not been matched by an ending delimiter character. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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7. A variable field storage system for storing variable length data field segments each of which starts with a beginning delimiter character and ends with an ending delimiter character, said system being capable of containing free space between said segments, said system comprising:
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a storage media; serial input means coupled to said storage media; serial output means coupled to said storage media; means coupled to said storage media to detect said beginning delimiter characters and said ending delimiter characters; and free space detection means coupled to said storage media to detect the existence of a data character immediately following an ending delimiter character. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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10. In a variable field storage system for storing variable length data field segments, each of which starts with a beginning delimiter character and ends with an ending delimiter character, said system being capable of containing free space between said segments, said system including a serial periodic storage media, a character generator coupled to said storage media and means to write over characters previously stored in said media, the method comprising;
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detecting a beginning delimiter character of a field segment in said storage media; counting a prescribed number of character positions following said detected beginning delimiter character; generating an ending delimiter character and also data characters which are all of one kind after said generated ending delimiter character; and writing said generated characters over previously stored characters in said storage media at a position starting after said counted positions, said characters all of one kind indicating free space. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. In a variable field storage system for storing variable length data field segments, each of which starts with a beginning delimiter character and ends with an ending delimiter character, said segments being capable of being nested to any level as determined by the number of beginning delimiter characters previously not matched by an ending delimiter character during the scanning of each segment from the beginning of an initial segment, said system including a delimiter balance count register, the method comprising:
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incrementing said balance count register each time a beginning delimiter character is detected in a field segment; and decrementing said balance count register each time an ending delimiter character is detected in said field segment such that the contents of said balance count register indicates the level of nesting of a current segment. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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Specification