Apparatus and method for transferring interleaved data objects in mass storage devices into separate destinations in memory

• US 5,293,606 A
• Filed: 04/02/1991
• Issued: 03/08/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Commodore Electronics Limited. (Torque Lifestyle Brands, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sassenrath, Carl E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dixon, Joseph L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hiep T.
• Application Number:
  US07/679,371
• Time in Patent Office: 1,071 Days
• Field of Search: 395/400, 395/425, 364/200 MS File, 364/900 MS File, 365/49
• US Class Current: 710/33
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/28 using burst mode transfer, e.g. direct memory access DMA, cycle steal G06F13/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2003/0697 device management, e.g. handlers, drivers, I/O schedulers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0601 Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems

Abstract

A system for transferring interleaved data objects in mass storage devices into separate destinations in a system memory is described. The method includes the steps of determining for each of the data objects a destination address and a size; one time seeking of a data object from a location of the mass storage means; transferring data from the data object into the destination address, wherein the data has a size equal to the size for the data object; and repeating the transferring step for subsequent data objects.

Claims

1. In a computer system having a memory and a optical storage means, said optical storage means interleaving a plurality of data objects into a location and said optical storage means having a plurality of locations sequentially arranged, a method for transferring the data objects into separate destinations in the memory comprising the steps of:

(a) constructing a transfer list having a plurality of nodes, wherein said nodes include size and destination information of the data objects;

(b) seeking once a data object at a location of the optical storage means;

(c) determining from a next node a size and a destination address for the data object; and

(d) transferring data from the data objects into the memory at said destination address, wherein said transferred data has a size equal to the size for the data object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said node includes a pointer to a next node in the transfer list, a pointer specifying memory location storing the data from the data object, a length of the data to transfer from the data object, and a length of the data actually transferred from the data object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said node further includes a pointer to a callback function.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein step (d) comprises transferring data from the data object into the memory by:

(e) transferring the length of the data object if the next node exists;

(f) reading the next node if the next node does not exist at step (e);

(g) indicating the end of memory access if the next node does not exist at step (f); and

(h) repeating step (e) for remaining data in the data object.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein step (b) comprises seeking a data object at a location of the optical storage means by

determining the length and an offset of the data object;

and

sending a read command to the optical storage means.

6. In a computer system having a memory and a mass storage means, said mass storage means interleaving a plurality of data objects into a frame and said mass storage means having a plurality of frames sequentially arranged, a method for transferring interleaved data objects into separate destinations in the memory comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a transfer list having a plurality of nodes, where each of the nodes includes a size and a destination address for one data object;

(b) seeking once a data object from a frame of the mass storage means;

(c) reading a node from the transfer list; and

(d) transferring data from said one data object to said destination address, wherein said transferred data has a size equal to the size for said one data object.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

(e) repeating steps (c)-(d) for each of said data objects.