Data acquisition system
First Claim
1. A data acquisition and data processing system that emulates a disk drive, from a hardware perspective of an attached computer, having a data bus and address/control bus, the system comprising:
- a microprocessor coupled to the data bus and the address/control bus for overall control of the system;
data acquisition and processing circuitry coupled to the data bus and address/control bus;
a non-volatile memory coupled to the data bus and address/control bus, and being adapted to store data records which include disk drive control and file system information;
a random access memory coupled to the data bus and address/control bus, and being adapted to store data acquired by the data acquisition and processing circuitry in a specially formatted manner; and
disk interface circuitry coupled to the data bus and address/control bus, and being adapted to interface with the attached computer such that the system appears to the attached computer as a disk drive.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A data acquisition system for use with a computer includes an interface unit for interfacing with a computer; a control data memory for storing control data which is associated with controls for the computer; and a file data memory for storing file data which is to be acquired by the computer. A processing system is provided for controlling operation of the control data memory and file data memory, and for controlling transfer of data to the computer from the file data memory via the interface unit via a controllable data bus and an address/control bus.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A data acquisition and data processing system that emulates a disk drive, from a hardware perspective of an attached computer, having a data bus and address/control bus, the system comprising:
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a microprocessor coupled to the data bus and the address/control bus for overall control of the system; data acquisition and processing circuitry coupled to the data bus and address/control bus; a non-volatile memory coupled to the data bus and address/control bus, and being adapted to store data records which include disk drive control and file system information; a random access memory coupled to the data bus and address/control bus, and being adapted to store data acquired by the data acquisition and processing circuitry in a specially formatted manner; and disk interface circuitry coupled to the data bus and address/control bus, and being adapted to interface with the attached computer such that the system appears to the attached computer as a disk drive. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A data mapping method for providing a set of data records suitable for transfer across a hardware interface so as to emulate the transfer of disk drive control information to an attached computer, said data mapping method comprising the steps of:
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a) partitioning disk interface circuitry which emulates partitioning a disk drive; b) formatting the disk interface circuitry, which emulates formatting a disk drive; and c) constructing a file system which emulates installing a file system on a disk drive.
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13. A data mapping method for transferring a set of data records acquired by a data acquisition and data processing system across a hardware interface to an attached computer in the same manner as the file contents of a disk drive, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing data acquired from the data acquisition and data processing system in locations with proper block, byte and word boundaries required for normal disk drive file data; passing data using correct "endian order" or byte alignment (within a data word) corresponding to that required by the attached computer; and aligning blocks of data corresponding to certain channels of data acquisition to data blocks in the same manner as a file would be aligned on a disk drive.
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14. A method for transferring indexed data across a hardware interface comprising the steps of:
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receiving a request from an attached computer via disk interface circuitry; determining whether the request is for indexed data which is out of range of stored data records; returning an error signal via the disk interface circuitry for a request which is determined to be out of range; indexing the stored data records and retrieving the control information based on the request; and forwarding the data corresponding to the request to the disk interface circuitry for transfer to the attached computer.
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Specification