Media drive control system and method

• US 7,664,893 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2004
• Issued: 02/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VIA Technologies Incorporated (VIA Technologies)
• Original Assignee: VIA Technologies Incorporated (VIA Technologies)
• Inventors: Huang, King
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai; Henry W. H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tseng; Cheng-Yuan
• Application Number:
  US11/025,266
• Publication Number:
  US 20050248538A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,875 Days
• Field of Search: 345/169, 345/522, 365/221, 365/240, 370/230, 710/52, 386/104
• US Class Current: 710/40
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/02 Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10 Digital recording or reproducing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/10638 First-in-first-out memories [FIFO] buffers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/10777 instructions or commands
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/10805 involving specific measures to prevent a buffer overflow

Abstract

Media drive control system and method. The media drive control system comprises a player console, a user operation filter, and a plurality of playback management devices. The player console provides an instant user operation (UOP) according to a received user command. The user operation filter comprises a queue and a management device. The queue receives and stores a plurality of UOPs, and outputs stored UOPs as control instructions on a first-in-first-out basis. The management device determines whether the queue is full. If the queue is full, the management device discards at least one of the stored UOPs prior to storing the instant UOP in the queue. Each playback management device receives control instructions for controlling corresponding playback devices.

Claims

1. A media drive control system, comprising:

a plurality of playback management devices, each coupled to a corresponding playback device; and

a user operation filter, comprising;

a queue, receiving, storing and outputting a plurality of user operations UOPs as control instructions including at least a termination instruction as a predetermined condition, on a first-in-first-out basis; and

a management device;

1) prioritizing the received termination instruction to be the first among the stored UOPs for outputting to the corresponding playback management device by emptying the queue as a predetermined condition is determined,

2) discarding at least one of the stored UOPs to free the queue capacity for storing the received UOP into the queue if the queue is full; and

3) receiving a ready signal from one of the playback management devices and thereby transmitting a stored UOP having the first priority to the corresponding playback management device if the queue is not empty;

wherein the plurality of playback management devices receive the stored UOPs as control instructions from the management device of the user operation filter to accordingly control corresponding playback devices, and provide a next ready signal to inform the user operation filter to provide a next control instruction after completing the present control instructions.

3. The media drive control system of claim 1, wherein the playback devices comprise stepping motors.

5. The media drive control system of claim 1, further comprises a player console, providing the user operation UOP to the user operation filter in response to receiving a user command at the player console.

2. A control method for a media drive control system, comprising steps of:

receiving an instant UOP from a player console;

determining whether the instant UOP is a particular playback instruction including a termination instruction for at least one of a plurality of playback devices, storing the instant UOP in a queue, and prioritizing the instant UOP in the queue as first among the stored UOPs to be output to a corresponding of a plurality of playback management device by emptying the queue if the UOP is the particular playback instruction;

determining whether the queue is full;

discarding at least one of a plurality of UOPs stored in the queue to free capacity for storing the instant UOP if the queue is full;

determining whether the queue is empty when receiving a ready signal from one of the plurality of playback management devices, wherein the ready signal is provided after one of the playback management devices has completed one of the control instructions; and

if the queue is not empty, outputting the stored UOP having first priority as a control instruction to control the corresponding playback management device.

4. The control method of claim 2, wherein the playback devices comprise stepping motors.