JPS61262918A - Access system for replaceable recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To give an access easily to a medium outside the control of a secondary storage mechanism without setting a medium outside a system into the system, by recording the information proper to a replaceable recording medium and allocating a special address to a medium inserting port within an automatic medium exchange device. CONSTITUTION:A secondary storage medium 20 containing a replaceable recording medium is connected to a host 10 via a bus 70, and plural drivers 40 are connected to a controller 30 of the mechanism 20. A medium storing position 60 of an automatic medium exchange device 50 includes plural storage positions. The device 50 contains a medium inserting port 55 for acceptance of a medium outside the control and a special address is allocated to the port 55. While an address range table 11 is added to the host 10 and a mount table 32 is provided to the controller 30. Then a medium outside the system is not set into the system. Thus an access is faciliated to the medium outside the control of the mechanism 20.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Technical field to which the invention pertains] The present invention relates to a removable storage medium access method for a computer system in which a secondary storage mechanism having a removable storage medium is connected to a central processing unit (host). In particular, the present invention relates to a removable storage medium access method that allows easy access to removable storage media outside of a secondary storage mechanism.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in a computer system, a secondary storage mechanism includes a control device and one or more drive devices connected to the control device, and when the recording medium is a removable recording medium, an automatic medium exchange device is also present. The control device is connected to the host and receives commands from the host via the bus regarding the operation to be performed, the transfer start address on the medium, the transfer length, etc.

This command information is converted into the necessary signals to control the transfer of data between the appropriate drives and other system elements. The drive device operates the recording medium, reads data from the recording medium, transfers the data to the control device, and writes data transferred from the control device to the recording medium. The automatic media exchange device receives a command regarding media movement from a host or a control device, mounts a specified medium from a media storage position to a drive device, demounts the specified medium from the drive device to the media storage location, and further mounts the specified medium from a certain media storage location. Move the media to another storage location.

Conventionally, in this type of known system, the host manages the media in the secondary storage mechanism, and the host decides on which media storage location the necessary data will be stored. Therefore, the host must also know the storage location of the media, and the host's O8 (Operating
ng System)'s secondary storage control routines.

Furthermore, when the storage location of the media is changed or the number of storage media is increased or decreased, it is necessary to change the secondary storage mechanism control routine of the host O8. At this time, since the secondary storage mechanism control routine is closely related to other processing routines, changes to O8 will be extensive and increase costs.

Recently, as a new method to solve this drawback, a method has been proposed in which media management is performed on the secondary storage mechanism side (Japanese Patent Application No. 60-4660). FIG. 4 shows an example of a device configuration based on this system, which consists of one or more hosts 1 to 10 and a secondary storage mechanism 20 connected thereto. The secondary storage mechanism 20 includes one control device 30, a plurality of drive devices 40, and one automatic medium exchange device 50. Automatic media exchange bag W50
includes a plurality of media storage locations 60. The host 10, the control device 30, and the automatic medium exchange device 50 are connected by a bus 70. The control device 30 and the plurality of drive devices 40 are connected by a known method. The control bag w30 is equipped with a mounting table 31.

The automatic medium exchange device 50 includes a storage table 51.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of tables in FIG. 4. FIG. 5(,) shows the configuration of one of the mount tables 31 of the control device 30, and it is determined whether or not a medium is mounted on the corresponding drive device corresponding to the drive device address of the plurality of drive devices 40. A mount identification flag for identification and an address range of the mounted medium are stored. For example, the mount identification flag is stored as "0''' if the medium is not mounted, and r(1jl) if it is mounted. FIG. 5(b) shows the configuration of the storage table 51 of the automatic medium exchange device 50. For each of the plurality of medium storage positions 60, a corresponding medium storage position address, a storage identification flag for identifying whether or not a medium is stored in the corresponding medium storage position, and a medium number of the stored medium are shown. is stored in the storage identification flag. For example, 101 is stored in the storage identification flag when the medium is stored, and 100 is stored in the storage identification flag when the medium is not stored. However, if the medium is not stored at the moment, 40, the drive address is stored.

In the system shown in FIG. 4, normal operations (for example, read and write operations) are performed as follows. When host-4=10 needs to access a data block on the medium, host 10 sends to controller 30 the address range in which the data block resides. The control device 30 determines whether the corresponding medium is mounted on any of the plurality of drive devices 40 by referring to the mount table 31,
Control data transfer immediately if the corresponding medium is mounted.

On the other hand, if the corresponding medium is not mounted.

The control device 30 sends the address range or the medium number of the medium to the automatic medium exchange bag W50 and instructs the medium to be mounted on the specified drive device 40. The automatic medium exchange device 50 refers to the storage table 51 to check the medium storage position where the instructed medium is stored, and mounts the medium on the specified drive device 40. Thereafter, the control device 30 controls data transfer between the host 10 and the drive device 40.

By the way, in this type of secondary storage mechanism, since the medium is generally replaceable, it is required to take the medium in and out between the secondary storage mechanism and the outside.

That is, it is necessary to be able to incorporate a medium that is not under the control of the secondary storage mechanism into the secondary storage mechanism and access data on this medium.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to enable easy access to media not managed by the secondary storage mechanism in a computer system in which a secondary storage mechanism having a removable recording medium is connected to a host.

[Characteristics of the invention and differences from the prior art]

The present invention is characterized by recording medium-specific information (medium-specific number) on a replaceable recording medium, and allocating a special address range to a medium insertion slot in an automatic medium exchange device. The present invention differs from the prior art in that data blocks on a medium can be accessed without having to incorporate the external medium into the system.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the present invention, which includes one or more hosts 10 and a secondary storage mechanism 20 connected thereto. 2
The secondary storage system 20 includes a control device 30, a plurality of drive devices 40, and an automatic media exchange device 50. The automatic media exchange device 50 includes a media entry port 55 for receiving unmanaged media and a plurality of media storage locations 60. host 1
0, the control device 30, the automatic medium exchange device 50, the bus 70
connected with. Control device 30 and multiple drive devices 40
are connected by a known method. The host 10 is equipped with an address range table 11. The control device 30 includes a mount 1 to a table 32. The automatic medium exchange device 50 includes means for executing a conversion formula from a logical block address to a medium number, and a storage table 52. The drive bag [40 is equipped with a medium unique number reading mechanism 41.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of tables in the present invention shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2(a) shows the structure of the address range table 11, which stores the medium unique number recorded on the medium and the address range of the data block on the medium. Figure 2(b) shows Mount 1-Table 3.
2 configurations are shown.

-'/- The corresponding drive device addresses of the plurality of drive devices 40, the mount identification flag for identifying whether or not a medium is mounted on the corresponding drive device 40, the address range of the mounted data block, and the medium unique number are stored. has been done. The mount identification flag contains, for example, rr Ou if the medium is not mounted, and "rr Ou" if it is mounted.
The storage table 52 is stored in FIG. 2(c).
The configuration of the media storage location 60 is shown, and the corresponding media storage location address of the plurality of media storage locations 60, a storage flag for identifying whether or not a medium is stored in the media storage location 60, and the media number of the stored medium are stored. ing. Further, in the medium storage position address of this storage table 52, γ is stored as the address of the medium insertion slot 55. The storage identification flag stores, for example, 101 when a medium is stored, and stores, for example, 100 when no medium is stored. However, if the medium is not currently stored but mounted on the drive device 40, its drive device address is stored.

Regarding the medium-specific number, for example, the year, month, day, hour, minute, second, etc. of manufacture should be recorded on the medium at the time of manufacturing the medium, or when the system is installed or when the medium is installed in the system. At that time, the system-specific symbols and the serial number of the medium are recorded as a medium-specific number. Regarding the address range to be assigned to the medium insertion slot 55, an address range other than the address range assigned to the data block on the medium in the secondary storage mechanism 20 may be assigned.

FIG. 3 shows the operation flow of the secondary storage mechanism when a medium is inserted in the automatic medium exchange device 50, and the operation at the time of medium insertion will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, in step 100, an operator inserts a medium into the medium insertion slot 55. Next, in step 101, the automatic medium exchange device 50 detects the insertion of the medium, and the automatic medium exchange device 50 notifies the control device 30 that the medium has been inserted, or the host 10 3
0 to mount the insertion medium on drive 40. The control device 30 checks in step 102 whether or not there is a drive device 40 that has not mounted a medium by referring to the mount identification flag of the mount table 32, and if there is no drive device 40, the process proceeds to step 103.

RU (Least Recently Used)
The driving device 40 for the mount 1 is selected using an appropriate known method such as an algorithm. Following this, or
As a result of checking in step 102, if there is a drive device 40 that is not mounted 1~, the control device 30 sends command information including the address of the drive device for mount 1~ and the address range assigned to the medium insertion slot 55 in step 104. It is sent to the automatic medium switching device 50 via the bus 70.

The automatic medium exchange device 50 obtains the drive device 40 to be mounted from mount 1 to the drive device address of the command information sent from the control device 30, and recognizes that the medium is inserted into the medium insertion slot 55 from the address range. . The automatic medium exchange device 50 refers to the storage identification flag in the storage table 52 and checks in step 105 whether a medium is mounted on the corresponding drive device 40 or not. If the medium is mounted on the drive device 40, in step 106, the automatic medium exchange device 50 refers to the storage table 52, checks the storage position address where the medium should be stored, and demounts the medium from the drive device 40. and store it in the storage position. Subsequently, or if the medium is not mounted as a result of checking in step 105, the automatic medium exchange device 50 takes out the medium inserted in the medium insertion [155] and mounts it in the corresponding drive device 40 in step 107. . The drive device 40 reads the medium unique number of the mounted medium by the medium unique number reading mechanism 41 in step 108, and sends the medium unique number to the control device 30 in step 109 to notify the medium mounting. . After the control device 30 stores the medium-specific number in the mount table 32, it notifies the host 10 of the medium-specific number and the insertion of the medium in step 1]0.

In step 111, the host IO refers to the address range 11 and determines whether the medium is within its own system. If the medium is within its own system, the host 10 sends the medium unique number and address range of the inserted medium to the control device 30 via the bus 70 in step 112. Control device 30
stores the corresponding address range of the mount table 32.

If the medium is not in the system as a result of checking in step 111, the hosts 1 to 10 create a message in step 1.13 and ask the operator whether or not to include the medium in the system. If the operator responds that the medium will be incorporated into the system, then in step 114 the host 10 performs the necessary processing to incorporate the medium into the system.
In addition, an address range other than the address range assigned to the media in the system and the media insertion slot 55 is assigned to the inserted medium. The host 10 connects the bus 70 in step 112.
The medium unique number of the inserted medium 4 and the address range are sent to the control device 30 via the controller. The control device 30 stores the address range in the corresponding address range column of the mount table 32. If the operator responds in step 113 that the media is not included in the system, the host
In step 115, the medium unique number of the inserted medium and the address range assigned to the medium insertion slot 55 are sent to the control device 30 via the bus 10. The control device 30 stores the address range in the corresponding address range column of the mount table 32. Thereafter, access to the medium is performed within the address range assigned to the medium insertion slot 55. In the following, we have described the case where the two media are inserted into the secondary storage mechanism, but when the medium is to be taken out from the secondary storage mechanism, the address range table 11 and the storage table 52 may be rewritten as necessary.

In this embodiment, it has been described that the medium specification in the medium mount command from the control device 30 to the automatic medium exchange device 50 is performed using an address range (step 104). , and the medium specification may be performed using the medium insertion load address. Alternatively, the control device 30 may directly specify the medium to be demarcated in step 104 without storing the drive device address in the storage identification flag of the storage table 52. The address range table 11 is provided in the secondary storage mechanism 20;
The next storage mechanism 20 may notify the host 10 of the type of inserted medium. Furthermore, the drive device 4 in which the medium is mounted 1 to 4
0 spontaneously reads the medium unique number (step 10
8), it was described that the medium unique number is sent to the control device 30 to notify the medium mount (step 109), but when the drive device 40 detects that the medium is mounted on the mount 1, it interrupts the control device 30. The medium specific number may be read according to instructions from the control device 30 and sent to the control device 30. Similarly, although it has been described that the control device 30 spontaneously sends the medium unique number to the host 10 to notify the medium mounting (step 110), the control device 30 interrupts the host 10 and The medium unique number may be sent to the host 10 according to an instruction.

In this way, the information included in the command from the control device 30 to the automatic medium exchange device [50, the format of tables,
The operation sequence when inserting the medium is an m-piece example, and can be arbitrarily designed according to the specific implementation method of the present invention. Furthermore, in this embodiment, a secondary storage mechanism having one control device, one automatic medium exchange device, and one medium insertion slot has been described. It is easily understood that the secondary storage mechanism having a medium insertion slot can also be realized by a method similar to that of this embodiment.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, since a unified medium-specific number is recorded on the medium, it becomes easy to distinguish between media inside and outside the system. Furthermore, because a special address range is assigned to the media entry slot, data blocks on the media can be accessed without the need to incorporate media outside the system into the system. Therefore, the present invention has the advantage that media outside the system can be easily accessed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of tables in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the operation flow when inserting a medium in FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional system, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of tables in FIG. 4. IO...Host, 20...Secondary storage mechanism, 30
... Control device, 40... Drive device, 50... Medium automatic exchange device, 55... Medium insertion slot, 60... Medium storage position, 70... Bus, 11.31, 32.
51... table.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A secondary storage mechanism having a replaceable recording medium is connected to a central processing unit, and the secondary storage mechanism is connected to a control device connected to the central processing unit and a plurality of drive devices connected to the control device. In a computer system comprising an automatic medium exchange device including a plurality of medium storage positions, medium-specific information is recorded on the replaceable recording medium, and a medium insertion slot is provided in the automatic medium exchange device outside the medium storage position. . A removable storage medium access method, characterized in that an address range other than the address range of data blocks on a plurality of removable storage media in the secondary storage mechanism is allocated to the removable storage medium of the medium insertion slot. (2) Determine whether or not the removable recording medium inserted into the automatic medium exchanger through the medium insertion slot is a removable recording medium in the secondary storage mechanism based on the medium-specific information of the removable recording medium inserted into the automatic medium exchanger, and Claim 1, characterized in that an address range of a data block on the removable recording medium is determined from information.
Exchangeable recording medium access method described in Section 1.