Data error correction system
US4775978A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 12, 1987 |
| Grant date | Oct 4, 1988 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 12, 2007 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11B20/1833
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A data storage system has a plurality of individual data storage units, each of which can undergo unpredictable independent failure. By dividing data blocks to be stored therein into a number of sub-blocks one or more less than the number of data storage units and creating a redundant data sub-block of the type permitting reconstruction of any one sub-block of data using the remaining sub-blocks and the redundent sub-blocks, and then storing each of the data sub-blocks and the redundant sub-block on a different one of the data storage units, it is possible to reconstruct any one failed data sub-block of a related group using the other sub-blocks. It is necessary to be able to detect the failure of the sub-block, and the preferred way is by a multibit error detection code appended to each sub-block, or by failure sensed within and by an individual data storage unit. The system is preferably implemented with disk drives functioning as the data storage units in view of the well-known tendency of such devices to occasionally generate an error which prevents reading a previously written record on one of them.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.