Hard disk cache for CD-ROM and other slow access time devices
US5884093A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 7, 1995 |
| Grant date | Mar 16, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 7, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2212/312
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A controller system for a CD-ROM drive or other slow access device such as a magneto-optical device using a conventional hard disk drive as a cache memory. In some embodiments, the hard disk cache is partitioned to use a portion thereof to clone the most often used data blocks on the CD-ROM disk such as the directory/file allocation table, while the balance of the hard disk is used to cache some or all of the balance of the CD-ROM disk using conventional cache memory least recently used rules. Three bus controllers for the host computer, CD-ROM drive and the hard disk cache are controlled by a microprocessor which runs a control program that implements the cloning and cache rules. The three bus controllers are connected by a DMA bus for faster transfer of data. The microprocessor controls the directions of the DMA transfers by data written to a control register.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.