EP0503417A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and means for verification of write data
Assignee: Fujitsu Ltd
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Filing: 1992-03-02
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2012-03-02
Abstract
Abstract A system for verifying write data includes a host computer (10), a controller (16) having a write data path network (18) and a read data path network (34), and a disk drive array (D0..., D3, DP) for storing write data. The host computer provides host cyclic redundancy check characters that are appended to blocks of input write data. The write data blocks are divided into subblocks that are processed through separate channels and ports (PORT0,...PORT3). Port cyclic redundant check characters are appended to each data subblock, including a parity subblock. The read data path network (34) is coupled to receive the data subblocks with the appended host and port cyclic redundancy check characters from the write data path network means and has error detection circuitry (36, 38, 40, 42) for verifying the write data during the write mode.
Inventors
- 👤 Howard L. Barlow
- 👤 Kirk M. Enochs
- 👤 Alexander Troicky
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 12:28
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F11/00; G06F11/22; G06F11/2205; G06F11/2215; G06F11/07; G06F11/08; G06F11/10; G06F11/1008; G06F11/1076; G11; G11B; G11B20/00; G11B20/10; G11B20/18; G11B20/1833; G11B20/1816; G11B2020/183
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 23
Claim 1
Independent Claim
131 words
A system for verifying write data to be recorded in a storage means, comprising: a host interface for providing input blocks of write data; a means for generating host cyclic redundancy check characters appended to said write data blocks; and a controller coupled to said interface, said controller including a write data path network and a read data path network coupled to the output of said write data path network; said write data path network including means for dividing said data blocks into subblocks to be passed through respective ports, and port generator for appending port cyclic redundancy check characters to said data subblocks; said read data path network including first means for checking said host cyclic redundant check characters and second means for checking said port cyclic redundancy check characters.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
52 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said write data path network includes redundancy means coupled to said host interface for receiving said input data and for calculating redundancy subblocks to be passed through respective ports, and port generator means for appending port cyclic redundancy check characters to said redundancy subblocks.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said write data path network comprises write data holding registers respectively coupled to said port generator means for temporarily storing respective subblock data including redundancy subblock data.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
48 words
A system as claimed in claim 3, including terminal means comprising a number of terminals coupled to respective ones of said holding registers, and wherein said storage means is a fault tolerant disk drive array having a plurality of disk drives coupled to respective ones of said terminals.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
36 words
A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said plurality of disk drives includes at least one redundant disk drive for storing redundancy data, said redundant disk drive being coupled to a redundant port terminal means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
25 words
A system as claimed in claim 4 or 5, including a feedback path between said write data path network and said read data path network.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
64 words
A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said feedback path includes said terminal means, and said read data path network includes a number of read data holding registers coupled to said terminal means for temporarily storing said subblock data received from said terminal means; and a data sequencer for sequentially channelling said data subblocks including said redundant subblock stored in said holding registers.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said first checking means comprising a host cyclic redundancy checking circuit that is coupled to said data sequencer for checking said host data cyclic redundancy check characters.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
51 words
A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said second checking means includes an exclusive OR summer coupled to said holding registers for summing said port cyclic redundancy check characters and a zero check circuit tied to said summer for checking said sum of said port cyclic redundancy check characters.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
24 words
A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein said summer includes means for summing groups of consecutive host data bytes by modulo 2 summation.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
138 words
A system for verifying write data to be recorded in a storage means, comprising: host interface means for providing input blocks of write data; and a controller coupled to said interface, said controller including a write data path network and a read data path network coupled to the output of said write data path network; said write data path network comprising means for dividing said data blocks into data subblocks; independent ports coupled to said dividing means for receiving said data subblocks; said read data path network comprising: a data sequencer for sequentially channelling said data subblocks to recreate input blocks of write data; and means for checking said input blocks of write data; and means responsive to said checking means for flagging errors in the write data and initiating a retry operation if a failure is detected.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
29 words
A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said write data path network includes redundancy means coupled to said host interface for generating at least one redundant data subblock.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
27 words
A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said redundancy means is simple parity across the data subblocks, accumulated while dividing said write data blocks into subblocks.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
52 words
A system as claimed in claim 11, 12 or 13, wherein said host interface means or said write data path network includes means for generating host cyclic redundancy check characters appended to said write data blocks; and said read data path network includes means for checking said host cyclic redundant check characters.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
54 words
A system as claimed in claim 11, 12, 13 or 14, wherein said write data path network includes port generator means for appending port cyclic redundancy check characters to said data subblocks and, if provided, said redundancy subblocks; and said read data path network includes means for checking said port cyclic redundancy check characters.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
22 words
A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said port cyclic redundancy characters checking means includes duplicate CRC generating and comparing means.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
55 words
A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said port cyclic redundancy characters checking means includes an exclusive OR summer coupled to said write data path network for summing said port cyclic redundancy check characters and a zero check circuit tied to said summer for checking said sum of said port cyclic redundancy check characters.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
30 words
A system as claimed in any of claims 11 to 17, wherein said independent ports are provided with a plurality of disk drives coupled to respective ones of said ports.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
72 words
A method for verifying write data to be recorded in a storage means, comprising the steps of: providing input blocks of write data; generating host cyclic redundancy check characters appended to said write data blocks; dividing said data blocks into subblocks to be passed through respective ports; appending port cyclic redundancy check characters to said data subblocks; and checking said host cyclic redundant check characters and said port cyclic redundancy check characters.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
36 words
A method as claimed in claim 19, including the steps of receiving said input write data; calculating redundancy subblocks to be passed through respective ports; and appending port cyclic redundancy check characters to said redundancy subblocks.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
22 words
A method as claimed in claim 19 or 20, including the step of temporarily storing subblock write data and redundancy subblock data.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method as claimed in claim 19, 20 or 21, including the step of summing groups of consecutive host data bytes by modulo 2 summation.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method as claimed in claim 19, 20, 21, or 22, including the step of flagging errors in the write data and initiating a retry if a failure is detected.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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