Cylindrical magnetic domain memory apparatus

Claim 2

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory apparatus for storing information by the presence or absence of magnetic bubbles, comprising, a. a sheet of magnetic material of the type capable of retaining magnetic bubbles therein, b. a plurality of storage channel means on said sheet for circulating stored bubbles in response to an applied rotating magnetic field, c. an arrangement of thin film patterns on said sheet adapted to retain bubbles at closely packed positions adjacent said storage channels, said arrangement constituting a read-out channel packed with bubbles which are present along a predetermined direction in said read-out channel and which are moved in said predetermined direction when a bubble in the read-out channel adjacent a selected one of said storage channels is moved in said direction due to a repulsive force provided by a stored bubble reaching a predetermined position of any of said storage channels, d. bubble detecting means adjacent said read-out channel for detecting a bubble when one is applied thereto, said detecting means being positioned to receive the nearest bubble in said read-out channel when the bubbles present along said predetermined direction in said read-out channel are moved due to said repulsive force, e. a plurality of first magnetic switching means, associated respectively with each said storage channel, for altering the path of bubbles in a storage channel, when said associated magnetic switch is switched to a second state to cause said bubbles to reach a position in said storage channel sufficiently near said read-out channel to create the repulsive force required to cause movement of said bubbles in said readout channel, f. means for replacing bubbles in said read-out channel to refill said read-out channel, and g. control means for selectively switching said first plurality of magnetic switches to said second state.

Claim 3

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory as claimed in claim 1 further comprising, a. a write-in channel comprising a plurality of thin film patterns on said sheet adapted to retain bubbles at closely packed positions adjacent said storage channels, b. a plurality of second magnetic switching means associated with each storage channel respectively, each of said second switching means being positioned between said write-in channel and one storage channel for transferring an adjacent bubble from said write-in channel to said storage channel when said switching means is in a second magnetic state and a repulsion force is applied to said string of bubbles in said write-in means, and c. information writing control means for entering a bubble at one end of said write-in channel to create said repulsive force and for selectively switching said plurality of second magnetic switches to said second magnetic state.

Claim 4

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory as claimed in claim 2 further comprising, a. a plurality of bubble erasing means, associated with said storage channels, for destroying bubbles applied thereto, b. a third plurality of magnetic switch means, associated with each storage channel, respectively, for transferring a circulating bubble in said storage channel to said erasing means when said third switch means is in a second magnetic state, and c. control means for selectively causing said plurality of third magnetic switches to switch to said second state.

Claim 5

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory as claimed in claim 3 wherein each said storage channel comprises an arrangement of thin film patterns positioned to form a closed loop, said patterns being of the type which experience magnetic polarity changes in response to a rotating magnetic field to cause bubbles stored therein to move from point to point on a pattern and from a point on one pattern to a point on a adjacent pattern as said field direction changes.

Claim 6

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory as claimed in claim 4 wherein said first plurality of magnetic switches comprises a plurality of thin film magnetized patterns, each of which changes polarity in response to an applied magnetic field greater than that provided by said rotating magnetic field.

Claim 7

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory as claimed in claim 5 wherein said second plurality of magnetic switches comprises a plurality of thin film magnetized patterns, each of which changes polarity in response to an applied magnetic field greater than that provided by said rotating magnetic field.

Claim 8

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory as claimed in claim 6 wherein said third plurality of magnetic switches comprises a plurality of thin film magnetized patterns, each of which changes polarity in response to an applied magnetic field greater than that provided by said rotating magnetic field.

Claim 9

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory as claimed in claim 7 further comprising additional sheets of magnetic material of the type capable of retaining magnetic bubbles therein, each said sheet having arrangements of thin film patterns substantially the same as said first sheet forming corresponding storage channels, read-out channels, write-in channels, first, second and third plurality of magnetic switches, and wherein said control means for said first, second and third plurality of magnetic switches on all said sheets of magnetic material comprises a coordinate system of current carrying wires arranged to provide selective switching of said magnetic switches to thereby cause read-out from a selective storage channel, write-in to a selected channel and erasure of information in a selected channel.

Claim 10

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory apparatus comprising a sheet of magnetic material capable of retaining cylindrical magnetic domains; a plurality of information storing channels which are arranged on the sheet of magnetic material and each of which consists of a first predetermined arrangement of thin film patterns for forming a path for causing cylindrical magnetic domains corresponding to storage information to normally and successively circulate within a loop; means for generating a magnetic field rotating within a plane of the sheet of magnetic material in order to cause the magnetic domains to normally circulate within the loops of the plurality of information storing channels; a magnetic domain transfer line which is arranged on the sheet of magnetic material, which is cOmmon to the channels, and which consists of second and third predetermined arrangements of thin film patterns, each of the arrangements forming a row and normally retaining cylindrical magnetic domains, means for applying a cylindrical magnetic domain to the third predetermined arrangement of thin film patterns simultaneously when one of the domains disappears; and write-in and read-out means for introducing cylindrical magnetic domains corresponding to desired information into desired one of the information storing channels, and for reading out magnetic domains corresponding to the information from the desired one of the channels, whereby simultaneously when one magnetic domain to be written in is applied in response to a write-in operation of the write-in means to the thin film pattern at one end of said second predetermined arrangement of thin film patterns forming the magnetic domain transfer line, the domain to be written in is introduced into the desired channel due to a repulsion between the domain present at said thin film pattern at the one end and the domain to be written in, and whereby as soon as one cylindrical magnetic domain to be read out is supplied in response to a read-out operation of the read-out means from the desired channel to the vicinity of a thin film pattern among said third predetermined arrangement of thin film patterns which is located at a position corresponding to the desired channel, the domain is read out from the desired channel into the read-out means due to a repulsion between the domain to be read out and the domain present at the thin film pattern at said position corresponding to the desired channel.

Claim 11

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory apparatus comprising a sheet of magnetic material capable of retaining cylindrical magnetic domains; a plurality of information storing channels which are arranged on the sheet of magnetic material and each of which consists of a first predetermined arrangement of thin film patterns for forming a path for causing cylindrical magnetic domains corresponding to storage information to normally and successively circulate within a loop; means for generating a magnetic field rotating within a plane of the sheet of magnetic material in order to cause the magnetic domains to normally circulate within the loops of the plurality of information storing channels; a magnetic domain transfer line which is arranged on the sheet of magnetic material, which is cOmmon to the channels, and which consists of second and third predetermined arrangements of thin film patterns, each of the arrangements forming a row and normally retaining cylindrical magnetic domains, means for applying a cylindrical magnetic domain to the third predetermined arrangement of thin film patterns simultaneously when one of the domains disappears; and write-in and read-out means for introducing cylindrical magnetic domains corresponding to desired information into desired one of the information storing channels, and for reading out magnetic domains corresponding to the information from the desired one of the channels, whereby simultaneously when one magnetic domain to be written in is applied in response to a write-in operation of the write-in means to the thin film pattern at one end of said second predetermined arrangement of thin film patterns forming the magnetic domain transfer line, the domain to be written in is introduced into the desired channel due to a repulsion between the domain present at said thin film pattern at the one end and the domain to be written in, and whereby as soon as one cylindrical magnetic domain to be read out is supplied in response to a read-out operation of the read-out means from the desired channel to the vicinity of a thin film pattern among said third predetermined arrangement of thin film patterns which is located at a position corresponding to the desired channel, the domain is read out from the desired channel into the read-out means due to a repulsion between the domain to be read out and the domain present at the thin film pattern at said position corresponding to the desired channel.

Claim 12

A cylindrical magnetic domain memory apparatus having a plurality of memories according to claim 9 arranged in a stack form, each said memory having said sheet of magnetic material, including a plurality of switch means forming a matrix and providing corresponding to the respective information storing channels of the respective sheets in order to select a desired information storing channel on a predetermined sheet in response to the write-in and read-out operations by the write-in and read-out means, respectively, and switch selecting means for selecting desired one of the plurality of switch means in the matrix form in response to the write-in and read-out operations.