Magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic devices

Claim 2

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device comprising: a sheet of a magnetic material, wherein cylindrical bubble domains are maintained at a predetermined size, when bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength is applied normal to the planar surface; first means for uniformly applying bias magnetic field of the predetermined strength normal to the entire planar surface of said sheet; second means for applying locally to respective regions of said sheet a reverse bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength in the reverse direction with respect to the direction of said uniformly applied bias magnetic field thereby establishing in said respective regions a trapping field having a magnetic strength lower than that of the uniformly applied bias magnetic field, so that the cylindrical bubble domains are retained within trapping regions by respective trapping fields, said second means forming a plurality of said trapping regions arranged adjacent to one another on the planar surface at such a distance that neighboring cylindrical bubble domains, disposed therein, are unstable because of the repulsion forces of neighboring domains to one another, said plurality of trapping regions forming at least one array of trapping regions; third means for injecting cylindrical bubble domains, representative of information to be processed by logical operations, into said array of trapping regions; fourth means shifting the cylindrical bubble domains in the array of trapping regions at a predetermined timing, said fourth means being connected to said array; and fifth means for deriving output binary coded information represented by the presence or absence of cylindrical bubble domains at predetermined positions in the array of trapping regions, whereby various kinds of logical operations are carried out.

Claim 3

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device according to claim 1, wherein said fourth means comprises timing bubble injecting means for injecting timing cylindrical bubble domains at predetermined timings into a trapping region located at one end of the array, said third means operationally injects into said trapping region located at one end of the array a train of cylindrical bubble domains representing the information to be processed, said informational cylindrical bubble domains being serially injected between the injection of sequential timing bubbles, and said fifth means being disposed at the other end of said array of trapping regions so as to detect the presence or absence of a bubble forced out of said other end of the array, whereby a serial AND operation is carried out.

Claim 4

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device according to claim 1, wherein said fourth means comprises timing bubble imjecting means for injecting timing cylindrical bubble domains at predetermined timings into a trapping region located at one end of said array, said third means comprises a plurality of bubble injecting means corresponding to respective trapping regions in said array, respectively, for injecting independently of one another cylindrical bubble domains into corresponding trapping regions depending on the information to be processed, said independent cylindrical bubble domains being parallelly injected between the injection of sequential timing bubbles, and said fifth means being disposed at the other end of the array of said trapping regions so as to detect the presence or absence of a bubble forced out of said other end of the array, whereby a parallel AND operation is carrIed out.

Claim 5

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device according to claim 1, wherein said third means comprises imformation bubble injecting means corresponding to respective trapping regions of said array, respectively, for injecting cylindrical bubble domains representative of information to be processed into said corresponding trapping regions independently of each other, said fourth means comprises means for applying a mobile field onto the array from one end to the other end thereof, and said fifth means being disposed at the other end of the array so as to detect the presence or absence of a bubble in any of the trapping regions of the array forced out of said other end by the mobile field, whereby an OR operation is carried out.

Claim 6

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device according to claim 4, wherein said fourth means further comprises clearing means for clearing the cylindrical bubble domains in said array of the trapping regions before commencing input of input information into the array by said third means, whereby OR operations are sequentially carried out.

Claim 7

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device according to claim 1, wherein said fourth means includes clearing means for clearing bubbles from at least a part of the trapping regions of said array, whereby misoperation of the device is reduced.

Claim 8

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device according to claim 1, wherein said trapping regions comprise an array of at least first, second and third trapping regions, said first, second and third trapping regions being adjacently disposed at distances such that neighboring cylindrical bubble domains, injected into said adjacent trapping regions, are unstable from repulsion forces generated by such two adjacent bubbles, said repulsion forces slightly exceeding the magnetic strength of the trapping field in respective trapping regions, said third means operationally repeatedly injects information bubbles into said first trapping region at a predetermined timing, and said fourth means includes means for applying a mobile field between the first and second trapping regions, said field capable of causing a bubble in the first trapping region to move into the second trapping region after information bubbles have been injected, and clearing means for clearing bubbles existing in the first and the third trapping regions at least at every second timing of said predetermined timing, whereby alternation of the presence and absence of a bubble in the second trapping region can be attained.

Claim 9

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device according to claim 7, wherein said fifth means operationally detects the presence and absence of a bubble in the second trapping region.

Claim 10

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device, according to claim 7, in which an adder is formed further comprising a plurality of said arrays of at least first, second and third trapping regions are arranged in a column, the respective arrays being representative of different stages in binary weights, said third means including means for injecting bubbles representative of an augend into the respective third trapping regions of the respective arrays, and means for injecting bubbles representative of an addend into the respective first trapping regions of the respective arrays after the bubbles representative of the augent have been injected, said fourth means further includes means for actuating said means for applying a mobile field between the first and second trapping regions in the respective arrays after bubbles representative of the addend have been injected, said clearing means of said fourth means operationally clearing a bubble existing in one of said first and third trapping regions of the respective stages of the arrays as a carry into the first region of the next higher stage of the arrays after the mobile field has been applied, whereby an addition opEration is carried out.

Claim 11

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device according to claim 9, in which a subtractor is formed, further comprising said means for injecting bubbles representative of an augend injects bubbles representative of a minuend, and said means for injecting bubbles representative of an addend injects bubbles representative of a subrahend, sixth means for converting said subtrahend into a complement thereof, said fourth means further including means for injecting a bubble into the first trapping region in response to the shift of a bubble from the highest stage of the array, whereby a subtraction operation is carried out.

Claim 12

A magnetic field bubble domain logical and arithmetic device according to claim 1, wherein an array of trapping regions is formed of at least first, second and third trapping regions having a distance between each said region which is selected to be such a small distance that the repulsion force generated by two bubbles coming into mutually adjacent trapping regions slightly exceeds the strength of the trapping fields of repective trapping regions, thereby excluding a bubble in each of mutually adjacent trapping regions, said third means operationally repeatedly injecting information bubbles into said first trapping region at a predetermined timing, and including at least one auxiliary trapping region formed by said second means for holding the repulsed bubbles, and said fourth means includes clearing means for clearing bubbles existing in the first and third trapping regions at least at every second timing of said predetermined timing, whereby alternation of the presence and the absence of bubbles in the second trapping region can be obtained.

Claim 13

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device, comprising a plurality of adders, operatively connected to one another in stages, wherein each said adder comprises a sheet of magnetic material, wherein cylindrical bubble domains are maintained at a predetermined size, when a bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength is applied normal to the planar surface; first means for uniformly applying a bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength normal to the entire planar surface of said sheet; second means for applying locally to respective regions of said sheet a reverse bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength in the reverse direction with respect to the direction of said uniformly applied bias magnetic field thereby establishing in said respective regions a trapping field having a magnetic strength lower than that of the uniformly applied bias magnetic field, so that cylindrical bubble domains are retained within trapping regions by respective trapping fields, said second means forming a plurality of said trapping regions arranged adjacent to one another on the planar surface at such a distance that neighboring cylindrical bubble domains, disposed therein, are unstable because of the repulsion forces of neighboring domains to one another, said plurality of trapping regions forming at least one array of trapping regions of at least first, second and third trapping regions, said first, second and third trapping regions being adjacently disposed at distances such that cylindrical bubble domains, injected into said adjacent trapping regions, are unstable from repulsion forces generated by such two adjacent bubbles, said repulsion forces slighly exceeding the magnetic strength of the trapping field in respective trapping regions, wherein a plurality of said arrays of at least first, second and third trapping regions are arranged in a column, the respective arrays being representative of different stages in binary weights; third means for injecting cylindrical bubble domains, representative of information to be processed by logical operations, into respective ones of said plurality of said arrays, said third means including means for injecting bubbles representative of an augend into the respectIve third trapping regions of the respective arrays, and means for injecting bubbles representative of an addend into the respective first trapping regions of the respective arrays after the bubbles representative of the augend have been injected; fourth means shifting the cylindrical bubble domains in said respective arrays of trapping regions at a predetermined timing, said fourth means being connected to said respective arrays, and said fourth means further including means for applying a mobile field between the first and second trapping regions of respective arrays, said field capable of causing a bubble in the first trapping region to move into the second trapping region after information bubbles have been injected, and clearing means for clearing bubbles existing in the first and the third trapping regions at least at every second timing of said predetermined timing, whereby alternation of the presence and absence of a bubble in the second trapping region can be attained; and fifth means for deriving output binary coded information represented by the presence or absence of cylindrical bubble domains at a predetermined positions in respective arrays of trapping regions, whereby various kinds of logical operations are carried out; wherein said fourth means further includes means for actuating said means for applying a mobile field between the first and second trapping regions in the respective arrays after bubbles representative of the addend have been injected, and said clearing means of said fourth means operationally clear a bubble existing in one of said first and third trapping regions of the respective stages of the arrays as a carry into the first region of the next higher stage of the arrays after the mobile field has been applied, whereby an addition operation is carried out; and wheren said third means of the respective adders operationally inject into the respective adders cylindrical bubble domains, representative of sampled information of a function of x with a small difference x in x therebetween as augends, and cylindrical bubble domains representative of the augend of a next adjacent stage of the adders, as the addend thereof; said third means repeatedly injecting bubbles representative of the results obtained from the respective adders into other adders of said plurality in the same manner until a single result is formed, whereby an integration operation is carried out.

Claim 14

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device, comprising a plurality of adders, operatively connected to one another in stages, wherein each said adder comprises a sheet of magnetic material, wherein cylindrical bubble domains are maintained at a predetermined size, when a bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength is applied normal to the planar surface; first means for uniformly applying a bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength normal to the entire planar surface of said sheet; second means for applying locally to respective regions of said sheet a reverse bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength in the reverse direction with respect to the direction of said uniformly applied bias magnetic field thereby establishing in said respective regions a trapping field having a magnetic strength lower than that of the uniformly applied bias magnetic field, so that cylindrical bubble domains are retained within trapping regions by respective trapping fields, said second means forming a plurality of said trapping regions arranged adjacent to one another on the planar surface at such a distance that neighboring cylindrical bubble domains, disposed therein, are unstable because of the repulsion forces of neighboring domains to one another, said plurality of trapping regions forming at least one array of trapping regions of at least first, second and third trapping regions, said first, second and third trapping regions being adjacently disposed at distances such that cylindrical bubble domains, injected into said adjacent trapping regions, are unstable from repulsion forces generated by such two adjacent bubbles, said repulsion forces slighly exceeding the magnetic strength of the trapping field in respective trapping regions, wherein a plurality of said arrays of at least first, second and third trapping regions are arranged in a column, the respective arrays being representative of different stages in binary weights; third means for injecting cylindrical bubble domains, representative of information to be processed by logical operations, into respective ones of said plurality of said arrays, said third means including means for injecting bubbles representative of an augend into the respectIve third trapping regions of the respective arrays, and means for injecting bubbles representative of an addend into the respective first trapping regions of the respective arrays after the bubbles representative of the augend have been injected; fourth means shifting the cylindrical bubble domains in said respective arrays of trapping regions at a predetermined timing, said fourth means being connected to said respective arrays, and said fourth means further including means for applying a mobile field between the first and second trapping regions of respective arrays, said field capable of causing a bubble in the first trapping region to move into the second trapping region after information bubbles have been injected, and clearing means for clearing bubbles existing in the first and the third trapping regions at least at every second timing of said predetermined timing, whereby alternation of the presence and absence of a bubble in the second trapping region can be attained; and fifth means for deriving output binary coded information represented by the presence or absence of cylindrical bubble domains at a predetermined positions in respective arrays of trapping regions, whereby various kinds of logical operations are carried out; wherein said fourth means further includes means for actuating said means for applying a mobile field between the first and second trapping regions in the respective arrays after bubbles representative of the addend have been injected, and said clearing means of said fourth means operationally clear a bubble existing in one of said first and third trapping regions of the respective stages of the arrays as a carry into the first region of the next higher stage of the arrays after the mobile field has been applied, whereby an addition operation is carried out; and wheren said third means of the respective adders operationally inject into the respective adders cylindrical bubble domains, representative of sampled information of a function of x with a small difference x in x therebetween as augends, and cylindrical bubble domains representative of the augend of a next adjacent stage of the adders, as the addend thereof; said third means repeatedly injecting bubbles representative of the results obtained from the respective adders into other adders of said plurality in the same manner until a single result is formed, whereby an integration operation is carried out.

Claim 15

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device, comprising a plurality of subtractors, operatively connected to one another in stages, wherein each said subtractor comprises: a sheet of a magnetic material, wherein cylindrical bubble domains are maintained at a predetermined size, when a bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength is applied normal to the planar surface; first means for uniformly applying a bias magnetic field of the predetermined strength normal to the entire planar surface of said sheet; second means for applying locally to respective regions of said sheet a reverse bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength in the reverse direction with respect to the direction of the uniformly applied bias magnetic field thereby establishing in said respective regions a trapping field having a magnetic strength lower than that of the uniformly applied bias magnetic field, so that cylindrical bubble domains are retained within trapping regions by respective trapping fields; said second means forming a plurality of said trapping regions arranged adjacent to one antoehr on the planar surface at such a distance that neighhboring cylindrical bubble domains, disposed therein, are unstable because of the repulsion forces of neighboring domains to one another; said plurality of trapping regions forming at least one array of trapping regions of at least first, second and third trapping regions, said first, second and third trapping regions being adjacently disposed at distances such that neighboring cylinDrical bubble domains, injected into said adjacent trapping regions, are unstable from repulsion forces generated by such two adjacent bubbles, said repulsion forces slightly exceeding the magnetic strength of the trapping field in respective trapping regions, wherein a plurality of said arrays of at least first, second and third trapping regions are arranged in a column, the respective arrays being representative of different stages in binary weights; third means for injecting cylindrical bubble domains, representative of information to be processed by logical operations, into respective ones of said arrays of trapping regions, said third means including means for injecting bubbles representative of a minuend into the respective second trapping regions of the respective arrays and means for injecting bubbles representative of a subtrahend into the respective first trapping regions of the respective arrays after the bubbles representative of the minuend have been injected, wherein means are futher provided for converting said subtrahend into a complement thereof; fourth means shifting the cylindrical bubble domains into respective arrays of trapping regions at a predetermined timing, said fourth means being connected to said array and said fourth means including means for applying a mobile field between adjacent trapping regions, said field capable of causing a bubble in one trapping region to move into the adjacent trappping region after information bubbles have been injected, and clearing means for clearing bubbles existing in the first and third trapping regions at at least every second timing of said predetermined timing, whereby alternation of the presence and absence of a bubble in the second trapping region can be attained; fifth means for deriving output binary coded information represented by the presence or absence of cylindrical bubble domains at predetermined positions in the array of trapping regions, wherein said fourth means further includes means for actuating said means for applying a mobile field between adjacent trapping regions in the respective arrays after bubbles representative of the subtrahend have been injected, said clearing means of said fourth means operationally clearing a bubble existing in one of said first and third trapping regions of the respective stages of the arrays as a carry into the first region of the next higher stage of the arrays after the mobile field has been applied, and, said fourth means further including means for injecting a bubble into the first trapping region in response to the shift of a bubble from the higher stage of the array, whereby a subtraction operation is carried out; and wherein said third means of the respective subtractors operationally injects into respective subtractors bubbles representative of the sampled values of a function of x with a small difference x in x therebetween, such that a minuend in one stage of the subtractors is used as a subtrahend in the next adjacent stage of the subtractors, and said third means repeatedly injects into said subtractors bubbles representative of the results obtained from the preceding respective subtractors, as renewed information, in the same manner until a single result is formed, whereby a differentiation operation is carried out.

Claim 16

A magnetic bubble domain logical and arithmetic device, comprising a plurality of subtractors, operatively connected to one another in stages, wherein each said subtractor comprises: a sheet of a magnetic material, wherein cylindrical bubble domains are maintained at a predetermined size, when a bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength is applied normal to the planar surface; first means for uniformly applying a bias magnetic field of the predetermined strength normal to the entire planar surface of said sheet; second means for applying locally to respective regions of said sheet a reverse bias magnetic field of a predetermined strength in the reverse direction with respect to the direction of the uniformly applied bias magnetic field thereby establishing in said respective regions a trapping field having a magnetic strength lower than that of the uniformly applied bias magnetic field, so that cylindrical bubble domains are retained within trapping regions by respective trapping fields; said second means forming a plurality of said trapping regions arranged adjacent to one antoehr on the planar surface at such a distance that neighhboring cylindrical bubble domains, disposed therein, are unstable because of the repulsion forces of neighboring domains to one another; said plurality of trapping regions forming at least one array of trapping regions of at least first, second and third trapping regions, said first, second and third trapping regions being adjacently disposed at distances such that neighboring cylinDrical bubble domains, injected into said adjacent trapping regions, are unstable from repulsion forces generated by such two adjacent bubbles, said repulsion forces slightly exceeding the magnetic strength of the trapping field in respective trapping regions, wherein a plurality of said arrays of at least first, second and third trapping regions are arranged in a column, the respective arrays being representative of different stages in binary weights; third means for injecting cylindrical bubble domains, representative of information to be processed by logical operations, into respective ones of said arrays of trapping regions, said third means including means for injecting bubbles representative of a minuend into the respective second trapping regions of the respective arrays and means for injecting bubbles representative of a subtrahend into the respective first trapping regions of the respective arrays after the bubbles representative of the minuend have been injected, wherein means are futher provided for converting said subtrahend into a complement thereof; fourth means shifting the cylindrical bubble domains into respective arrays of trapping regions at a predetermined timing, said fourth means being connected to said array and said fourth means including means for applying a mobile field between adjacent trapping regions, said field capable of causing a bubble in one trapping region to move into the adjacent trappping region after information bubbles have been injected, and clearing means for clearing bubbles existing in the first and third trapping regions at at least every second timing of said predetermined timing, whereby alternation of the presence and absence of a bubble in the second trapping region can be attained; fifth means for deriving output binary coded information represented by the presence or absence of cylindrical bubble domains at predetermined positions in the array of trapping regions, wherein said fourth means further includes means for actuating said means for applying a mobile field between adjacent trapping regions in the respective arrays after bubbles representative of the subtrahend have been injected, said clearing means of said fourth means operationally clearing a bubble existing in one of said first and third trapping regions of the respective stages of the arrays as a carry into the first region of the next higher stage of the arrays after the mobile field has been applied, and, said fourth means further including means for injecting a bubble into the first trapping region in response to the shift of a bubble from the higher stage of the array, whereby a subtraction operation is carried out; and wherein said third means of the respective subtractors operationally injects into respective subtractors bubbles representative of the sampled values of a function of x with a small difference x in x therebetween, such that a minuend in one stage of the subtractors is used as a subtrahend in the next adjacent stage of the subtractors, and said third means repeatedly injects into said subtractors bubbles representative of the results obtained from the preceding respective subtractors, as renewed information, in the same manner until a single result is formed, whereby a differentiation operation is carried out.