Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
193 words
Image storage and distribution apparatus comprising: a computer bus; a high speed backplane bus; a local area network; a central processing unit coupled to the computer bus; an Ethernet local area network interface coupled between the computer bus and the local area network; a plurality of bidirectional input/output interface cards coupled to the computer bus and the high speed backplane bus that each comprise a plurality of bidirectional input/output ports that are respectively coupled to a plurality of user workstations, a fiber optic interface, and a FIFO buffer; and a plurality of disk modules coupled to the computer bus and the high speed backplane bus, that each comprise: a plurality of storage units, one of which provides for movement of parity bits and the remainder of which provides for movement of data; and a distribution card coupled to the plurality of storage units that comprises a plurality of input/output ports, a controller coupled to the computer bus through a first input/output port, a double buffer coupled to the high speed backplane bus through a second input/output port, and an error correction circuit coupled between the double buffer and the plurality of storage units.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
193 words
Image storage and distribution apparatus comprising: a computer bus; a high speed backplane bus; a local area network; a central processing unit coupled to the computer bus; an Ethernet local area network interface coupled between the computer bus and the local area network; a plurality of bidirectional input/output interface cards coupled to the computer bus and the high speed backplane bus that each comprise a plurality of bidirectional input/output ports that are respectively coupled to a plurality of user workstations, a fiber optic interface, and a FIFO buffer; and a plurality of disk modules coupled to the computer bus and the high speed backplane bus, that each comprise: a plurality of storage units, one of which provides for movement of parity bits and the remainder of which provides for movement of data; and a distribution card coupled to the plurality of storage units that comprises a plurality of input/output ports, a controller coupled to the computer bus through a first input/output port, a double buffer coupled to the high speed backplane bus through a second input/output port, and an error correction circuit coupled between the double buffer and the plurality of storage units.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
16 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the error correction circuit comprises RAID 3 error correction circuitry.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
23 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the double buffer has a size that is large enough to support a predetermined large file segment.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
34 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a parallel data transfer protocol is employed to transfer data over the high speed backplane bus between the distribution cards and the plurality of bidirectional input/output interface cards.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
28 words
The apparatus of claim 1 which further comprises a switch coupled to each of the interface cards that permits coupling of a plurality of modular working storage units.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
28 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the controller comprises means for inhibiting transfer of a block of data in its time slot when the double buffer is full.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein multiple outputs of each of the plurality of bidirectional input/output interface cards are selectable so that the card is time shared.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
17 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the controller controls the transfer of data to the computer bus.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
22 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the interface cards are configurable to combine data from multiple disk modules to support higher throughput.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
46 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of bidirectional input/output interface cards accepts data from only one disk module and several of the plurality of bidirectional input/output interface cards share one time slot on the backplane bus to support transfer of smaller files.