JP2004078946A - Image data recording reproducing system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data storage device for continuously inputting and outputting the data, simultaneously performing a plurality of pieces of input and output, improving an apparent internal data transferring speed, and increasing the number of pieces of input and output to be simultaneously processed. <P>SOLUTION: A compressing/extending part 22 compresses an SDI data and reduces the internal data transferring amount by using a buffer memory 23 for converting a data rate, in common as a memory for compression processing. A distributing/collecting part 24 divides the compressed SDI data, for example, for ten channels, into a plurality of pieces, and the data for one channel is distributed to be corresponded to eight magnetic optical disk devices D<SB>1</SB>, D<SB>2</SB>-D<SB>7</SB>, D<SB>8</SB>of a disk array part 28. An echo check code adding/detecting part 25 adds an error correction code to the compressed distributed SDI data and writes the same into a buffer memory 26. A protocol controller 27 records the data from the buffer memory 26 in a disk array part 28. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

The present invention relates to a data storage device that stores a large amount of data such as video data.

デ ィ ス ク Currently, disk array devices are used as data storage devices for computers. Since this disk array device can improve transfer speed performance and storage capacity, it has high reliability and is used as a high-speed large-capacity storage device.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the computer disk array device 50 and the host computer 60 are connected.

The disk array device 50 includes, for example, a disk drive 51 having a disk array unit 52 in which a plurality of hard disk drives (hereinafter, referred to as HDDs) are connected in parallel, and a disk drive control for controlling the disk drive 51 via a bus unit 56. And a part 57.

The disk drive 51 includes, in addition to the disk array unit 52, signal processing units 53 _1, ... 53 _n for performing predetermined signal processing on data recorded / reproduced in / from each HDD of the disk array unit 52, and an error correction code (Error Correction Code). A signal processing / error correction unit 55 including an ECC unit 54 for correcting data errors using a correcting code (hereinafter, referred to as ECC). Here, for example, the signal processing unit 53 _1, Small Computer System Interface: a (in the figure, referred to as SPC.) (Small Computer System Interface hereinafter referred SCSI.) Protocol controller and a buffer, the memory Consisting of

The bus unit 56 includes an ECC data bus 56a, a command bus 56b for controlling each unit, and a data bus 56c for direct memory access (DMA).

The disk drive control unit 57 includes a memory, a CPU, a DMA controller, and a dual port RAM, and causes the disk drive 51 to transmit and receive data or commands to and from the host computer 60 via the system bus 61.

The host computer 60 sends and receives data and commands to and from the disk drive 51 via the system bus 61.

JP 04-269087 A

The disk array device 50 is connected to the host computer 60 via one system bus 61, and has essentially one input or one output. For this reason, data and control commands cannot be sent simultaneously, so that data cannot be input / output continuously.

Further, even if a plurality of input / output requests come at the same time, they can only be executed one by one in order, so that they are not suitable for storing uninterrupted data such as moving image data or audio data. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, enables continuous input / output of data, can perform a plurality of inputs / outputs simultaneously, further improves the apparent internal data transfer speed, and It is an object of the present invention to provide a data storage device capable of increasing the number of inputs and outputs that can be handled.

A data storage device according to the present invention comprises: input / output terminals for a plurality of channels; storage means for recording and reproducing information data in and out of a plurality of disk devices in parallel; A data storage device having an input / output means for simultaneously sending a channel or a plurality of channels to the storage means and outputting the information data reproduced by the storage means to the input / output terminal in one or more channels simultaneously in an arbitrary order; Wherein the input / output means has a compression / decompression unit for compressing information data of a plurality of channels input from the input / output terminal and for expanding information data reproduced from the plurality of disk devices. Solution to the Problems

In this case, as the storage means, a disk array unit which performs recording and reproduction on a plurality of disk devices in parallel is used, and the input / output means distributes the input information data of a plurality of channels to the disk array. It is preferable to provide a distribution / aggregation unit which sends information data reproduced from the plurality of disk devices to the plurality of disk devices and collects the information data as outputs of a plurality of channels.

It is preferable that a buffer memory for data rate conversion be provided between the compression / decompression unit and the distribution / collection unit.

It is preferable that an error detection encoding unit is provided between the distribution / collection unit and the disk array unit.

In this case, it is preferable that a dedicated disk device for recording the error detection code obtained by the error detection encoding means is provided in the disk array unit.

The video data and the audio signal data can be used as the information data used in the present invention.

The input / output means compresses the information data with a built-in compression / decompression unit when sending information data input from the input / output terminals of a plurality of channels to one or more channels at the same time. When outputting the information data reproduced by the above to the input / output terminal, the reproduction information is expanded by the compression / expansion unit, so that continuous input / output of data is possible, and plural inputs / outputs can be performed simultaneously, Furthermore, the apparent internal data transfer rate can be improved, and the number of inputs and outputs that can be handled simultaneously can be increased. By incorporating the compression / decompression unit, a buffer memory for input / output means can be used effectively, and a unique compression / decompression algorithm is used without being restricted by a format for compression / decompression. be able to. Further, the size can be reduced as compared with a case where a compression / decompression unit is provided outside the data storage device.

A data storage device according to the present invention comprises: input / output terminals for a plurality of channels; storage means for recording and reproducing information data in and out of a plurality of disk devices in parallel; A data storage device having an input / output means for simultaneously sending a channel or a plurality of channels to the storage means and outputting the information data reproduced by the storage means to the input / output terminal in one or more channels simultaneously in an arbitrary order; The input / output means has a compression / decompression unit that compresses information data of a plurality of channels input from the input / output terminal and expands information data reproduced from the plurality of disk devices. Continuous input / output of data is possible, multiple inputs / outputs can be performed at the same time, and the apparent internal data transfer speed has been improved. It can increase the number of input and output that can be handled in. By incorporating the compression / decompression unit, a buffer memory for input / output means can be used effectively, and a unique compression / decompression algorithm is used without being restricted by a format for compression / decompression. be able to. Further, the size can be reduced as compared with a case where a compression / decompression unit is provided outside the data storage device.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the data storage device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

That is, the data storage device as one embodiment of the present invention is a so-called video data storage device that stores a large amount of video signals requiring continuity, and includes a video tape recorder, a television camera, or a communication satellite antenna. The present invention is applied to configuring a video data recording / reproducing system using a video tape recorder, a signal transmitting device, or an image monitoring device as an output device as an input device. Hereinafter, first, the entire video data recording / reproducing system will be described, and then the video data storage device will be described.

First, the video data recording / reproducing system will be described with reference to FIG. This video data recording / reproducing system is a receiving antenna for communication satellite 1, a television camera 2, and a video tape recorder 3, which are video data input devices for inputting video signal data, and a video data output device for outputting video signal data. The video signal data from the video tape recorder 3, the signal transmission device 4, the image monitor device, and the video data input device are simultaneously recorded on one or more channels, and the recorded video data signals are reproduced on one or more channels simultaneously. A video tape recorder 3, a signal transmitting device 4, and an image monitor device, which are video data output devices in any order, and a video data storage device 5 that simultaneously records and reproduces video signal data. It is configured.

The video data recording / reproducing system serially transmits a serial digital signal from the video data input device to the video data storage device 5 and transmits the video data signal from the video data storage device 5 to the video data output device. A data transfer device 6 for transferring, an editing control device 7 for editing video signal data via the data transfer device 6, a signal transmission device 4 and a video tape recorder 3 as video data output devices, and a video tape recorder 3 And a system controller 9 for controlling the operations of the signal transmitter 4, the disk array unit 5, the data transfer device 6, and the editing controller 7 via a control system network 8.

The video tape recorder 3 includes a video tape recorder main body 3a and a video tape recorder control section 3b. The video tape recorder control section 3b sends a video tape recorder The operation of the main body 3a is controlled.

The video data storage device 5 includes a disk drive 5 a and a disk drive control unit (referred to as DD control in the figure) 5 b, and receives a control signal supplied from the system control device 9. The operation of the disk drive 5a is controlled by the disk drive control unit 5b based on this.

The data transfer device 6 includes a serial digital interface switching unit 6a, hereinafter referred to as an SDI switching unit, and a switching control unit 6b. 6b controls the serial data formatting in the SDI switching unit 6a.

A data transfer network 10 is provided between the data transfer device 6 and the video data input device, the video data output device, the video data storage device 5, and the editing control device 7, and the video data is transmitted. Have been.

The output signal of the entire system is also output from the signal transmission device 4 to an external device such as an image monitor device via the data transfer network 10.

The video data signals obtained from the video tape recorder 3, the satellite antenna 1, and the television camera 2, which are input devices, are temporarily recorded in the video data storage device 5 via the data transfer device 6. At this time, the video data signal between the video data input device and the data transfer device 6 is serially transmitted in the format based on SDI as described above. The data transfer device 6 can easily be connected to any device by using the SDI switching unit 6a.

That is, the data transfer device 6 and the video data storage device 5 set a connection between devices and a recording location based on a control command supplied from the system control device 9 via the control system network 8, and transmit the video data signal. The data is transmitted via the data transfer network 10.

As the control system network 8 used by the system control device 9, a computer network such as Ethernet (registered trademark) or FDDI can be used.

The video data signal recorded in the video data storage device 5 is read from the disk drive 5a by the disk drive control unit 5b according to the control from the edit control device 7, and is read by the edit control device 7 via the data transfer device 6. Processed. Here, in the case where a part necessary for transmission is selected without processing by editing, only the address of the necessary part is required, so it is not necessary to record it again on the disk drive 5a of the video data storage device 5. Instead, the address data is held in the system controller 9.

(4) Information on the result of editing performed under the control of the editing control device 7 is held by the system control device 9 and is also transmitted to the transmission device 4 via the control system network 8. Then, the video data signal read from the video data storage device 5 in accordance with the instruction from the system control device 9 is transmitted from the signal transmission device 4 via the data transfer device 6 to the outside via the data network 10.

Next, as shown in detail in FIG. 2, the video data storage device 5 has a disk array unit 28 in which, for example, eight magneto-optical disk devices D ₁ , D ₂ ... D ₇ and D ₈ are connected in parallel. It has a disk drive 5a and a disk drive control unit 5b for controlling the disk drive 5a. Here, a plurality of SDII / Fs, a data formatter, a compression / decompression unit, a buffer memory, and a protocol controller are described inside the disk drive 5a in FIG. 2, but for convenience of explanation, reference numerals represent each unit. Just add them one by one.

The disk drive 5a compresses, distributes, and interleaves the video data signal, which is the input SDI data, and simultaneously records and reproduces the video data signal in the eight magneto-optical disk devices of the disk array unit 28. D ₁ , D ₂ ... D ₇ and D ₈ are stored. That is, the disk drive 5a compresses, distributes, and stores a large amount of video data signals.

Here, the disk drive 5a sends a video data signal input from an input / output terminal for transmitting / receiving a video data signal from the data transfer network 10 to one or more channels simultaneously to the disk array unit 28, and There is also provided input / output control means for outputting video data signals reproduced by the disk array unit 28 to the input / output terminals in one channel or a plurality of channels simultaneously in an arbitrary order.

(4) The input / output control means includes a compression / expansion unit 22 for compressing the input video data of a plurality of channels and expanding the video data signal reproduced from the disk array unit 28.

The input / output control means distributes the input information data of a plurality of channels and sends the information data to the eight magneto-optical disk devices D ₁ , D ₂ ... D ₇ and D ₈ of the disk array unit 28. In addition, there is also provided a distribution / aggregation unit 24 for gathering video data signals reproduced from these eight magneto-optical disk devices and extracting the data as outputs of a plurality of channels.

{Circle around (5)} The disk drive controller 5b is supplied with a control command from the system controller 9 via the control system network 8 as described above.

First, the case where the control command is to record a video data signal on the disk drive 5a will be described below.

The control command is supplied to a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 34 via a network interface (referred to as a network I / F in FIG. 2) 31 and, if necessary, a random access memory as a memory device. (Hereinafter referred to as RAM) 32. The control command supplied to the CPU 34 is decoded by the CPU 34 and supplied to the disk drive 5a as a control signal via an interface (denoted as I / F in FIG. 2) 33.

As described above, the SDI data in the SDI format via the SDI switching unit 6a of the data transfer device 6 is supplied to the disk drive 5a via the data network 10. The SDI data is received by an SDI interface (referred to as SDII / F in FIG. 2) 20 and supplied to a compression / decompression unit 22 via a data formatter 21.

The compression / decompression unit 22 compresses the SDI data via the data formatter 21 as necessary, and reduces the internal data transfer amount. It is conceivable that the compression processing at this time is performed in accordance with the intra-field or intra-frame difference of the video data or the inter-field or inter-frame difference. Normally, when such a compression process is performed, storage means such as a frame memory or a field memory is required. In this video data storage device, it is necessary to share the buffer memory 23 for data rate conversion. Can be. The SDI data compressed by the compression / expansion unit 22 using the buffer memory 23 is distributed so as to be simultaneously written to the _eight magneto-optical disk devices D ₁ , D ₂ ... D ₇ and D ₈ of the disk array unit 28. It is supplied to the distributing / collecting unit 24 for being caused to be caused. The distribution / aggregation unit 24 divides, for example, 10 channels of compressed SDI data into a plurality of pieces, and divides one channel into eight magneto-optical disk devices D ₁ , D ₂ ... D ₇ of the disk array unit 28 and as well as distributed as corresponding to D _8, when the reproduction is converted to a set of distributed video data signals from the eight channels of the disk array unit 28 to the output data of one channel.

The video data signal, which is the SDI data distributed by the distribution / aggregation unit 24, is supplied to an error check code addition / detection unit 25 for adding a code for error correction. The video data signal to which the error check code has been added by the error check code addition / detection unit 25 is supplied to the buffer memory 26 and written into the buffer memory 26.

The video data signal added with the error check code written in the buffer memory 26 is transmitted to a protocol controller 27 such as a Small Computer System Interface (hereinafter, referred to as SCSI) protocol controller, for example. It is taken out by control and recorded in the disk array unit 28. A control signal is supplied to the protocol controller 27 from the interface unit 33 of the disk drive control unit 5b. Therefore, the protocol controller 27 extracts the video data signal to which the error check code is added from the buffer memory 26 as described above, and records the video data signal in the disk array unit 28.

As described above, the disk drive 5a uses the disk array unit 28, the compression / expansion unit 22, and the buffer memory 23 for data rate conversion to compress the video data signal input at the time of recording, and The data can be distributed to the array unit 28 and recorded.

In other words, the video data input from the SDI / IF 20 is processed for each input channel up to the buffer memory 23, but is simultaneously processed for any one input channel from the distribution / aggregation unit 24 to the disk array unit 28. Processing proceeds.

Here, the disk array unit 28 of the disk drive 5a is composed of a plurality of magneto-optical disk devices, and since the disk drive 5a is provided with the compression / decompression unit 22, the internal data transfer amount is equal to the external data transfer amount. Can be taken large enough. Therefore, the time required to process data for one channel can be shorter than the time required for input.

For example, if the input unit is one image frame, the time required for input is 1/30 second. If the time required for the internal processing is 1/120 second, that is, if the internal processing is four times faster than the input, the video data storage device 5 can process the four inputs, There is no delay in input. That is, four inputs can be handled simultaneously. The processing timing in this case will be described with reference to FIG.

First, an image input from the SDII / F 20 is stored in the buffer memory 23 as video data for one frame. The time required at this time is 1/30 second. Assuming that the four inputs are IN ₁ , IN ₂ , IN ₃ and IN ₄ , these inputs IN ₁ , IN ₂ , IN ₃ and IN ₄ are simultaneously stored in the buffer memory 23. The data stored in the buffer memory 23 is subjected to internal processing for 1/120 second per input, and is written to the disk array unit 28. As you go to turn this process from the input IN _1, processing of the input IN ₄ is total 1/30 (= 4 × 1/120 ) seconds take is to finish. During this process, the next image is sent to the buffer memory 23. However, since the processing is completed in 1/30 second, this data can be processed in the next 1/30 second.

As described above, when the control command from the system control device 9 is to record a video data signal on the disk drive 5a, the video data signal from the input device via the data transfer device 6 is transmitted to the video data storage device 5. The recorded operation has been described.

On the other hand, when the control command from the system control device 9 is to reproduce the video data signal recorded in the disk array unit 28 of the disk drive 5a, the following will be described.

(4) The control signal supplied to the CPU 34 via the network interface 31 is supplied to the protocol controller 27 of the disk drive 5a via the interface 33.

(4) The protocol controller 27 reads the video data signal to which the error check code has been added from the disk array unit 28, and writes the video data signal into the buffer memory 26 once.

The video data signal extracted from the buffer memory 26 is supplied to the distribution / aggregation unit 24 after error correction by the error check code addition / detection unit 25.

The output video data signals combined from a plurality of channels of the disk array unit 28 for reproduction and transmission by the distribution / aggregation unit 24 are supplied to the compression / expansion unit 22 via the buffer memory 23.

The compression / decompression unit 22 performs decompression processing on the output video data signal using the buffer memory 23. The decompressed output video data signal is subjected to predetermined processing by the data formatter 21 and the SDI interface 20, and then supplied to the data transfer device 6 via the data network 10.

The video data signal supplied from the data transfer device 6 to the transmission device 4 is transmitted from the transmission device 4 to an external device such as an image monitor device.

As described above, the disk drive 5a also has a function of collecting the compressed video data signals from the disk array unit 28 and decompressing them to the original data rate.

As described above, the video data storage device 5 can increase the transfer rate of the video data signal, increase the number of inputs and outputs that can be simultaneously accessed, and immediately reproduce the video data signal currently being recorded. , An arbitrary video data signal can be processed without interruption for a plurality of inputs and outputs in an arbitrary order. Further, since the video data storage device 5 has a built-in compression / expansion unit 22, the buffer memory 23 can be shared and used. Algorithm can be used. Furthermore, the size of the system can be reduced as compared with the case where a compression / expansion unit is provided outside.

The data storage device according to the present invention is not limited to the video data storage device of the above-described embodiment, and may be an audio data storage device that takes an audio data signal into consideration as an information data signal.

In the disk array unit 28, a dedicated disk may be prepared for the error check code added by the error check code addition / detection unit.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a video data recording / reproducing system configured using an embodiment of a data storage device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a video data storage device that is an embodiment of the data storage device according to the present invention used in the video data recording / reproduction system illustrated in FIG. 1. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the video data storage device shown in FIG. FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a conventional disk array device.

Explanation of reference numerals

5 video data storage device, 5a disk drive, 5b disk drive control unit, 6 data transfer device, 20 SDI interface, 21 data formatter, 22 compression / decompression unit, 23 buffer memory, 24 distribution / aggregation unit, 25 error check code addition / Detection unit, 26 buffer memory, 27 protocol controller, 28 disk array unit

Claims (7)

A plurality of input / output terminals, storage means for recording and reproducing information data in parallel with respect to a plurality of disk devices, and a storage means for simultaneously inputting information data from the input / output terminals to one or more channels. And an input / output means for outputting information data reproduced by the storage means to the input / output terminal in one channel or a plurality of channels simultaneously in an arbitrary order,
The data input / output means includes a compression / decompression unit for compressing information data of a plurality of channels input from the input / output terminal and for expanding information data reproduced from the plurality of disk devices. Storage device. As the storage unit, a disk array unit that performs recording and reproduction in parallel on a plurality of disk devices is used,
In the input / output means, the input information data of a plurality of channels is distributed and sent to the plurality of disk devices of the disk array unit, and the information data reproduced from the plurality of disk devices is aggregated to collect the information data of the plurality of channels. 2. The data storage device according to claim 1, further comprising a distribution / collection unit that is taken out as an output. 3. The data storage device according to claim 2, wherein a buffer memory for data rate conversion is provided between the compression / decompression unit and the distribution / aggregation unit. 3. The data storage device according to claim 2, wherein an error detection encoding unit is provided between the distribution / collection unit and the disk array unit. 5. The data storage device according to claim 4, wherein a dedicated disk device for recording the error detection code obtained by the error detection encoding means is provided in the disk array unit. 4. The data storage device according to claim 1, wherein video signal data is used as the information data. 2. The data storage device according to claim 1, wherein audio signal data is used as said information data.

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