JPH02157932A - variable length data processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently process work by transferring only data in a designated block without transferring all the variable length data and dividing data of a designated file in an external storing means to an internal storing means. CONSTITUTION:A discriminating means (d) discriminates whether the transferring data are a delimiter code for word division to be designated in advance or not. When the transferring data are discriminated as the delimiter code for word division to be designated in advance, a stopping means (e) immediately stops transfer processing to a transferring means (c) responding to a discriminated result. After that, a control means (e) permits data processing to the variable length data, namely, the data to be composed of one word to be transferred to an internal storing means (b) up to the moment. Then, the data processing is immediately executed. Thus, the data processing can be executed at a high speed to the variable length data, which are stored to the external storing means, in the processing object block relating to designation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a processing device for processing variable length data stored in external storage means.

[Summary of the Invention] This invention provides a processing device as described above, in which variable-length data in an external storage device divided by delimited data is sequentially transferred to an internal storage device. By detecting predetermined delimited data from a data string, stopping the transfer process when this delimited data is detected, and immediately accessing the variable length data transferred up to that point, the data is stored in the external storage means. This realizes high-speed data processing for

[Prior Art] When data processing is performed in a variable-length data format, the processed variable-length data is separated by delimiter codes that indicate the division of information units such as words and records, and is stored in the main unit. The data is stored in an internal storage means (RAM), and a desired record or word is searched for by sequentially reading a data string from the internal storage means and detecting a delimiter code on the data string.

By the way, in general, there are multiple files to be processed in a data processing device, and the amount of data is large. Therefore, the contents of each file composed of fixed-length data or variable-length data are usually The information is stored on external storage means such as a large magnetic disk. When performing data processing on the saved file, all data of the file to be processed is transferred from the external storage means to the internal storage means, and then the data strings written in the internal storage means are sequentially read out. An area to be processed (block to be processed) is extracted, and various processes such as word processing and record processing are performed within this extracted block to be processed.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, there is no problem if the block to be processed is all the data in the file, but even if the block to be processed is only a part of the file, such as a code or one word, Because all data in the file to be processed is transferred from external storage to internal storage, the transfer process is larger than the actual processing of the block to be processed, resulting in longer processing time and wasted processing. .

An object of the present invention is to enable high-speed data processing of variable-length data within a specified processing target block stored in an external storage means.

[Means to solve the problem] The means of this invention are as follows.

The external storage means a (see the functional block diagram in FIG. 1, the same applies hereinafter) is a storage means such as a magnetic disk, and continuously stores variable length data and various delimiter data for dividing this variable length data. do.

The internal storage means is a storage means such as a semiconductor memory,
Faster access is possible compared to external storage means a.

The transfer means C sequentially transfers the variable length data stored in the external storage means a to the internal storage means before actually performing data processing.

The determining means d detects the contents of the transferred data every time the transfer means C transfers one data, and determines whether the detected data is delimited data specified in advance.

When the transfer data is prespecified delimited data, the control means e stops the transfer process of the transfer means C and permits data processing of the variable length data that has been transferred to the internal storage means until then.

[Effect] The operation of the means of this invention is as follows.

Currently, variable length words and variable length records are stored in the external storage means a, each separated by various delimiter data such as a word delimiter code and a record delimiter code. Let us assume that we want to process long data by regarding it as a block to be processed.

When a data transfer instruction is given, the transfer means C sequentially transfers the variable length data in the external storage means a to the internal storage means from the beginning.

At this time, the determining means d detects the contents of the transferred data each time data is transferred, and determines whether the transferred data is a pre-specified word delimiter code.

Then, when the canceling means e determines that the transfer data is a pre-designated word delimiter code,
In response to the determination result, the transfer means C is immediately made to stop the transfer process.

Thereafter, the control means e permits data processing of the variable length data transferred to the internal storage means, that is, data consisting of one word, and immediately performs the data processing.

Therefore, it is possible to perform data processing at high speed on variable length data within the specified processing target block stored in the external storage means.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

Composition FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a variable length data processing device according to an embodiment.

This variable length data processing device is under the control of the CPU 1.
It performs various data processing tasks such as file processing in variable-length data format according to programs stored in advance in the ROM 2. At that time, the control circuit 3 performs identification processing of each variable-length data and sends information to the DMA III control circuit 4. The DMA control circuit 4 instructs the DMA control circuit 4 to operate and stop the DMA control circuit 4 between the magnetic disk 5 and the RAM 6.
(Mory Access) Performs transfer processing.

In the DMA transfer process by the DMA control circuit 4, in order to process the variable length data in the magnetic disk 5 at high speed, prior to data processing, the CPU 1 performs high-speed access from the magnetic disk 5 which cannot be accessed at high speed. R
Transfer variable length data to AM6 in advance, and then transfer it to RA
This is done to access M6 and perform data processing.

Note that the process of creating a new file in the variable-length data format is performed on the RAM 6. At this time, a delimiter code indicating a data delimiter is added to each newly generated variable length data.

Thereafter, the variable length data is transferred to the magnetic disk 5 and stored. After that, when updating the file stored on the magnetic disk 5, only the variable length data of the specified block is read out to the RAM 6, and
Update processing is performed on 6.

The delimiter code used during file processing is "2°", which is shown as a symbol in Figure 3.

There are three types: ゛("゛)". °゛2°゛ indicates the track end, "(°゛" indicates the record start, and ゛)'° indicates the word end. This data indicates the word content of each variable length word, and this data d
, and each of the above delimiter codes is composed of 2 bytes, which is a processing unit of the CPUI.

When the control circuit 3 performs the above processing, the control circuit 3 inputs an instruction code and
The register IR, delimiter seed register DR5, instruction decoder DEC, read buffer Bu, and delimiter comparison circuit 7 are utilized.

That is, the instruction code register IR is a register that temporarily stores macro instruction codes selectively supplied from the CPU 1, and the macro instruction codes in this instruction code register IR are supplied to the instruction decoder DEC. Parsed. Then, the control circuit 3 generates various control signals according to the analysis results and performs the ΦII control as described above. Also, the delimiter type register DR contains a delimiter code of an arbitrarily specified type in advance. The variable length data read from the magnetic disk 5 and transferred via the data bus DB and the delimiter code are stored in the read buffer Bu.

Each time data is stored in the read buffer Bu, the delimiter detection circuit 7 compares the data with the delimiter code set in the delimiter type register DR, and when the two match, controls the detection signal S1. Output to circuit 3. i! Based on the detection signal S1, the II control circuit 3 outputs a transfer stop signal S2 to the DMA control circuit 4 to stop data transfer from the magnetic disk 5 to the RAM 6.

track production Next, the operation of the embodiment will be explained.

Now, with the file created in the variable length data format stored on the magnetic disk 5, "disk data processing" is performed by operating a key human power section (not shown).

is specified and the file name and delimiter code are specified and input.

In this case, the CPUI sets the macro instruction code corresponding to the instructed "disk data processing" in the instruction code register IR, gives the specified file name to the DMA control circuit 4, and sets the specified delimiter code to the delimiter type. Set in register DR.

The macro instruction code set in the instruction code register IR is analyzed by the instruction decoder DEC, and the control circuit 3 is notified of the analysis result.

Then, a start signal S3 is output to the control circuit 3.

In response to this activation signal S3, the control circuit 3 outputs a DMA request signal S4 to the DMA control circuit 4.

The DMA III control circuit 4 receives the request signal S
4, the DMA acknowledge signal S5 is sent to the control circuit 3.
At the same time, the above file name is searched on the magnetic disk 5, and the variable length words and delimiter codes in the file with the searched file name are read out sequentially from the beginning, and sequentially stored in the RAM 6 via the data bus DB. Forward.

At this time, the variable length word and delimiter code are also transferred and stored in the read buffer Bu. Then, the delimiter detection circuit 7 sequentially compares the delimiter code stored in the read buffer Bu with the delimiter code set in the delimiter register DR, and
When the two match, a detection signal S1 is output to the control circuit 3.

When the control circuit 3 receives this detection signal S1, the DM
A transfer stop command signal S2 is output to the A control circuit 4.

Based on this transfer stop command signal S2, the DMA control circuit 4 stops the DMA transfer.

After this, the control circuit 3 sends the data processing permission signal S6 to the CPU.
1 and returns the bus control right to CPU1.

In response to the data processing permission signal S6, the CPUI
The data transferred to M6 up to that point is regarded as a data block to be processed, and desired data processing is immediately performed on the data block.

For example, when a file in the magnetic disk 5 formed of a variable length word string as shown in FIG. 3 is specified as a file to be processed, the file is sequentially read from the beginning and transferred to the RAM 6. As shown in FIG. 3(a), if the designated delimiter is a word end, the DMA transfer is stopped when the first delimiter code indicating the word end is transferred. Similarly, if the specified delimiter is record start or track end, respectively,
DMA transfer is stopped when the delimiter code indicating the first record start and track end is transferred (
(See Figures 3(b) and (C)).

In this way, only the variable length data up to the first specified delimiter is transferred without transferring the entire specified file, and the transferred data is immediately accessed.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments; for example, the designation of the block to be processed is the OOth block XX
It is also possible to designate from the delimiter of the type to the 77th delimiter of the ΔΔ-th type. Furthermore, it can be applied even when only the delimiter of the first type is used.

[Effects of the Invention] According to this invention, only the data in the specified block is transferred without transferring all the variable length data and delimited data of the specified file in the external storage means to the internal storage means, thereby reducing waste. Further, the transferred data can be accessed immediately after the transfer is completed. Therefore, data processing for the specified block can be started quickly, and it is possible to improve the efficiency of business processing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram specifically explaining the contents of DMA processing. 1--CPU, 2--ROM, 3--control circuit, 4--DMA control circuit, 5--magnetic disk, 6--
...RAM, 7...Delimiter detection circuit, DR...Delimiter type register.

Claims (1)

[Claims] External storage means for storing variable length data separated by various delimiter data defining data processing units, and sequentially transferring the variable length data stored in the external storage means to internal storage means. A variable length data processing device having a transfer means for performing data processing on variable length data stored in the internal storage means, detecting the contents of the transferred data each time the transfer means transfers one data. , a determining means for determining whether or not the detected data is prespecified delimited data; and a discriminating means for discontinuing the transfer process of the transfer means when it is determined that the transferred data is prespecified delimited data. A variable length data processing device comprising: a control means for permitting processing of the variable length data transferred to the internal storage means;