JPH0562390A - Disk type storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten an average seek latency time by reducing an average movement distance of an access arm in the disk type storage device where information is read and written by the random access system. CONSTITUTION:An access arm 4 is provided with a head 2 which accesses the inner periphery with a circle having a radius (a) as the boundary on a disk 1 as the information storage medium and a head 3 which accesses the outer periphery, and an access arm control part 5 recognizes one head effective for access to switch the access head, thereby reducing the extent of movement of the access arm 4. Thus the average seek latency time is shortened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk type storage device, and more particularly to a disk type storage device such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk for writing / reading information by a random access method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a disk type storage device stores information on a track and is used as an external storage device of a computer.

FIG. 3 shows a magnetic disk device which is an example of a conventional disk type storage device. In FIG. 3, a magnetic disk 1 for storing information, a magnetic head 9 for reading / writing information from / to the magnetic disk 1, an access arm 10 for supporting the magnetic head 9, and positioning of the magnetic head 9 with respect to the magnetic disk 1 are performed. An access arm control unit 11 that controls the operation of the access arm 10 is included.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. When reading / writing information from / to the magnetic disk 1, when the access arm control unit 11 knows from which track on the magnetic disk 1 the information should be read / written, the magnetic head 9 is located at the position of the track. The magnetic head 9 reads and writes information from and to the magnetic disk 1 when the record for reading and writing information comes to the position of the magnetic head 9 by operating the access arm 10 so that the magnetic disk 1 rotates.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional disk type storage device, since there is only one read / write head with respect to the access arm, the maximum seek wait time is the track for which the read / write head is the access target. It takes the longest time to seek to, i.e. when the read / write head seeks from the innermost track to the outermost track or from the outermost track to the innermost track Time, which caused the average seek wait time to increase.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a novel disk type storage device capable of solving the above problems inherent in the conventional art. To do.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a disk type storage device according to the present invention includes a plurality of read / write heads provided for an access arm, and a plurality of read / write heads. And a switching control unit that controls which head reads and writes information.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The details of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings for a preferred embodiment thereof.

1 and 2 are a conceptual block diagram and a block diagram of a control mechanism, respectively, showing an embodiment of a magnetic disk device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a magnetic disk for storing information, 2 and 3 are magnetic heads, 4 is an access arm,
An access arm control unit 5 controls the operation of the access arm 4.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 6 is a switching control unit for switching the information transmission path, 7 is a read / write control unit for controlling reading / writing of information, and 8 is a host for interfacing information between the magnetic disk device and the host. Interface controllers are shown respectively.

The magnetic disk 1 is the same disk type magnetic storage medium as the conventional example of FIG. 3 and stores information. The magnetic head 2 is a head for accessing the magnetic disk 1 and reads / writes from / into a track located inside the radius a of the magnetic disk 1. The magnetic head 3 is a head for accessing the magnetic disk 1 and
Reading / writing is performed with respect to the track on the outer periphery of the radius a of.
The access arm 4 supports the magnetic heads 2 and 3. When the access arm control unit 5 controls the operation of the access arm 4 and recognizes the position of the track to be accessed on the magnetic disk 1 from the notification from the host, the target track is located inside the radius a in FIG. It is determined whether the magnetic head is effective or not to access the magnetic head. The access arm control unit 5 also controls the position of the magnetic head with respect to the track to be accessed. The switching control unit 6 recognizes the magnetic head 2 or 3 that is effective for accessing the magnetic disk 1 by a signal from the access arm control unit 5 and switches the magnetic head 2 or 3 so that the magnetic disk 1 passes through the magnetic head 2 or 3. And forms a transmission path of information to the upper interface 8. The read / write control unit 7 controls reading or writing from the magnetic disk 1 with respect to the magnetic head of the magnetic heads 2 or 3 that is effectively accessed.

Next, the operation of this magnetic disk according to the present invention will be described.

When the access arm control section 5 detects the position of the track to be accessed on the magnetic disk 1, the access arm control section 5 determines the effective magnetic head and the switching control section 6 determines the information transmission path. The switching and read / write control unit 7 controls the reading and writing of information with respect to an effective magnetic head. Further, the access arm control unit 5 controls the operation of the access arm 4 in order to move the effective magnetic head to the position on the track to be accessed.

In this way, in this magnetic disk device, the average distance over which the access arm 4 operates to perform a certain access operates as the access arm 10 in the conventional magnetic disk device shown in FIG. Since it is shorter than the average distance, the average seek waiting time is shortened.

In the above description, the magnetic disk device is described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the same effect can be obtained with an optical disk. Further, although two read / write heads are provided for one access arm, a plurality of read / write heads can generally achieve the object of the present invention.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the access arm of the disk type storage device is equipped with a plurality of magnetic heads, and the average moving distance of the access arm is shortened by switching the effective magnetic head each time the access is performed, the average seek wait time when accessing information is waited for. It is possible to obtain the effect of significantly shortening the time as compared with the conventional method.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an embodiment of a disk type storage device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a control structure of a disk type storage device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional disk type storage device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control structure of a conventional disk control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Magnetic disk 2 ... Magnetic head for accessing inner track from radius a of magnetic disk 3 ... Magnetic head for accessing outer track from radius a of magnetic disk 4 ... Access arm 5 ... Access arm control unit 6 ... Switching control Part 7 ... Read / write control part 8 ... Upper interface part 9 ... Magnetic head 10 ... Access arm 11 ... Access arm control part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A disk-type storage medium for storing information, a read / write head for reading / writing information from / to the disk-type storage medium, an access arm for supporting the read / write head, and reading / writing to / from the disk-type storage medium. A disk type storage device comprising an access arm control means for controlling the operation of an access arm for positioning a head, wherein a plurality of read / write heads are provided on one side of the disk type storage medium and the plurality of read / write heads. Means for detecting a read / write head that makes effective access to the disk-type storage medium among the heads, and switching for controlling read / write control of the disk-type storage medium to a read / write head that makes effective access A disk type storage device comprising: a control unit. 2. The access arm control means further includes the detection means for detecting a read / write head that effectively accesses the disk-type storage medium among the plurality of read / write heads. Item 2. The disk type storage device according to item 1.