US5495339A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Scheduling multiple disk requests and writing data buffers to disk
Assignee: Xerox Corp
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Filing: 1991-08-19
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Granted: 1996-02-27
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Expires: 2011-08-19
Abstract
Abstract An electronic image processing apparatus comprising an electronic scanner and an electronic printer for forming an image, a controller for directing the operation of the image processing means, the controller including a mass memory device for storing data to be printed, random access memory, a printer control, and a Resource Manager for ensuring access to the random access memory for conveying data from the mass memory device to the printer via the random access memory, the Resource Manager including a mass memory device scheduler to provide printer access to the random access memory, the mass memory device scheduler having a reservation queue to reserve mass memory device access at predetermined times, delay means to determine that access to the mass memory device is invalid within a given time, and means to convey disk request operations to said reservation queue in order to provide guaranteed random access mernory at predetermined times.
Inventors
- 👤 Randall J. Stegbauer
- 👤 Anthony M. Federico
- 👤 Ronald A. Ippolito
- 👤 Christopher Comparetta
- 👤 Colleen R. Enzien
- 👤 Kitty Sathi
- 👤 Ernest L. Legg
- 👤 Thomas M. Frey
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 22:25
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/00912; H04N1/00954; H04N1/21; H04N1/2166; H04N1/32; H04N1/32561
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
174 words
In an electronic image processing apparatus having image processing means including an electronic scanner and an electronic printer for forming an image, a controller for directing operation of the image processing means, the controller including a mass memory device for storing data to be printed, random access memory, a printer, and a Resource Manager, the random access memory interconnected between the printer and the mass memory device, the method of ensuring access to the random access memory for conveying data from the mass memory device to the printer via the random access memory comprising the steps of: requesting by the printer from the Resource Manager guaranteed times for accessing data from the mass memory device to the random access memory, providing a reservation procedure by the Resource Manager to the printer allowing the printer to schedule predetermined mass memory read operations to be completed at predetermined different times, and returning a delay time by the Resource Manager to the printer control for mass memory read operations that cannot be completed within the requested time.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
174 words
In an electronic image processing apparatus having image processing means including an electronic scanner and an electronic printer for forming an image, a controller for directing operation of the image processing means, the controller including a mass memory device for storing data to be printed, random access memory, a printer, and a Resource Manager, the random access memory interconnected between the printer and the mass memory device, the method of ensuring access to the random access memory for conveying data from the mass memory device to the printer via the random access memory comprising the steps of: requesting by the printer from the Resource Manager guaranteed times for accessing data from the mass memory device to the random access memory, providing a reservation procedure by the Resource Manager to the printer allowing the printer to schedule predetermined mass memory read operations to be completed at predetermined different times, and returning a delay time by the Resource Manager to the printer control for mass memory read operations that cannot be completed within the requested time.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 1 including a completion time predicted by the Resource Manager and wherein said delay time is the difference between the completion time and the requested guaranteed time and includes the step of converting said delay time into a given number of skipped printer pitches.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 1 including the step of forming a timed disk operation queue by the Resource Manager, the disk operations in the queue having associated start times.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 3 wherein the step of forming a timed disk operation queue by the Resource Manager includes the step of removing operations from the queue at the operations start time.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 3 wherein the step of forming a timed disk operation queue by the Resource Manager includes the step of transferring selected operations to the timed queue to guarantee random access memory availability to guarantee random access memory availability at the selected operations completion time.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 3 wherein the step of forming a timed disk operation queue by the Resource Manager includes the step of allowing a plurality of random access memory requests to be satisfied by the Resource Manager.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
142 words
An electronic image processing system comprising an electronic scanner and an electronic printer for forming an image, a controller for directing operation of the image processing means, the controller including a mass memory device for storing data to be printed, random access memory, a printer control, and a Resource Manager, the random access memory interconnected between the printer control and the mass memory device, the Resource Manager ensuring access to the random access memory for conveying data from the mass memory device to the printer via the random access memory, the Resource Manager including a mass memory device scheduler to provide printer access to the random access memory, the mass memory device scheduler having reservation means to reserve mass memory device access at predetermined times and means to determine that access to the mass memory device is invalid within a given time.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
142 words
An electronic image processing system comprising an electronic scanner and an electronic printer for forming an image, a controller for directing operation of the image processing means, the controller including a mass memory device for storing data to be printed, random access memory, a printer control, and a Resource Manager, the random access memory interconnected between the printer control and the mass memory device, the Resource Manager ensuring access to the random access memory for conveying data from the mass memory device to the printer via the random access memory, the Resource Manager including a mass memory device scheduler to provide printer access to the random access memory, the mass memory device scheduler having reservation means to reserve mass memory device access at predetermined times and means to determine that access to the mass memory device is invalid within a given time.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
The system of claim 7 including conversion means for converting said given time into a given number of skipped printer pitches.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 7 wherein the Resource Manager includes a reservation queue for forming timed disk operations having associated start times.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system of claim 9 wherein the Resource Manager includes means to transfer selected operations to the reservation queue in order to provide guaranteed random access memory at predetermined times.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
16 words
The system of claim 7 wherein the mass memory device is a plural disk memory system.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
132 words
In an electronic image processing apparatus having image processing means including a plurality of resources for forming an image, a controller for directing operation of the image processing means, the controller including a mass memory device and a random access memory, and a Resource Manager, the method of ensuring access to the random access memory for conveying data from the mass memory device to at least one of the plurality of resources via the random access memory comprising the steps of: requesting from the Resource Manager guaranteed times for transferring data from the mass memory device to the random access memory, and providing a reservation queue by the Resource Manager allowing said one of the plurality of resources to schedule predetermined mass memory read operations to be completed at predetermined different times.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
132 words
In an electronic image processing apparatus having image processing means including a plurality of resources for forming an image, a controller for directing operation of the image processing means, the controller including a mass memory device and a random access memory, and a Resource Manager, the method of ensuring access to the random access memory for conveying data from the mass memory device to at least one of the plurality of resources via the random access memory comprising the steps of: requesting from the Resource Manager guaranteed times for transferring data from the mass memory device to the random access memory, and providing a reservation queue by the Resource Manager allowing said one of the plurality of resources to schedule predetermined mass memory read operations to be completed at predetermined different times.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 12 including the step of returning a delay time by the Resource Manager to said one of the plurality of resources for mass memory read operations that cannot be completed within the requested time.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 12 including the step of forming a timed disk operation queue by the Resource Manager, the disk operations in the queue having associated start times.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the step of forming a timed disk operation queue by the Resource Manager includes the step of removing operations from the queue at the operations start time.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the step of forming a timed disk operation queue by the Resource Manager includes the step of transferring selected operations to the queue to guarantee random access memory availability for the selected operations.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the step of forming a timed disk operation queue by the Resource Manager includes the step of allowing a plurality of random access memory requests to be satisfied by the Resource Manager.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
101 words
In a printer having random access memory RAM, a mass memory device and a mass memory access queue, a method of guaranteeing access to the mass memory device via RAM comprising the steps of: requesting predetermined mass memory device bandwidth, monitoring RAM space to determine if suitable RAM space is available to access said memory device bandwidth, selecting the request for said memory device bandwidth in a mass memory device request queue if suitable RAM space is not available, and transferring the request for said mass memory device bandwidth to the mass memory access queue when suitable RAM space is available.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
101 words
In a printer having random access memory RAM, a mass memory device and a mass memory access queue, a method of guaranteeing access to the mass memory device via RAM comprising the steps of: requesting predetermined mass memory device bandwidth, monitoring RAM space to determine if suitable RAM space is available to access said memory device bandwidth, selecting the request for said memory device bandwidth in a mass memory device request queue if suitable RAM space is not available, and transferring the request for said mass memory device bandwidth to the mass memory access queue when suitable RAM space is available.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1999-02-26 | 1999-08-28 | 2000-02-27 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2003-02-26 | 2003-08-28 | 2004-02-27 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2007-02-26 | 2007-08-28 | 2008-02-27 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |