Patent ID: 6141729
Filing Date: 2000-10-31
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A data transfer system comprising:a plurality of terminals;a plurality of high-speed data transfer units connected to the terminals through a network, each data transfer unit comprising a plurality of storage devices and a storage device group control means for controlling readout of data from the storage devices, and dividing and storing data requested by the terminals;a plurality of transfer control units whereby data divided by said storage device group control means can be transferred to a terminal from a transfer control unit;a virtual storage device group controlling means for controlling readout of data from virtual storage device groups, each virtual storage device group being constructed by selecting a storage device from each high-speed data transfer unit;an instruction conversion means for receiving a data readout instruction on the basis of data requests output from the terminals, which instruction is given to the virtual storage device groups, from the virtual storage device control means, and converting the instruction into a data readout instruction to the storage devices from the storage device group control means; and,means for dividing data among the high-speed data transfer units according to performance characteristics of each data-transfer unit wherein data is divided so that less data is transferred to a data transfer unit having a lower transfer speed and more data is transferred to a data transfer unit having a higher transfer speed, andwherein a data packet is determined by dividing a size of a data request from a terminal by the number of high-speed data transfer units.