Abstract:
The present invention relates to a duplicator for recording medium and a method for duplicating recording medium, wherein a fast duplicating effect is achieved by FIFO buffers and direct memory access controllers (DMACs).

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a duplicator for recording medium and a method for duplicating recording medium, more particularly to a duplicator for recording medium and a method for duplicating recording medium, wherein a fast duplicating effect is achieved by FIFO buffers and direct memory access controllers (DMACs).  
         DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART  
         [0002]    Conventionally, in a duplicator for recording medium, for example as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,141, a control signal generator is used to decide on/off of a data bus switch and a control signal switch to control the flow of source data. That is to say, when the control signal generator determines that a duplication of data can be proceeded, a signal is sent to turn on the data bus switch and the control signal switch, and data output from a source data terminal (hardware) are transmitted to each duplicator to complete a duplicating procedure.  
           [0003]    However, in the prior art mentioned above, the duplication of second data starts after the duplication of first data is completed. The duplication of third data starts after the duplication of second data is completed, and so on. Therefore, there is a propagation delay in duplicating data. When large volume of data are to be duplicated, it is time-consuming.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    In view of the problems mentioned above, the present invention utilizes FIFO buffers and DMACs to overcome the problem of time-consuming in duplicating data.  
           [0005]    When a FIFO buffer is used to store data, if the FIFO buffer is not empty, the first stored data would be output.  
           [0006]    A DMAC can directly access the data without the control of a processor. The DMAC combined with FIFO buffer can be used to avoid propagation delay in duplicating data.  
           [0007]    The object of the present invention is to provide a duplicator for recording medium, comprising:  
           [0008]    a source recording medium;  
           [0009]    a source DMAC;  
           [0010]    a source FIFO buffer;  
           [0011]    a multiplexer;  
           [0012]    a plurality of target FIFO buffers;  
           [0013]    a plurality of target DMACs; and  
           [0014]    a plurality of target recording mediums,  
           [0015]    wherein the data of the source recording medium are transmitted to the source FIFO buffer through the source DMAC; the data of the source FIFO buffer are transmitted to a plurality of target FIFO buffers through the multiplexer; and the data of the target FIFO buffer are transmitted to the target recording medium through the target DMAC.  
           [0016]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a duplicator for recording medium, comprising:  
           [0017]    a data source;  
           [0018]    a multiplexer;  
           [0019]    a plurality of target FIFO buffers;  
           [0020]    a plurality of target DMACs; and  
           [0021]    a plurality of target recording mediums,  
           [0022]    wherein the data of the data source are transmitted to a plurality of target FIFO buffers through the multiplexer; and the data of the target FIFO buffer are transmitted to the target recording medium through the target DMAC.  
           [0023]    Still another object of the present invention is to provide a duplicator for recording medium, comprising:  
           [0024]    a source recording medium;  
           [0025]    a source DMAC;  
           [0026]    a source FIFO buffer;  
           [0027]    a multiplexer;  
           [0028]    a plurality of comparators;  
           [0029]    a plurality of target FIFO buffers;  
           [0030]    a plurality of target DMACs; and  
           [0031]    a plurality of target recording mediums,  
           [0032]    wherein the data of the source recording medium are transmitted to the source FIFO buffer through the source DMAC; the data of the target recording medium are transmitted to the target FIFO buffer through the target DMAC; and the data of the source FIFO buffer are transmitted to the comparators through the multiplexer and compared with the data of the target FIFO buffer by the comparators.  
           [0033]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a duplicator for recording medium, comprising:  
           [0034]    a data source;  
           [0035]    a multiplexer;  
           [0036]    a plurality of comparators;  
           [0037]    a plurality of target FIFO buffers;  
           [0038]    a plurality of target DMACs; and  
           [0039]    a plurality of target recording mediums,  
           [0040]    wherein the data of the target recording medium are transmitted to the target FIFO buffer through the target DMAC; and the data of the data source are transmitted to the comparators through the multiplexer and compared with the data of the target FIFO buffer by the comparators.  
           [0041]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for duplicating recording medium, comprising the steps of:  
           [0042]    detecting a source recording medium and a plurality of target recording mediums;  
           [0043]    configuring a source DMAC for the source recording medium and a plurality of target DMACs for the target recording mediums;  
           [0044]    transmitting the data of the source recording medium to a source FIFO buffer through the source DMAC;  
           [0045]    transmitting the data of the source FIFO buffer to a plurality of target FIFO buffers through a multiplexer; and  
           [0046]    transmitting the data of a plurality of target FIFO buffers to a plurality of target recording mediums through a plurality of target DMACs.  
           [0047]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for comparing recording medium, comprising the steps of:  
           [0048]    detecting a source recording medium and a plurality of target recording mediums;  
           [0049]    configuring a source DMAC for the source recording medium and a plurality of target DMACs for the target recording mediums;  
           [0050]    transmitting the data of the source recording medium to a source FIFO buffer through the source DMAC;  
           [0051]    transmitting the data of a plurality of target recording mediums to a plurality of target FIFO buffers through a plurality of target DMACs;  
           [0052]    transmitting the data of the source FIFO buffer to a plurality of comparators through a multiplexer; and  
           [0053]    comparing the data of the source FIFO buffer with the data of the target FIFO buffer by a plurality of comparators.  
           [0054]    In the present invention, the recording medium can be selected from a hard disc, an optical disc, a rewritable optical disc, a floppy disc or a memory.  
           [0055]    In the present invention, a transferring interface is provided between the source recording medium and the source DMAC.  
           [0056]    In the present invention, the transferring interface can be selected from an ATA, serial ATA or SCSI control interface.  
           [0057]    The other objects, merits and novel features of the present invention are obvious by the following detailed description together with accompany drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0058]    [0058]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the duplicator according to the first embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0059]    [0059]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the duplicator according to the second embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0060]    [0060]FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the method for duplicating recording medium according to the third embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0061]    [0061]FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the method for comparing recording medium according to the third embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0062]    Now referring to FIG. 1, the duplicator for recording medium according to the first embodiment of the present invention comprises: a source recording medium  13 ; a source DMAC  12 ; a source FIFO buffer  11 ; a multiplexer  14 ; a plurality of target FIFO buffers  101   1 ,  101   2 , . . . and  101   n ; a plurality of target DMACs  102   1 ,  102   2 , . . . and  102   n ; and a plurality of target recording mediums  103   1 ,  103   2 , . . . and  103   n . When a source recording medium  13  is detected, a source DMAC  12  is configured. The data of the source recording medium  13  are transmitted to the source FIFO buffer  11  through the source DMAC  12 . When the data of the source FIFO buffer  11  are not empty, the data of the source FIFO buffer  11  are transmitted to a plurality of target FIFO buffers ( 101   1 ,  101   2 , . . . and  101   n ) through a multiplexer  14 . Thereafter, the data of target FIFO buffers ( 101   1 ,  101   2 , . . . and  101   n ) are transmitted and duplicated to the target recording medium ( 103   1 ,  103   2 , . . . and  103   n ) through the target DMACs ( 102   1 ,  102   2 , . . . and  102   n ).  
         [0063]    Alternatively, when the data to be duplicated are from an external data source  16 , the data of the data source  16  are transmitted to a plurality of target FIFO buffers ( 101   1 ,  101   2 , . . . and  101   n ) through the multiplexer  14 . Thereafter, the data of target FIFO buffers ( 101   1 ,  101   2 , . . . and  101   n ) are transmitted and duplicated to the target recording medium ( 103   1 ,  103   2 , . . . and  103   n ) through the target DMACs ( 102   1 ,  102   2 , . . . and  102   n ).  
         [0064]    A transferring interface can be provided between the source recording medium  13  and the source DMAC  12  for connection. The transferring interface could be an ATA, serial ATA or SCSI control interface, depending on what the source recording medium  13  is.  
         [0065]    Now referring to FIG. 2, the duplicator for recording medium according to the second embodiment of the present invention comprises:  
         [0066]    a source recording medium  13 ; a source DMAC  12 ; a source FIFO buffer  11 ; a multiplexer  14 ; a plurality of comparators  105   1 ,  105   2 , . . . and  105   n ; a plurality of target FIFO buffers  101   1 ,  101   2 , . . . and  101   n ; a plurality of target DMACs  102   1 ,  102   2 , . . . and  102   n ; and a plurality of target recording mediums  103   1 ,  103   2 , . . . and  103   n . When a source recording medium  13  is detected, a source DMAC  12  is configured. The data of the source recording medium  13  are transmitted to the source FIFO buffer  11  through the source DMAC  12 . When the data of the source FIFO buffer  11  are not empty, the data of the source FIFO buffer  11  are transmitted to a plurality of comparators ( 105   1 ,  105   2 , . . . and  105   n ) through a multiplexer  14 . The data of the target recording medium ( 103   1 ,  103   2 , . . . and  103   n ) are transmitted to the target FIFO buffers ( 101   1 ,  101   2 , . . . and  101   n ) through the target DMACs ( 102   1 ,  102   2 , . . . and  102   n ). Thereafter, the data of source FIFO  11  are compared with the data of target FIFO buffers ( 101   1 ,  101   2 , . . . and  101   n ) by comparators ( 105   1 ,  105   2 , . . . and  105   n ), respectively.  
         [0067]    Alternatively, when the data to be compared are from an external data source  16 , the data of the data source  16  are transmitted to a plurality of comparators ( 105   1 ,  105   2 , . . . and  105   n ) through the multiplexer  14 . The data of the target recording medium ( 103   1 ,  103   2 , . . . and  103   n ) are transmitted to the target FIFO buffers ( 101   1 ,  101   2 , . . . and  101   n ) through the target DMACs ( 102   1 ,  102   2 , . . . and  102   n ). Thereafter, the data of the data source  16  are compared with the data of target FIFO buffers ( 101   1 ,  101   2 , . . . and  101   n ) by comparators ( 105   1 ,  105   2 , . . . and  105   n ), respectively.  
         [0068]    A transferring interface can be provided between the source recording medium  13  and the source DMAC  12  for connection. The transferring interface could be an ATA, serial ATA or SCSI control interface, depending on what the source recording medium  13  is.  
         [0069]    [0069]FIG. 3 shows the flow chart of method for duplicating recording medium according to the third embodiment of the present invention. First, at Step  11 , the type of the recording medium is detected. Consequently, at Step  12 , DMAC is configured according to the type of the recording medium. Step  13  determines whether the source FIFO is full. If the determining result of Step  13  is No, the process proceeds to Step  14 . At Step  14 , the data of the source recording medium are transmitted to the source FIFO. If the determining result of Step  13  is Yes, the process proceeds to Step  15 . Step  15  determines whether the source FIFO is not empty and all target FIFOs are not full. If the determining result of Step  15  is Yes, the process proceeds to Step  16 . At Step  16 , the data of source FIFO are transmitted to the target FIFO. If the determining result of Step  15  is No, i.e. the source FIFO is empty or the target FIFO is full, the process proceed to Step  17 . Step  17  determines whether the target FIFO is empty. If the determining result of Step  17  is No, the process proceeds to Step  18 . At Step  18 , the data of target FIFO are transmitted to target recording medium. If the determining result of Step  17  is Yes, the process proceeds to Step  19 . Step  19  determines whether all requested data of source recording medium are transmitted to target recording medium. If the determining result of Step  19  is Yes, the process goes to end. If the determining result of Step  19  is No, the process proceeds to Step  13 .  
         [0070]    [0070]FIG. 4 shows the flow chart of method for comparing recording medium according to the third embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0071]    First, at Step  21 , the type of the recording medium is detected. Consequently, at Step  22 , DMAC is configured according to the type of the recording medium. Step  23  determines whether the source FIFO is full. If the determining result of Step  23  is No, the process proceeds to Step  24 . At Step  24 , the data of the source recording medium are transmitted to the source FIFO. If the determining result of Step  23  is Yes, the process proceeds to Step  25 . Step  25  determines whether the target FIFO is full. If the determining result of Step  25  is No, the process proceeds to Step  26 . At Step  26 , the data of the target recording medium are transmitted to the target FIFO. If the determining result of Step  25  is Yes, the process proceeds to Step  27 . Step  27  determines whether all the source FIFO and the target FIFOs are not empty. If the determining result of Step  27  is Yes, the process proceeds to Step  28 . Step  28  compares the data of the source FIFO with the data of the target FIFO by comparators. If the determining result of Step  27  is No, the process proceeds to Step  29 . Step  29  determines whether all requested data of source recording medium are compared with all data of target recording medium. If the determining result of Step  29  is Yes, the process goes to end. If the determining result of Step  29  is No, the process proceeds to Step  23 .  
         [0072]    While several embodiments of the present invention have been described using specific terms, such description is for illustrative purposes only, and it should be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit of scope of the following claims.