Patent ID: 7908435

Claim:
A controller in a disk memory system for initiating an auto-transfer of host-requested-data from a cache memory to a host system, wherein an initial buffer-counter indicates a total number of blocks of data in the cache memory, wherein an initial buffer-pointer points to a first block of data in the cache memory, and wherein an initial start-address indicates an address of the first block of data in the cache memory, the controller comprising: a first-circuit receiving as input a request for host-requested-data, generating an output signal when at least a portion of the host-requested-data is within the cache memory; a second-circuit receiving as input the output signal of the first-circuit and selectively outputting a new value of the buffer-counter, the buffer-pointer and the start-address in response to the output of the first-circuit; an auto-transfer circuit receiving as input the new value for the buffer-counter, the new value for the buffer-pointer, and the new value for the start-address and outputting in response control signals to auto-transfer the at least a portion of the host-requested-data from the cache memory to the host system; a third-circuit configured to generate an output when a portion of the host-requested-data is not in the cache memory; and a microprocessor interface responsive to the output of the third-circuit configured to invoke a microprocessor to transfer the portion of the host-requested-data that is not in cache memory from a magnetic disk device directly to the host system substantially concurrently with the auto-transfer of other portions of the host-requested-data from cache memory.