Digital Cinema Failover System with Pre-positioned Read/Write Head
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Solution Overview
Problem
The distribution and presentation of digital movies and pre-movie content in theaters are labor-intensive and prone to disruptions due to hardware or software failures in disk drives, which can cause interruptions in movie presentations.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that ensures continuous digital content presentation by tracking and failover to an external storage device, allowing seamless transition from a local disk drive to a network-attached storage system, enabling quick recovery and uninterrupted playback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If digital content is stored on local disk drives in theaters, then content availability and presentation speed are improved, but system reliability deteriorates due to hardware failures
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-positions the read/write head of the external storage device to the location where the next data block will be needed, before the local disk drive actually needs to provide it. This preliminary action ensures that when failover is required, the external storage can immediately begin providing data without waiting for head positioning, thus maintaining presentation speed while improving reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The external storage device acts as an intermediary backup system between the local disk drive and the digital projector. When the local drive fails, the external storage mediates the data flow by providing the needed content blocks, ensuring continuous presentation and improving system reliability without sacrificing speed
2Reliability
If external storage devices are used for failover, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The external storage device autonomously monitors and tracks the position of data blocks being read from the local disk drive without requiring complex control systems. The read/write head self-adjusts to maintain optimal positioning based on the tracked block locations, reducing the need for complex external control mechanisms while maintaining high reliability
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method and apparatus to insure continuous presentation of digital content to an audience when a locally stored copy of a file containing the digital content suddenly becomes unavailable to a digital projector. In one embodiment of the method, a first computer generates a first command to read a first block of data from a file stored on a first memory device, wherein the first computer system is coupled to a digital projector. The first computer system also generates a second command, which is subsequently transmitted to a storage device external to the computer system. The external storage device includes a hard disk that stores a copy of the file that is stored on the first memory device or vice versa. The external storage device includes a read/write head. In response to the external storage device receiving the second command, the read/write head is moved to a position on the hard disk where the read/write head can read a copy of the first block of data stored on the hard disk.