Magnetic bubble domain relational data base system

A magnetic bubble domain relational data system, comprising:

• control means including a central processing unit for organizing data in tables having rows and columns in accordance with the relation between data items, said control means further including means for determining the addresses of columns and rows in each said table of related data items,
• a magnetic bubble domain storage device for storing said tables of related data items in accordance with the addresses of columns and rows in said tables, said data being represented by said bubble domains which are stored in rows and columns to form tables of bubble domains,
• interface means located between said control means and said bubble domain storage device for buffering data flow between said control means and said storage device,
• accessing means under control of said control means for accessing selected columns or rows of bubbles in said bubble domain storage device, and
• means responsive to signals from said control means for extracting data items from at least two different tables of data items stored in said bubble domain storage device and means for joining said extracted data items from said two tables to form a new table of related data items.

In a relational data base system for storing data items in accordance with the relation between data items, including means for determining relationships between data items and means for storing data items in rows and columns to form stored tables of data items, and further including addressing means for determining the addresses of said rows and columns of data items and access means for accessing data items in selected rows and columns in said storing means, together with means for forming new tables of data in said storing means where said new tables are comprised of rows or columns of data in said stored tables of data, the improvement comprising:

• a magnetic bubble domain storage device comprising a magnetic film in which bubble domains can be moved and a plurality of shift registers in which said bubble domains can be propagated to achieve storage thereof,
• at least one major path along which said bubble domains can propagate,
• transfer gate means located between at least one major path and said shift registers for transferring bubble domains between said at least one major path and said shift registers, said transfer gate means being responsive to electrical signals provided thereto for determining whether said domains are transferred between said at least one major path and said shift registers,
• transfer control means located external to said bubble domain storage device for providing said electrical signals to said transfer gate means to control the transfer of information between said at least one major path and said shift registers, said transfer control means including current carrying conductors overlying each said transfer gate means for controlling said transfer of bubble domains, where said transfer control means provides electrical currents on said current carrying conductors in accordance with signals received from said addressing means external to said bubble domain storage device,
• write means located on said magnetic bubble domain storage device for writing bubble domains to be transferred via said transfer gate means to said shift registers, said write means producing said bubble domains for transfer to said shift registers in accordance with signals received from said address means located external to said bubble domain storage device, and
• read means located on said bubble domain storage device for reading information represented by said stored bubble domains from said shift registers.