Foreword The Center for Computer Sciences and Technology of the National Bureau of Standards has responsibility under the authority of Public Law 89-306 (the Brooks Bill) for automatic data processing standards development, for consultation and technical assistance to Federal agencies, and for supporting research in matters relating to the use of computers in the Federal Government. This selective literature review is the second in a series intended to improve interchange of information among those engaged in research and development in the fields of the computer and information sciences. Considered in this volume are the specific areas of information processing, storage, and output. Names and descriptions of specific proprietary devices and equipment have been included for the convenience of the reader, but completeness in this respect is recognized to be impossible. Certain important developments have remained proprietary or have not been reported in the open literature; thus major contributors to key developments in the field may have been omitted. The omission of any method or device does not necessarily imply that it is considered unsuitable or unsatisfactory, nor does inclusion of descriptive material on commercially available instruments, products, programs, or processes constitute endorsement. LEWIS M. BRANSCOMB, Director 6. System output to microform and hard copy...... 6.1. Microform recording and direct output transmission..... 6.2. Printing, photocomposition and computer-controlled character and symbol generation... 6.2.2. Photocomposition and electronic character generation techniques. 6.2.3. Computer-controlled typographic composition....... 6.3. Hard copy reproduction....... 6.4. Post-processing operations and special forms of output. Appendix A. Background notes on research and development requirements in information Research and Development in the Computer and Information Sciences 2. Processing, Storage, and Output Requirements in Information Processing Systems: A Selective Literature Review Mary Elizabeth Stevens Areas of concern with respect to processing, storage, and output requirements of a generalized Key words: Computer-assisted-instruction; information display; information recording; machine- 1. Introduction This is the second in a series of reports concerned with research and development requirements and areas of continuing concern in the computer and information sciences and technologies. In the first report of this series, "Information Acquisition, Sensing, and Input: A Selective Literature Review,' background considerations and general purposes intended to be served by the series are discussed. In addition, the general plan of attack and certain caveats are outlined. * 1.1 In general, we shall attempt to consider first the areas of research and development concern in the computer sciences and technologies with reference to a schematic diagram of a generalized information processing system, as shown in Figure 1.1.2 In the first report of the series, we considered various implications of Boxes 1, 2, and 3 in Figure 1. In this report, we are concerned primarily with some of the R & D implications involved in the receipt of processing service requests from clients of the system and in the management of the processing operations themselves (especially in terms of multiple-access systems), with efficient and economical storage, with output considerations, and, with post-processing operations on output. Many hardware, design, and theoretical considerations necessarily arise with respect to the development of processing specifications, matching and processing operations, search and selection, and retrieval. We shall defer most of the aspects of information storage, selection and retrieval systems for discussion in later reports in this series. In this report, we will concentrate first on certain aspects of processor system planning and management requirements, with particular reference to multipleaccess systems. It is noted, however, that priority scheduling requirements, precedence interrupts, and the like, are as apt to apply to a batch-job system as to one that is operated in an on-line conversational-mode. (See, for example, Nicholson and Pullen, 1968).** *Appendix A of this report contains notes and quotations pertinent to the running text. For the convenience of the reader, Notes "1.1" and "1.2" in Appendix A recapitulate some of the considerations discussed in the first report. **See Appendix B for bibliography of references cited in this report. d |