Centralized hardware control of multisystem access to shared and non-shared subsystems
First Claim
1. A central controlling unit, for use with a plurality of data processing systems, none, some, or all of which are capable of being partitioned into a further plurality of separate entities, having the characteristics of a complete data processing system and a plurality of subsystem interface connections, said central controlling unit comprising:
- enabling/disabling connection means connected to said plurality of subsystem interface connections for dynamically enabling/disabling, from a central location, said plurality of subsystem interface connections to selected entities and/or systems; and
means coupled to said enabling/disabling connection means for maintaining these enabled/disabled interconnections for as long as desired from undesired appropriation; and
storage means commonly connected to said enabling/disabling connection means and to said means for maintaining these interconnections, said storage means having residual information stored therein to cause various subsystem interconnections in response to corresponding system command signals.
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Abstract
A centralized control unit for use in a multisystem data processing configuration to provide dynamic access to shared and non-shared peripheral subsystems is disclosed. This unit, known herein as a subsystem access unit (SAU) is able to remotely control one or more system'"'"'s accessibility to peripheral subsystem'"'"'s from a central location. It is able to provide this control with the capability of either allowing a peripheral subsystem to be concurrently accessed by more than one system or forcibly ensuring that the peripheral subsystem is exclusively accessible by only a single system.
61 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A central controlling unit, for use with a plurality of data processing systems, none, some, or all of which are capable of being partitioned into a further plurality of separate entities, having the characteristics of a complete data processing system and a plurality of subsystem interface connections, said central controlling unit comprising:
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enabling/disabling connection means connected to said plurality of subsystem interface connections for dynamically enabling/disabling, from a central location, said plurality of subsystem interface connections to selected entities and/or systems; and means coupled to said enabling/disabling connection means for maintaining these enabled/disabled interconnections for as long as desired from undesired appropriation; and storage means commonly connected to said enabling/disabling connection means and to said means for maintaining these interconnections, said storage means having residual information stored therein to cause various subsystem interconnections in response to corresponding system command signals.
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2. A subsystem access unit which supports subsystem partitioning for multisystems and/or for multiprocessing systems comprising:
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enabling/disabling connection means coupled to the interfaces of said subsystems for enabling/disabling said interfaces; means coupled for receiving one or more command source signals associated with said multisystems and/or said multiprocessing systems to activate said enabling/disabling connection means; and storage means commonly coupled to said enabling/disabling connection means and for receiving said command source signals, said storage means having stored therein resident information to cause various combinations of enabling/disabling interface connections and to enforce the integrity of said command source signals by preventing undesired misappropriation of said subsystems by preventing erroneous enabling/disabling of said subsystem interfaces.
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- 3. A plurality of data processing systems, none, some or all of which are capable of being partitioned into a plurality of separate system entities, each data processing system and/or each entity comprising at least one central processor unit, at least one I/O processor, and at least one memory, at least one peripheral subsystem commonly connected to said plurality of data processing systems and/or said plurality of separate system entities, and a subsystem access unit commonly connected to said plurality of data processing system and/or separate system entities and to said at least one peripheral subsystem to enable/disable communication between the I/O processor of each of said pluralities of data processing systems and/or entities and said peripheral subsystem and to monitor and maintain accessibility/inaccessibility between the I/O processors and said peripheral subsystem.
- 10. A subsystem access unit for use in conjunction with a, partitionable multisystem and/or a multiprocessing system, wherein each of said multiprocessing systems is capable of being partitioned into a plurality of separate entities, each entity having at least one instruction processor, at least one memory storage unit and at least one input/output processor, at least one peripheral subsystem, wherein said subsystem access unit is coupled to the data processing systems of said multisystem and/or to the entities of said multiprocessing system and includes means for enabling/disabling communication between input/output processors and said common peripheral subsystem, and enforcing exclusive use thereof once the communication link is enabled.
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12. In a plurality of data processing systems, none, some or all of which are capable of being partitioned into one or more separate entities, said data processing system having more than one instruction processing means, more than one memory means, more than one input/output processing means and at least one peripheral subsystem, a centralized control system comprising:
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(a) dynamically enabling/disabling means coupled between the peripheral subsystem means and the remainder of the means of the data processing systems to provide or prevent intercommunication therebetween; (b) policing and enforcing means further coupled to said peripheral subsystem means to determine, monitor and maintain the accessibility or inaccessibility of said peripheral subsystem to one or more of said systems or partitionable portions; and (c) central control means commonly connected to said data processing system and said peripheral subsystem to provide control for the dynamic enabling/disabling means and for the policing and enforcing means, via external, intelligent message protocols.
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13. A centralized controlling system for use with a plurality of data processing systems each of the plurality of data processing systems capable of isolated performance, a peripheral subsystem coupled to said plurality of data processing systems for either shared or non-shared use by the separate ones of said data processing systems, said centralized controlling system comprising:
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enabling/disabling means for dynamically enabling/disabling hardware communication links between the plurality of data processing systems and the peripheral subsystem; further means coupled to said enabling/disabling means for policing and enforcing accessibility/inaccessibility of the peripheral subsystem once the enabling/disabling decision has been accomplished; and controlling means commonly connected to said enabling/disabling means and said further means for providing this control via external, intelligent message protocols.
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14. A subsystem access unit (SAU) for use in a partitionable multiprocessing system, said SAU comprising:
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(a) means for the interface coupling of said SAU to one or more command sources; (b) means for the interface coupling of said SAU to one or more shared peripheral interfaces; (c) means for the interface coupling of said SAU to one or more serial channel transfer switch interfaces; (d) means interconnected to (a), (b) and (c) for receiving information from said command sources, processing same, and therefrom providing switching information via said shared peripheral interfaces and said channel transfer switch interfaces which switching information is capable of not only enabling/disabling communication paths between a plurality of processing systems and a plurality of peripheral devices, but policing and enforcing said enabling/disabling decisions to allow exclusive use of a certain peripheral device by a certain system.
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15. A method of dynamically disconnecting and/or exclusively connecting data processing systems and/or partitions/applications of partitionable multiprocessing systems to a peripheral subsystem through the use of the resident information of a subsystem access unit comprising the steps of:
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(a) sending a first identifying request signal from a command source to said subsystem access unit; (b) accessing a cabling information table within the resident information stored in said access unit; (c) providing the identification of an input/output processor from said cabling information table; (d) supplying the application number affected by this identified input/output processor from the input/output processor/application designation table within said stored resident information; (e) supplying from a command source/application designation table of said resident information, the interface number assigned to that application; (f) comparing the assigned command source interface number with the requesting command source interface number; (g) if a mismatch exists, rejecting the request; (h) if a match exists, determining if change can be made, using the partitioning status information status and the exclusive use status information; (i) if change cannot be made, rejecting the request; (j) if change can be made, effecting the change.
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16. A method of dynamically changing the application assignments of peripheral units of a shared peripheral subsystem to other application assignments within a multiprocessor system and/or a multisystem by remotely controlling a switching peripheral control unit from a subsystem access unit comprising the steps of:
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(a) sending a command request to said subsystem access unit requesting a particular interface; (b) from a cabling information table within said subsystem access unit providing the identification number of the I/O processor making the request; (c) using the input/output processor identification number, determine from the I/O processor/application designation table of the resident information which application is affected; (d) using the application number, determine from the command source/application designation table of the resident information, the command source interface number assigned to that application number; (e) compare this assigned command source interface number with the requesting interface number; (f) if a mismatch exists, reject the request; (g) if a match exists, determine if a change can be made using the resident information on partitioning and exclusive use status; (h) if the change cannot be made, reject the request; (i) if the change can be made affect the change.
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17. A peripheral subsystem access unit for use in centrally controlling multisystem or multiprocessing system access to shared and non-shared peripheral subsystems comprising:
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a microprocessing means; a plurality of serial input/output circuits commonly coupled to said microprocessing means; a plurality of parallel input/output circuits also commonly coupled to said microprocessing means; a memory means coupled to said microprocessing means; an input/output read selector connected to said plurality of serial and parallel input/output circuits; a bidirectional data bus interconnected between said microprocessing means, said pluralities of serial and parallel input/output circuits, said memory means and said input/output read selector to provide a communication path therebetween; a plurality of shared peripheral interface registers; a plurality of byte channel transfer switch interface registers; and another data bus interconnected between said pluralities of shared peripheral interface registers and said byte channel transfer switch interface registers and the plurality of parallel input/output circuits to provide a data path therebetween. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification