Modular computer system
First Claim
1. A computer system comprising,a plurality of processing elements for simultaneously performing data processing calculations for a plurality of data processing tasks, each of said processing elements performing data processing calculations for one data processing task independently from other data processing elements, said processing element generating request signals;
- a common memory area having a plurality of storage locations, each of said plurality of storage locations being accessible by all of said processing elements;
a system bus for transferring signals between said processing elements and said memory area;
at least one processor bus connected to at least one of said plurality of processing elements; and
first arbitration means responsive to request signals generated from at least one of said processing elements for selectively transferring signals between said processor bus and said system bus.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A multi-processor computer system is disclosed in which processing elements, memory elements and peripheral units can be physically added and removed from the system without disrupting its operation or necessitating any reprogramming of software running on the system. The processing units, memory units and peripheral units are all coupled to a common system bus by specialized interface units. The processing elements are organized into partially independent groups each of which has dedicated interface units, but the processing units share system resources including peripherals and the entire memory space. Within each processing element group at any one time, group supervisory tasks are performed by one of the processors, but the supervisor function is passed among the processors in the group in a sequence to prevent a fault in one processor from disabling the entire group. Communication between groups is accomplished via the common memory areas.
The transfer of the supervisor function from processor to processor is performed by registering the supervisor'"'"'s identity in a common area in one of the dedicated interface units which area is accessable to all processors in the associated group and using program interrupts generated in the common interface unit to communicate between group processors.
Access to the common system bus by the processing elements is controlled by the associated interface units by means of a combination serial/parallel arbitration scheme which increases arbitration speed without requiring a full complement of request/grant leads.
102 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A computer system comprising,
a plurality of processing elements for simultaneously performing data processing calculations for a plurality of data processing tasks, each of said processing elements performing data processing calculations for one data processing task independently from other data processing elements, said processing element generating request signals; -
a common memory area having a plurality of storage locations, each of said plurality of storage locations being accessible by all of said processing elements; a system bus for transferring signals between said processing elements and said memory area; at least one processor bus connected to at least one of said plurality of processing elements; and first arbitration means responsive to request signals generated from at least one of said processing elements for selectively transferring signals between said processor bus and said system bus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer system comprising,
a plurality of processing elements for simultaneously performing data processing calculations for a plurality of data processing tasks, each of said processing elements performing data processing calculations for one data processing task independently from other data processing elements, said processing element generating request signals; -
a plurality of separate memory elements; at least one memory bus connected to at least one of said plurality of memory elements; a system bus for transferring signals between said processing elements and one of said plurality of memory elements; at least one processor bus connected to at least one of said plurality of processing elements; and first arbitration means responsive to request signals generated from at least one of said processing elements for selecting one of said processors and for selectively transferring signals between said processor bus and said system bus; slave interface means responsive to said address signals selecting one of said memories, said address signals being by said one selected processor for transferring data between said system bus and said one selected memory. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification