System for peripheral devices recursively generating unique addresses based on the number of devices connected dependent upon the relative position to the port

• US 5,828,899 A
• Filed: 01/04/1996
• Issued: 10/27/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Teter, Stephen D., Richard, Elizabeth A., Williamson, Ralph K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chen, Anderson I.
• Application Number:
  US08/583,206
• Time in Patent Office: 1,027 Days
• Field of Search: 364/238.3, 395/500, 395/828, 395/829, 395/800
• US Class Current: 710/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0676 the address being position dependent
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0684 with feedback, e.g. presence or absence of unit detected by addressing, overflow detection

Abstract

A system for allowing a peripheral device to be inserted directly into a port of a computer system while the computer system is powered on. The insertion of a peripheral device into the computer system port is automatically detected, and a configuration operation is automatically performed when insertion of the peripheral device is detected. The system also allows a plurality of peripheral devices to be connected to a single port of a computer system by automatically determining the number of peripheral devices and assigning a unique address to each of the peripheral devices. The peripheral device may have a host port for communicating with the computer system, a slave port for connecting to a slave device, and a device manager which identifies if a slave device is connection.

Claims

1. A method for allowing peripheral devices to be added to a port of a computer system while the computer system is powered on, the computer system having a configuration program, the method comprising:

automatically detecting addition of a peripheral device to the computer system port;

the configuration program transmitting a configuration command requesting address information of the peripheral devices; and

the peripheral devices recursively generating their own unique addresses based on the number of peripheral devices connected in response to the configuration command, wherein a peripheral device'"'"'s address is dependent upon the device'"'"'s position relative to the computer system port.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer system port includes a serial port.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically detecting removal of a peripheral device from the computer system port; and

automatically performing the transmitting and generating if removal of the peripheral device has been detected.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer system includes a storage device, and wherein the method further includes retrieving a device driver associated with a peripheral device from the storage device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the computer system further includes a memory, and wherein the method further includes loading the device driver into the memory.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the method further includes checking for a device type of a peripheral device and retrieving the device driver from the storage device based on the device type.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a second peripheral device is connected to a first peripheral device, the method further comprising:

the first peripheral device determining if the second peripheral device is connected, and if so, the first peripheral device forwarding the configuration command to the second peripheral device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first peripheral device has a logical address, the method further comprising:

setting the logical address according to whether the second peripheral device is connected to the first peripheral device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

each peripheral device performing a self test in response to the configuration command.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the peripheral devices are connected in a serial chain.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the computer system port includes a serial port.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the peripheral device most downstream from the computer system port has the lowest address while the peripheral device closest to the computer system port generates the highest address.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the configuration program automatically detecting removal of a peripheral device from the computer system port;

the configuration program transmitting a configuration command requesting address information of one or more of the peripheral devices; and

a connected peripheral device updating its address information and transmitting it to the configuration program.

14. A method for configuring peripheral devices connected to a single port of a computer system, the method comprising:

issuing a configuration command;

automatically determining the number of peripheral devices connected to the single port in response to the configuration command; and

the peripheral devices recursively generating their addresses in response to the configuration command such that a unique address is assigned to each of the peripheral devices, each peripheral device generating its own address and providing that address to a next peripheral device until each peripheral device has assigned its address.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

automatically determining the type of each peripheral device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the computer system includes a memory, the method further comprising:

automatically loading a plurality of device drivers into the computer system memory, each device driver corresponding to a peripheral device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

setting up a routing table having a plurality of entries, each entry corresponding to a peripheral device and containing a device driver name and the address of the corresponding peripheral device.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

adding entries to the routing table as additional peripheral devices are added.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

removing entries from the routing table as peripheral devices are removed.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the peripheral devices are connected in one of a plurality of hardware configurations.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein a first peripheral device is connected directly to the computer system port, and wherein at least one other peripheral device is connected to the computer system port through the first peripheral device.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the computer system port includes a serial port.

23. Apparatus for allowing peripheral devices to be added to and removed from a port of a computer system while the computer system is powered on, the apparatus comprising:

a detector for issuing notification that a peripheral device has been inserted into the computer system port; and

a configuration manager which responds to the notification by broadcasting a configuration command, the peripheral devices recursively generating unique address values based on the number of peripheral devices connected in response to the configuration command, each peripheral device generating its own address and providing that address to a next peripheral device until each peripheral device has assigned its address.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the computer system port includes a serial port.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the detector also issues notification if the peripheral device is removed from the computer system port.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the computer system includes a storage device, and wherein the configuration manager retrieves device drivers associated with the peripheral devices from the storage device.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the computer system further includes a memory, and wherein the configuration manager loads the device drivers into the memory.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the configuration manager is further configured to check for device types of the peripheral devices and to retrieve the device drivers from the storage device based on the device types.

29. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein a first peripheral device has an input port and an output port, the input port being connected to the computer system port.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein a second peripheral device is connectable to the output port of the first peripheral device.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first peripheral device issues a second notification to the detector if a second peripheral device is inserted into the output port, and wherein the detector responds to the second notification by issuing the first notification.

32. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the peripheral device performs a self test in response to the configuration command.

33. Apparatus for configuring peripheral devices connected in a serial chain to a single port of a computer system, comprising:

a configuration manager in the computer system configured to transmit a configuration command; and

device managers in the peripheral devices configured to respond to the configuration command by recursively generating addresses for the peripheral devices such that a unique address is assigned to each of the peripheral devices, wherein an address is assigned to a peripheral device based on its position in the serial chain, each peripheral device generating its own address and providing that address to a next peripheral device until each, peripheral device has assigned its address.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the computer system includes a memory,

and wherein device drivers are loaded into the computer system memory, each device driver corresponding to a peripheral device.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the configuration manager further sets up a routing table having a plurality of entries, each entry corresponding to a peripheral device and containing a device driver name and the address of the corresponding peripheral device.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the configuration manager adds entries to the routing table as additional peripheral devices are added.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the configuration manager removes entries from the routing table as peripheral devices are removed.

38. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the peripheral devices are connected in one of a plurality of hardware configurations.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the peripheral devices are connected in a serial chain.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein a first peripheral device is connected directly to the computer system port and at least one other peripheral device is connected to the computer system port through the first peripheral device.

41. A computer system, comprising:

peripheral devices;

a peripheral port for connecting to the peripheral devices;

a port manager for transmitting a notification if a peripheral device has been inserted into the peripheral port; and

a configuration manager which responds to the notification by performing a configuration operation, wherein the configuration operation includes;

transmitting a configuration command,

the peripheral devices recursively generating their address values based on the number of peripheral devices connected,

receiving the address values from the peripheral devices, and

storing the address values.

42. The computer system of claim 41, wherein the peripheral port includes a serial port.

43. The computer system of claim 41, wherein the port manager also transmits the notification if the peripheral device is removed from the peripheral port.

44. The computer system of claim 41, further comprising:

a storage device for storing a device driver associated with the peripheral device, wherein the configuration operation includes retrieving the device driver from the storage device.

45. The computer system of claim 44, further comprising:

a memory, wherein the configuration operation further includes loading the device driver into the memory.

46. The computer system of claim 41,

wherein a second peripheral device is connected to a first peripheral device, the address value generated by the first peripheral device being dependent upon whether the second peripheral device is connected.

47. The computer system of claim 41, wherein the peripheral devices are connected in a serial chain.

48. The computer system of claim 47, wherein an address value assigned each peripheral device depends on its position in the serial chain.

49. A computer system, comprising:

a processor;

a peripheral port;

a first peripheral device connected to the port;

a second peripheral device connectable to the first peripheral device;

a third peripheral device connectable to the second peripheral device; and

a configuration manager executed on the processor for issuing a configuration command to the peripheral port,

wherein the first peripheral device responds to the configuration command by setting its address information according to whether the second peripheral device is connected, and

wherein the second peripheral device responds to the configuration command by setting its address information according to whether the third peripheral device is connected.

50. The computer system of claim 49, wherein the peripheral port includes a serial port.

51. A method of configuring first and second devices coupled to a computer port, the method comprising:

a configuration program in the computer issuing a first configuration command;

the first peripheral device receiving the first configuration command and issuing a second configuration command to the second peripheral device; and

the second peripheral device transmitting its address information to the first peripheral device in response to the second configuration command; and

the first peripheral device transmitting its address information that is dependent on the address information of the second peripheral device to the configuration program.