Complementary concurrent cooperative multi-processing multi-tasking processing system (C3M2)

• US 5,968,115 A
• Filed: 02/03/1997
• Issued: 10/19/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Optimized Applications & Solutions Information Systems
• Original Assignee: Complementary Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Trout, Ray C.
• Primary Examiner(s): TOPLU, LUCIEN
• Application Number:
  US08/794,045
• Time in Patent Office: 988 Days
• Field of Search: 395/670-675, 395/840, 395/841, 395/827, 709/107
• US Class Current: 718/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

The system concept of the C3M2 System is to have the capability of providing a Process for each major processing step of automated data processing, i.e. if you have four steps then you need a minimum of four but it could be 8 or 12 or 16 processes. The four major complementary functions encompass the four major functions of data processing (Input/Output, Data Computation, Storage and User I/F). The system shall be Multi-tasking for each step. Source headers, link lists and entity or object identifiers are the methods that shall be used for identity of the different classes, types and objects for the variety of data in the system. The source and data type are contained in the source header. The class and type identity are contained in the object identifiers. The multi-tasking would be by schedule (interleaved by priority). This was selected instead of cycle sharing for improved concurrency.

Claims

1. A computer system having

at least one CPU for performing

an IO process for receiving data inputs and processing said data inputs to provide data outputs;

a DP process for performing a data processing function;

a DM process for performing a data distribution function; and

a DS process for performing a data storage function;

at least one computer memory means including

at least one memory means for storing data from the IO process;

a dedicated DP memory for storing data from the DP process;

a dedicated DM memory for storing data from the DM process; and

a dedicated DS memory for storing data from the DS process;

and instructions for the at least one CPU including

IO instructions and means for causing the IO process to transfer data outputs to the at least one memory means for storage;

DP instructions and means for causing the DP process to retrieve data from the at least one memory, process said data to form calculated data; and

to transfer the calculated data to the DP memory for storage;

DM instructions and means for causing the DM process to retrieve data from the DS memory and to transfer the data retrieved to the DM memory for storage; and

DS instructions and means for causing the DS process to retrieve data from at least one of the memory means for storing data from the IO process and the DP memory and to transfer the retrieved data to the DS memory for storage.

2. A computer system as in claim 1

wherein the at least one memory means for storing data from the IO process comprises

a DP complementary shared memory operably associated with the DP process;

and

a dedicated IO memory for storing data from the IO process;

said computer system further comprising

IO instructions and means for causing the IO process to transfer data outputs to the DP complementary shared memory and to the dedicated IO memory;

wherein the DP instructions and means for causing the DP process to retrieve data from a memory causes the DP process to retrieve data from the DP complementary shared memory; and

the DS instructions and means for causing the DS process to retrieve data from at least one of the memory means for storing data from the IO process causes the DS process to retrieve data from the dedicated IO memory.

3. A computer system as in claim 1 further comprising

an archive memory for storing data for archive from the DS process;

instructions and means for causing the DS process to retrieve data for archive from the first memory portion of the DS memory and the second memory portion of the DS memory and to transfer such data to the archive memory for storage.

4. A computer system as in claim 1 further comprising

a user interface operably associated with the DM process;

wherein the DM instructions include

a routine for determining whether a user notification should be transmitted to the user interface;

a routine for generating the user notification; and

a routine for transmitting the user notification from the DM process to the user interface.

5. A computer system as in claim 1 further comprising

an external user interface operably associated with the IO process;

wherein the IO instructions include

a routine for processing queries from the external user interface;

a routine for transmitting the processed queries from the external user interface to the DM process;

a routine for processing query responses received from the DM process; and

a routine for transmitting the processed query responses to the external user interface;

and wherein the DM instructions include

a routine for processing queries received from the IO process;

a routine for retrieving data responsive to said query from the DM memory;

a routine for generating a query response based on the retrieved data; and

and a routine for transmitting the query response to the IO process.

6. A computer system as in claim 1 wherein

the IO instructions and means for causing the IO process to transfer data to the IO memory for storage further comprises a routine for causing a flag to be placed with the transferred data;

and

the DP instructions and means for causing the DP process to retrieve data from a memory and to transfer calculated data to the DP memory for storage further comprises a routine for removing the flag from the retrieved data and a routine for placing a flag with the transferred data.

7. A computer system as in claim 1 further comprising

a user interface operably associated with the DM process;

wherein the DM instructions include

a routine for processing queries from the user interface;

a routine for retrieving data responsive to said query from the DM memory;

a routine for generating a query response based on the retrieved data; and

and a routine for transmitting the query response to the user interface.

8. A computer system as in claim 1 further comprising

an IO complementary shared memory operably associated with the IO process;

a DM complementary shared memory operably associated with the DM process;

an external user interface operably associated with the IO process;

external user interface instructions and means for causing the external user interface to transmit queries to the IO complementary shared memory for storage; and

a dedicated external user interface memory operably associated with the external user interface;

wherein the IO instructions include

a routine to retrieve queries from the IO complementary shared memory;

a routine to format the queries in an appropriate protocol;

a routine to identify and transmit the queries to the DM complementary shared memory for storage;

a routine to retrieve query responses from the DM complementary shared memory;

a routine to format the query responses from the DM complementary shared memory into the protocol;

a routine to transmit the queries and the query responses to the external user interface memory for storage.

9. A computer system as in claim 1 further comprising

a DS complementary shared memory operably associated with the DS process;

an archive memory for storing data for archive from the DS process;

wherein the DS instructions and means for causing the DS process to retrieve data from IO memory causes the DS process to retrieve such data into the DS complementary shared memory;

wherein the DS instructions further include

a routine to retrieve dynamic data from the DS complementary shared memory;

a routine to retrieve static data from the DS complementary shared memory;

a routine to retrieve calculated data from the DS complementary shared memory;

a routine to retrieve the identifiers for the dynamic data, the static data, and the calculated data from the DS complementary shared memory;

a routine to convert the identifiers to record numbers;

a routine to convert the dynamic data, the static data, the calculated data and the record numbers to a relational data base format for storage as a relational data base;

a routine for storing the relational data base in the DS memory;

a routine for retrieving the relational data base from the DS memory;

a routine for storing the thus retrieved relational data base in the archive memory;

a routine for transferring the relational data base from the archive memory to an archive media for storage; and

a routine for transferring a relational data base from an archive media to the archive memory.

10. A computer system as in claim 1 further comprising:

a DM complementary shared memory operably associated with the DM process; and

a user interface operably associated with the DM process;

and wherein the DM instructions include

a routine to retrieve data from the DS memory and to transfer the data retrieved to the DM complementary shared memory for storage;

a routine to cause a flag to be placed with the data last retrieved from the DS memory;

a routine to transmit the data stored with the flag to the user interface;

a routine for determining whether a user notification should be transmitted to the user interface;

a routine for generating the user notification; and

a routine for transmitting the user notification from the DM process to the user interface.

11. A computer system as in claim 1 further comprising:

a DM complementary shared memory operably associated with the DM process; and

a user interface operably associated with the DM process;

at least one external database operably associated with the DM process;

wherein the DM instructions include

a routine for processing queries received from the user interface;

a routine for identifying the external database containing data responsive to said query;

a routine for retrieving the data responsive to said query from the external database;

a routine for generating a query response based on the retrieved data; and

and a routine for transmitting the query response to the user interface.

12. A process for concurrently using four process functions to cooperatively perform complementary data processing, said process comprising

receiving a data input in an IO process function;

processing the data input in the IO process function and producing an IO output;

transferring the IO output to an IO memory for storage;

transferring the IO output to a DP complementary shared memory for storage;

retrieving an IO memory output from the IO memory;

receiving the retrieved IO memory output in a DS process function;

processing the received IO memory output in the DS process function and producing a DS output;

transferring the DS output to a DS memory for storage;

retrieving a DP complementary shared memory output from the DP complementary shared memory;

receiving the DP complementary shared memory output in a DP process function;

processing the received DP complementary shared memory output in the DP process function and producing a DP output;

transferring the DP output to the DP complementary shared memory;

transferring the DP output to a DP memory for storage;

retrieving an DP memory output from the DP memory;

receiving the retrieved DP memory output in a DS process function;

processing the received DP memory output in the DS process function and producing a DS output;

transferring the DS output to the DS memory for storage;

retrieving a DS memory output from the DS memory;

receiving the retrieved DS memory output in a DM process function;

processing the received DS memory output in the DM process function and producing a DM output; and

transferring the DM output to a DM memory for storage.

13. A process as in claim 12 further comprising

assigning a processing priority designator to data inputs to the IO process function;

and

scheduling the data outputs from the IO process function for ordered transmission to the DP process function in a priority scheduler having a cyclic unvarying predetermined priority designator sequence.

14. A process as in claim 12 further comprising

causing a flag to be placed with the IO output transferred to the IO memory for storage;

causing a flag to be placed with the IO output transferred to the DP complementary shared memory for storage;

causing a flag to be placed with the DP output transferred to the DP memory for storage;

causing a flag to be placed with the DS output transferred to the DS memory for storage; and

causing a flag to be placed with the DM output transferred to the DM memory for storage.

15. A process as in claim 12 further comprising:

calculating a value for a predetermined relationship between data most recently retrieved from the DP complementary shared memory and data previously retrieved from the DP complementary shared memory;

transferring the value to the DP complementary shared memory for storage;

calculating a calculated value trend from the stored values;

predicting a predicted value for the next retrieved data from the DP complementary shared memory based on the trend from the stored values;

comparing the calculated value with the predicted value and completing further processing of the calculated value when the calculated value is outside of predetermined limits from the predicted value; and

transferring the calculated value from the DP complementary shared memory to the DP memory for storage.

16. A process as in claim 12 further comprising:

processing a query from a user interface;

retrieving DM memory output responsive to said query from the DM memory;

generating a query response based on the retrieved DM memory output in the DM process function; and

transmitting the query response to the user interface.

17. A process as in claim 12 further comprising

assigning a unique multicharacteristic identifier to each data input to the IO process function;

transferring the multicharacteristic identifier as IO output to the IO memory for storage; and

transferring the multicharacteristic identifier as IO output to the DP complementary shared memory for storage.

18. A process as in claim 12 further comprising

identifying dynamic data in the IO process function;

identifying static data in the IO process function;

transferring the dynamic data as IO output to a first portion of the IO memory for storage;

transferring the static data as IO output to a second portion of the IO memory for storage; and

transferring the multicharacteristic identifiers as IO output to a third portion of the IO memory for storage.

19. A process as in claim 12 further comprising

determining in the DM process function whether a user notification should be transmitted to a user interface;

generating the user notification; and

transmitting the user notification from th e DM process function to the user interface.