Patent · US Expired

Secondary storage facility employing serial communications between drive and controller

US4811279A · kind A · utility

17Cited by
26References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 9, 1987
Grant dateMar 7, 1989
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 9, 2007

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F3/0673
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A radial bus for use in a secondary storage subsystem, between a mass storage drive and controller. The bus has four unidirectional bit-serial channels, two for carrying signals from drive to controllers. One channel carries real-time drive state information to the controller; another carries real-time controller state information to the drive. The state information is a sequence of multiplexed bits sent in continuous repetition. Most status variables are represented as a single bit in a specific place in the sequence; the set of status variables defining drive state or controller state, as the case may be, is thus provided by a sequence of bits. When such a bit changes state, a potential change of status has occurred; the change is required to persist some number of repetition of the sequence before the state change is recognized, to avoid spuriously signalling a state change.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.