System and method for sharing resources of a host computer among a plurality of remote computers
US4994963A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 1, 1988 |
| Grant date | Feb 19, 1991 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 1, 2008 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F15/17
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system for providing a high speed digital communication path between the processor of a host computer and the processors of one or more remote computers. The high speed digital communication path allows a remote computer to efficiently share the resources of the larger host computer such as high speed magnetic disk drives and printers. A host interface located at the host computer is connected to the internal host bus of the host computer. The host interface includes a host port and components which provide for the transfer of data from the host bus to the host port. The data bits presented at the host port are arranged in a parallel format. A communication cable conveys the parallel data bits from the host port to a remote port in a remote interface at a remote computer. The remote interface provides a random access memory and components for transferring data from the remote bus to the random access memory and vice-versa. Data bits presented at the remote port are also conveyed to the random access memory. The host interface and the remote interface include control structures to supervise and arbitrate accesses to the communication cable and to the random access memory.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.