Adapter-bus switch for improving the availability of a control unit
US5140691A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 30, 1990 |
| Grant date | Aug 18, 1992 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 30, 2010 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/2017
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A Control Unit is described, including a Processing Unit (12) controlled by a Service Processor (14), and a plurality of adapters (18) exchanging data and/or control signals with said Processing Unit (PU). For ensuring a continuous operation of the Control Unit, the adapters are partitioned into at least two sets (56,58), and the PU is partitioned into at least two parts (26,28), each set of adapters being connected to a dedicated PU part by a primary bus (52,54). Besides, in order to allow the fallback of a set of adapters onto another PU part if the PU part to which it is normally connected is inoperative, a bus switching device (30) is provided. This bus switching device includes at least two Switch parts (38,40), and each Switch part performs the switching of a given set of adapters onto a given PU part, according to the status of each PU part. Therefore, each Switch part is connected to a given set of adapters by a primary bus (52,54), and to the other sets of adapters by secondary busses (46,48) which become active in fallback mode.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.