Patent · US Expired

Multiprocessing system with enhanced shared storage

US5193168A · kind A · utility

43Cited by
12References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 4, 1991
Grant dateMar 9, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 4, 2011

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F15/167
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

One processor of a multiprocessor or distributed system is designated as the owner of the shared storage. The remaining processors of the multiprocessor system are designated as requestor processors. The shared storage, typically several disk drive units, are connected to a storage controller. The storage controller is connected to all of the processors via a communications bus. The shared storage is dynamically segmented into containers of storage space. A container can vary in size and even can be split up among more than one disk drive unit. A container located on one disk drive unit can also be duplicated, or mirrored, on a different disk drive unit. The owner processor maintains a container map in its dedicated non-volatile storage. The container map contains fields that keep track of the physical location of a container, a use count, a key, and container attributes.

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