Fault-tolerant computer system with auto-restart after power-fall
US5317752A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 16, 1992 |
| Grant date | May 31, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 16, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/2736
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A fault-tolerant computer system employs a power supply system including a battery backup so that upon AC power failure the system can execute an orderly shutdown, saving state to disk. A restart procedure restores the state existing at the time of power failure if the AC power has been restored by the time the shutdown is completed. This powerfail/autorestart procedure may be implemented in a fault-tolerant multiprocessor configuration having multiple identical CPUs executing the same instruction stream, with multiple, identical memory modules in the address space of the CPUs storing duplicates of the same data. The system detects faults in the CPUs and memory modules, and places a faulty unit offline while continuing to operate using the good units. The multiple CPUs are loosely synchronized, as by detecting events such as memory references and stalling any CPU ahead of others until all execute the function simultaneously; interrupts can be synchronized by ensuring that all CPUs implement the interrupt at the same point in their instruction stream. Memory references via the separate CPU-to-memory busses are voted at the three separate ports of each of the memory modules. I/O func…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.