Patent · US Expired

System using separate transfer circuits for performing different transfer operations respectively and scanning I/O devices status upon absence of both operations

US5379381A · kind A · utility

49Cited by
15References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateAug 12, 1991
Grant dateJan 3, 1995
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 12, 2011

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F13/32
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An I/O controller for transferring data between a host processor and one or more I/O units. The controller interleaves processor command transfers (PIO) in the midst of direct memory access (DMA) transfers without repeated data moves. DMA transfers are suspended temporarily during the priority PIO transfer. An interrupt Scanner, for scanning the various I/O units, is also prioritized with respect to DMA and PIO transfers.

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