Patent · US Expired

System for employing select, pause, and identification registers to control communication among plural processors

US5524211A · kind A · utility

16Cited by
17References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 25, 1993
Grant dateJun 4, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 25, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F15/177
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A control unit is assigned to each microprocessor of a multiprocessor (MP) system. Each control unit is in communication with its associated microprocessor and the system bus. Each control unit comprises a register set having bit registers and word registers. Messages can be sent to one or more of the microprocessors concurrently via a select function. Specifically, a data byte is bit sliced or bit masked so that the select register associated with one or more processors is activated. The bit registers which are activated, enable associated word registers for subsequent accesses. Consequently, one or more processors may be accessed concurrently. Moreover, bit pause registers are utilized so as to simultaneously pause one or more processors. Finally, bit identification registers may be read by any processor to determine the location of the processor.

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