Patent · US Expired

System and method for using random access memory in a programmable interrupt controller

US5894578A · kind A · utility

5Cited by
21References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 19, 1995
Grant dateApr 13, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 19, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F13/24
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A programmable interrupt controller for use in computer systems including one or more CPUs is provided. The programmable interrupt controller includes an interrupt request interface, a central interrupt controller, random access memory, and at least one processor interface. The central interrupt controller systematically selects interrupt requests from the interrupt request interface. Information associated with each interrupt request is stored in the random access memory. The central interrupt controller access the information in the random access memory and uses the information and the state of the currently selected interrupt request to determine a next state for the currently selected interrupt request. The information is passed on to the processor interface to determine when and if the interrupt request should issue to one of the CPUs.

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