Patent · US Expired

Distributed computer system supporting remote interrupts and lock mechanism

US6170025A · kind A · utility

81Cited by
5References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 11, 1998
Grant dateJan 2, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 11, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2001/0096
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A distributed computer system includes a host CPU, a network/host bridge, a network/I/O bridge and one or more I/O devices. The host CPU can generate a locked host transaction, which is wrapped in a packet and transmitted over a network to the remote I/O device for replay. The remote I/O devices can generate interrupts. The interrupt is wrapped in a packet and transmitted to the host computer for replay as an interrupt. The host CPU then executes the appropriate interrupt service routine to process the interrupt routine. The remote location of the I/O device with respect to the host CPU is transparent to the CPU and I/O devices. The bridges perform wrapping and unwrapping of host and I/O transactions for transmission across a network.

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