Patent · US Expired

Transparent processor sparing

US6189112A · kind A · utility

45Cited by
11References
10Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 30, 1998
Grant dateFeb 13, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 30, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F11/2048
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A computer which has multiple central processing units where at least one of the processors is a spare and unused for normal system operation, provides a mechanism for transferring the micro-architected state of a checkstopped processor to a spare processor. Each processor has a set of registers in the central processing unit where the micro-architected state of the processor is kept and these registers are accessible by millicode or microcode running on that processor. A checkstop of a processor is detected by the system, the micro-architected state of that processor is extracted and returned to the system where that state can be loaded into a spare processor in the system and processing resumed without interruption.

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