EP0317481A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Remote storage management mechanism and method
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
•
Filing: 1988-11-08
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2008-11-08
Abstract
Abstract Logical connections between processes (PA1, ..., PFn) and bus managers interfacing bus units (50, 52) to an I/O bus (54) are assigned to connection groups (86, 88) for management by the bus managers. Each bus unit has its own connection groups for the logical connections. Bus unit resources are assigned to each connection group based on performance factors, and a series of bus unit messages are used to control the flow of work so that a group which has no more resources will not accept further work requests. The originator of the work requests will resequence rejected work requests and resend them when the connection group has freed up resources. A further mechanism is provided to facilitate work consistent with the server driven architecture when bus units do not have adequate DMA capabilities. Two ways of reversing control of transfer of work requests and data so that the server need not have master DMA capability are presented. Management of storage in a remote processor is used to transfer work and its associated data into storage accessible by a bus unit with slave DMA capability. The slave DMA bus unit then transfers the information into storage is manages. In another way of reversing the flow, a bus unit message is used to make the original server a requestor. The bus unit message contains information which varies the request sent by the requestor. In this manner, the server, which was the original requestor transfers information using its master DMA capability flow.
Inventors
- 👤 William Elder Hammer
- 👤 Walter Henry Schwane
- 👤 Frederick Joseph Ziecina
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 17:23
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F9/00; G06F9/06; G06F9/46; G06F9/54; G06F9/546; G06F13/00; G06F13/14; G06F13/20; G06F13/28; G06F15/00; G06F15/16; G06F15/161
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
139 words
A storage management mechanism in a multiprocessor computer system comprising : a first bus unit having a main storage, and having a slave DMA capability; a second bus unit having a master DMA capability; a bus coupled to said first bus unit and said second bus unit; said second bus unit further comprising : means for managing at least a portion of the first bus unit main storage through the bus; means for requesting from the first bus unit a portion of the first bus unit storage to manage through the bus; said first bus unit further comprising : means for receiving requests from the second bus unit to manage a portion of the first bus unit main storage; and means for transferring management of a portion of the first bus unit main storage to the second bus unit.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
139 words
A storage management mechanism in a multiprocessor computer system comprising : a first bus unit having a main storage, and having a slave DMA capability; a second bus unit having a master DMA capability; a bus coupled to said first bus unit and said second bus unit; said second bus unit further comprising : means for managing at least a portion of the first bus unit main storage through the bus; means for requesting from the first bus unit a portion of the first bus unit storage to manage through the bus; said first bus unit further comprising : means for receiving requests from the second bus unit to manage a portion of the first bus unit main storage; and means for transferring management of a portion of the first bus unit main storage to the second bus unit.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
48 words
The storage management mechanism of claim 1 wherein the second bus unit means for requesting a portion of the first bus unit main storage to manage comprises a first bus message which specifies an amount of storage, and a length of buffers desired for managing through the bus.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
50 words
The storage management mechanism of claim 2 wherein the first bus unit means for receiving requests from the second bus unit to manage a portion of the first bus unit main storage comprises a bus manager coupled to the bus, said bus manager managing portions of the host main storage.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
79 words
The storage management mechanism of claim 3 wherein the first bus unit means for transferring management of a portion of the host main storage to the second bus unit comprises : a Storage List Control Block which has fields for indicating the starting address of at least one buffer in first bus unit main storage, and for indicating a length for each starting address; and a Storage List Available bus unit message for identifying the Storage List Control Block.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
51 words
The storage management mechanism of claim 1 wherein the second bus unit means for requesting a portion of the first bus unit main storage to manage comprises a Storage Request bus unit message which specifies an amount of storage, and a length of buffers desired for managing through the I/O bus.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
52 words
The storage management mechanism of claim 1 wherein the first bus unit means for receiving requests from the second bus unit to manage a portion of the first bus unit main storage comprises a bus manager coupled to the bus, said bus manager managing portions of the first bus unit main storage.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
81 words
The storage management mechanism of claim 1 wherein the first bus unit means for transferring management of a portion of the first bus unit main storage to the second bus unit comprises : a Storage List Control Block which has fields for indicating the starting address of at least one buffer in first bus unit main storage, and for indicating a length for each starting address; and a Storage List Available bus unit message for identifying the Storage List Control Block.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
50 words
The storage management mechanism of claim 7 wherein the second bus unit means for requesting a portion of the first bus unit main storage to manage comprises a Storage Request bus unit message which specifies an amount of storage, and a length of buffers desired for managing through the bus.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
62 words
The storage management mechanism of claim 8 wherein the first bus unit means for transferring management of buffers in the first bus unit main storage to the second bus unit further comprises : means for verifying that each buffer identified in the Storage List Control Block is at least as long as the length specified in the Storage Request bus unit message.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
140 words
A method of reversing control of data transfer associated with work in a server driven process to process communication computer system wherein a first bus unit has slave DMA capability and a main storage, and a second bus unit has master DMA capability and a main storage, the method comprising the steps of : a generating a work request in a process running on the second bus unit; b generating a storage control block indicating storage locations in the first bus unit's main storage of the work request and its associated data; c transferring the work request, storage control block, and associated data to storage in the first bus unit which is managed by the second bus unit; and d sending an indication of the work request to the first bus unit identifying the location of the storage control block.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
140 words
A method of reversing control of data transfer associated with work in a server driven process to process communication computer system wherein a first bus unit has slave DMA capability and a main storage, and a second bus unit has master DMA capability and a main storage, the method comprising the steps of : a generating a work request in a process running on the second bus unit; b generating a storage control block indicating storage locations in the first bus unit's main storage of the work request and its associated data; c transferring the work request, storage control block, and associated data to storage in the first bus unit which is managed by the second bus unit; and d sending an indication of the work request to the first bus unit identifying the location of the storage control block.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
58 words
The method of claim 10 and further comprising the steps of : e transferring the work request, storage control block and associated data from the storage managed by the second bus unit to storage managed by the first bus unit; and f accessing the data as requested by the server process which is acting on the work request.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
59 words
The method of claim 10 and further comprising the step of : g notifying the second bus unit when step "e" has been completed so that the storage managed by the second bus unit may be used again by the second bus unit for transfer of further information without concern for overwriting information associated with a previous work request.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.