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US3810108A
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Processor utilizing a holographic array and a content addressable storage unit for high speed searching
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1973-04-26
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Granted: 1974-05-07
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Expires: 1993-04-26
Abstract
Abstract In a data processing system, a holographic array is controllable to change the entire contents (or a part thereof) of a content addressable storage unit, i.e. an associative storage unit having two-state photoresponsive cells or a functional storage unit having four-state photoresponsive cells during one machine cycle. Thus information is transferred in parallel in a broad band path depending upon the size of the photoresponsive cell array, hologram efficiency, etc. During a succeeding machine cycle, the entire contents of the associative or functional storage unit may be searched in accordance with a search argument to select from the storage unit data which corresponds to the search argument. In this fashion, significant quantities of data are searched rapidly. Within the same system, the holographic array can be controlled during one machine cycle to change the entire contents of additional storage arrays which may be of the associative, functional or location addressable type. In this fashion, storage units such as microprogram control stores, operating system program stores and user application program stores can be rapidly changed, for example, a page (e.g. 2000 bytes) at a time during one machine cycle. This adds a new dimension for information transfer within high performance data processing systems. In one embodiment, read/write hologram arrays, the contents of which are selectively changeable, are utilized to provide a greater versatility and performance to system operation.
Inventors
- 👤 B Updike
- 👤 N Krewson
- 👤 J Tait
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 04:39
CPC Classifications
G; G11; G11C; G11C15/00; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/90; G06F16/903; G06F16/90335; G06F16/90339; G11C13/00; G11C13/04; G11C13/042
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
108 words
A method of searching for desired data in a processing system comprising the steps of changing the entire contents of a content addressable storage unit simultaneously by controlling a coherent light source and different holograms of an array to generate different light patterns corresponding to the holograms and to direct the patterns upon light responsive devices in the storage unit for simultaneously switching the multistable cells of the unit to states corresponding to the light patterns, searching the entire contents of the storage unit simultaneously for desired data, whereby data directories, tables and the like can be searched a page at a time in two system cycle times.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
108 words
A method of searching for desired data in a processing system comprising the steps of changing the entire contents of a content addressable storage unit simultaneously by controlling a coherent light source and different holograms of an array to generate different light patterns corresponding to the holograms and to direct the patterns upon light responsive devices in the storage unit for simultaneously switching the multistable cells of the unit to states corresponding to the light patterns, searching the entire contents of the storage unit simultaneously for desired data, whereby data directories, tables and the like can be searched a page at a time in two system cycle times.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
103 words
A method of searching for desired data in a processing systems comprising the steps of controlling a coherent beam of light to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, providing holograms, each storing a page of search data in the order of at least several hundred bits, generating different light patterns corresponding to the hologram data pages for the different beam orientations and directing the patterns to impinge upon light responsive devices in a content addressable storage unit to simultaneously change the entire contents of the unit, and simultaneously searching the entire contents of the storage unit for desired data in the page.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
103 words
A method of searching for desired data in a processing systems comprising the steps of controlling a coherent beam of light to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, providing holograms, each storing a page of search data in the order of at least several hundred bits, generating different light patterns corresponding to the hologram data pages for the different beam orientations and directing the patterns to impinge upon light responsive devices in a content addressable storage unit to simultaneously change the entire contents of the unit, and simultaneously searching the entire contents of the storage unit for desired data in the page.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
102 words
A method of reconfiguring an associative memory data processing system of the type having a content addressable unit storing arithmetic and logic function tables comprising the steps of controlling a coherent beam of light to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, providing holograms, each storing a page of function table data in the order of at least several hundred bits, and generating different light patterns corresponding to the holograms data pages for the different beam orientations and directing the patterns to impinge upon light responsive devices in the content addressable storage unit to simultaneously change the entire contents of the unit.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
102 words
A method of reconfiguring an associative memory data processing system of the type having a content addressable unit storing arithmetic and logic function tables comprising the steps of controlling a coherent beam of light to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, providing holograms, each storing a page of function table data in the order of at least several hundred bits, and generating different light patterns corresponding to the holograms data pages for the different beam orientations and directing the patterns to impinge upon light responsive devices in the content addressable storage unit to simultaneously change the entire contents of the unit.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
78 words
A search mechanism comprising a content addressable storage unit including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of multistate cells forming the unit, means including a holographic array and controllable coherent light source for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements simultaneously, thereby changing the contents of the entire storage unit in parallel, and means for searching the entire contents of the storage unit simultaneously.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
78 words
A search mechanism comprising a content addressable storage unit including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of multistate cells forming the unit, means including a holographic array and controllable coherent light source for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements simultaneously, thereby changing the contents of the entire storage unit in parallel, and means for searching the entire contents of the storage unit simultaneously.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
121 words
In a data processing system wherein programs written in different languages are executed by first means including microprogram emulation routines, a microprogram paging and search mechanism comprising a holographic array for storing the emulation routines, a content addressable storage unit including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of multistable cells forming the unit, second means including the array and a controllable coherent light source responsive to the first means for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements simultaneously, thereby changing the emulation routines in the storage unit in parallel as required, and means for searching the entire contents of the storage unit simultaneously for desired routine instructions.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
121 words
In a data processing system wherein programs written in different languages are executed by first means including microprogram emulation routines, a microprogram paging and search mechanism comprising a holographic array for storing the emulation routines, a content addressable storage unit including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of multistable cells forming the unit, second means including the array and a controllable coherent light source responsive to the first means for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements simultaneously, thereby changing the emulation routines in the storage unit in parallel as required, and means for searching the entire contents of the storage unit simultaneously for desired routine instructions.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
114 words
In a data processing system wherein programs are executed by first means including microprogram routines, a microprogram paging and search mechanism comprising a holographic array for storing the routines, a content addressable storage unit including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of bistable cells forming the unit, second means including the array and a controllable coherent light source responsive to the first means for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements simultaneously, thereby changing the routines in the storage unit in parallel as required, and means for searching the entire contents of the storage unit simultaneously for desired routine instructions.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
114 words
In a data processing system wherein programs are executed by first means including microprogram routines, a microprogram paging and search mechanism comprising a holographic array for storing the routines, a content addressable storage unit including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of bistable cells forming the unit, second means including the array and a controllable coherent light source responsive to the first means for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements simultaneously, thereby changing the routines in the storage unit in parallel as required, and means for searching the entire contents of the storage unit simultaneously for desired routine instructions.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
142 words
In an associative memory data processor of the type in which separate content addresssable storage units are provided for storing operands, control word routines and arithmetic and logic function tables and in which means including identification tags stored in the units control the operation of the units to process operand data in accordance with the routines and tables, the combination of said units with apparatus for changing the entire contents of the function table storage unit in parallel thereby rapidly reconfiguring the logic of the processor, said apparatus including light responsive elements in the function table storage unit for controlling the state of each bit storage position thereof, a holographic array storing function table data, and means including the holographic array and a coherent light source for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements simultaneously.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
142 words
In an associative memory data processor of the type in which separate content addresssable storage units are provided for storing operands, control word routines and arithmetic and logic function tables and in which means including identification tags stored in the units control the operation of the units to process operand data in accordance with the routines and tables, the combination of said units with apparatus for changing the entire contents of the function table storage unit in parallel thereby rapidly reconfiguring the logic of the processor, said apparatus including light responsive elements in the function table storage unit for controlling the state of each bit storage position thereof, a holographic array storing function table data, and means including the holographic array and a coherent light source for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements simultaneously.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
206 words
In a data processing system of the type wherein pageable program and data indicia, of the types including system control program segments, microprogram routines, application program segments, and/or search data, is paged from peripheral devices into storage unit locations directly accessible to processing means in accordance with address information provided by the system, a paging mechanism comprising at least one content addressable storage unit having a plurality of multi-stable electronic cells arranged in word groups for storing search data, the cells including light responsive devices responsive to different light patterns applied theretO for switching the cells to states corresponding to each light pattern applied thereto, a holographic array including a plurality of holograms, each storing different search data, a source generating a coherent beam of light, said source being controllable to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, means responsive to said address information for controlling the source to provide said different beam orientations, and said holographic array responsive to said different beam orientations for generating different light patterns and directing said patterns to impinge upon the light responsive devices to switch the cells of the storage units in accordance with the patterns generated, thereby changing the data content of the storage unit word groups concurrently.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
206 words
In a data processing system of the type wherein pageable program and data indicia, of the types including system control program segments, microprogram routines, application program segments, and/or search data, is paged from peripheral devices into storage unit locations directly accessible to processing means in accordance with address information provided by the system, a paging mechanism comprising at least one content addressable storage unit having a plurality of multi-stable electronic cells arranged in word groups for storing search data, the cells including light responsive devices responsive to different light patterns applied theretO for switching the cells to states corresponding to each light pattern applied thereto, a holographic array including a plurality of holograms, each storing different search data, a source generating a coherent beam of light, said source being controllable to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, means responsive to said address information for controlling the source to provide said different beam orientations, and said holographic array responsive to said different beam orientations for generating different light patterns and directing said patterns to impinge upon the light responsive devices to switch the cells of the storage units in accordance with the patterns generated, thereby changing the data content of the storage unit word groups concurrently.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
58 words
The system of claim 8 further comprising means controlling system cycle times, means for controlling said address responsive means, said light source and said holographic array to change the contents of the storage unit during one system cycle time, and means in the storage unit for searching the entire contents of the unit during one system cycle time.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
187 words
In a data processing system, a search mechanism comprising a holographic array including a plurality of holograms, each storing a plurality of identification indicia and data associated with each indicia, a source generating a coherent beam of light, said source being controllable to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, means including a deflection address register for controlling said source to selectively provide said different beam orientations, program controlled means for entering first hologram address information into the deflection address register to select a first hologram for readout, a content addressable storage array having a plurality of bit storage cells and including light responsive means in each cell activated for setting the cells in states corresponding to light control patterns directed thereto by the source and holograms and impinging thereon, a search argument storage means, and means including incrementing means effective during alternate cycles of a search for searching for a match between the search argument and one of the identification indicia and for incrementing the register address information to select succeeding holograms for readout until a match occurs or until all hologram indicia have been searched.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
187 words
In a data processing system, a search mechanism comprising a holographic array including a plurality of holograms, each storing a plurality of identification indicia and data associated with each indicia, a source generating a coherent beam of light, said source being controllable to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, means including a deflection address register for controlling said source to selectively provide said different beam orientations, program controlled means for entering first hologram address information into the deflection address register to select a first hologram for readout, a content addressable storage array having a plurality of bit storage cells and including light responsive means in each cell activated for setting the cells in states corresponding to light control patterns directed thereto by the source and holograms and impinging thereon, a search argument storage means, and means including incrementing means effective during alternate cycles of a search for searching for a match between the search argument and one of the identification indicia and for incrementing the register address information to select succeeding holograms for readout until a match occurs or until all hologram indicia have been searched.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
158 words
In a data processing system wherein programs are executed by means including a central processing unit and a content addressable storage unit directly accessible to the processing unit, the combination comprising a paging mechanism for transferring data in page sizes between said storage unit and a larger capacity store including a holographic array forming the larger capacity store for storing at least high frequency of use data in page sizes in holograms therein, said storage unit including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of multistable cells forming the unit, and means including the array and a controllable coherent light source adapted to respond to data requests for directing light patterns corresponding to the holograms in the array to impinge on the elements simultaneously, thereby changing the data in the storage unit in parallel as required; and means for searching the entire contents of the storage unit simultaneously for said requested data.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
158 words
In a data processing system wherein programs are executed by means including a central processing unit and a content addressable storage unit directly accessible to the processing unit, the combination comprising a paging mechanism for transferring data in page sizes between said storage unit and a larger capacity store including a holographic array forming the larger capacity store for storing at least high frequency of use data in page sizes in holograms therein, said storage unit including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of multistable cells forming the unit, and means including the array and a controllable coherent light source adapted to respond to data requests for directing light patterns corresponding to the holograms in the array to impinge on the elements simultaneously, thereby changing the data in the storage unit in parallel as required; and means for searching the entire contents of the storage unit simultaneously for said requested data.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
55 words
The search mechanism of claim 4 wherein the holographic array is characterized by read-write holograms therein, said search mechanism further comprising means including an electro-optical aperture plate having a storage capacity of a page of data and means for entering data into the plate for changing the data content of each hologram in the array.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1977-05-06 | 1977-11-05 | 1978-05-07 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1981-05-06 | 1981-11-05 | 1982-05-07 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1985-05-06 | 1985-11-05 | 1986-05-07 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |