System for distributed priority arbitration among several processing units competing for access to a common data channel

Claim 1

In a data-handling system with a multiplicity of processing units dialoguing with one another by an exchange of messages, the combination therewith of an interface individually associated with each processing unit, a common data channel and a common service line connected to all the interfaces associated with said processing units, and a timer emitting over said service line a synchronizing signal during an initial phase of a periodically recurring time slot, said interface comprising: message-transmitting means and message-receiving means inserted between said data channel and the associated processing unit; storage means containing a combination of address bits characterizing the associated processing unit; a time base connected to said service line for detecting the initial phase of a time slot and establishing in the remainder of the time slot, following said initial phase, a test phase followed by an acquisition phase; signal-generating means having an input connected to said storage means and an output connected to said service line, said signal-generating means being controlled by said time base and responsive to commands from the associated processing unit for sending out said address bits during said acquisition phase preparatorily to the emission of data via said message-transmitting means; comparison means connected to said service line and to said output of said signal-generating means for discovering, during each of several bit periods of said acquisition phase, a possible difference between the logic levels of an outgoing address bit from said signal-generating means and an incoming address bit concurrently appearing on said service line and, in the event of a predetermined difference indicating a higher priority of the incoming address bit, resetting said signal-transmitting means while preventing the emission of further outgoing address bits for the remainder of the time slot, said message-transmitting means being connected to said signal-generating means for activation thereby upon emission of the last address bit to deliver outgoing data to said channel in at least one subsequent time slot under the control of said time base; discriminating means connected to said service line; and a down counter settable by the associated processing unit to a number (k-1) where k is the number of time slots required for a message to be sent out, said signal-generating means being controlled by said down counter for emitting a busy bit to said service line in said test phase of any time slot preceding the last time slot required by an outgoing message in the process of being transmitted, said down counter being decremented upon the emission of each busy bit by said signal-generating means, said discriminating means being controlled by said time base for inhibiting said signal-generating means during the acquisition phase of a time slot in whose test phase a busy bit is detected on said service line.