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US5555414A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Multiprocessing system including gating of host I/O and external enablement to guest enablement at polling intervals

Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
•
Filing: 1994-12-14
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Granted: 1996-09-10
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Expires: 2014-12-14
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Abstract

Abstract A data processing system operating under a multiprocessing hypervisor program subject to I/O interrupts during a polling interval of the hypervisor program includes one or more processors for executing the hypervisor program and host system and one or more guest systems under the hypervisor program, a storage system connected to the processor's by a bus for storing instructions, data and control information associated with the systems being executed by the processor, the storage system may be partitioned into a number of separate areas each associated with one of the concurrently operating systems, an input/output subsystem for generating I/O interrupts to the processors, apparatus for testing to determine if the system is operating in an interpretive execution mode, apparatus for determining whether a dedicated region facility is active, apparatus for testing whether an I/O enablement mask for a guest system has been set, apparatus for setting a flag if the guest system I/O enablement mask is set, apparatus for testing the flag during each polling interval of the interpretive execution mode, apparatus for loading a control byte from a host control register into a hardware register if the flag has not been set and a count threshold reached, apparatus for testing for host system I/O interrupts and apparatus for switching to the host system if the host system interrupt is present.

Inventors

  • 👤 Roger E. Hough
  • 👤 Robert E. Murray

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-05 02:14
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F13/00; G06F13/14; G06F13/20; G06F13/24

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim 157 words
A method, for enabling a host system program, in a data processing system operating under a multiprocessing hypervisor program, comprising the steps of: first, determining if a first predetermined bit indicates an interpretive execution mode for a guest system program; second, determining if a second bit indicates an I/O pass-through state for the guest system program; third, determining if a third bit, which is an I/O enablement mask, indicates an I/O enablement or disablement state for the guest system program; polling at a predetermined time interval while the first bit indicates an interpretive execution mode; testing for any host system I/O interrupt blocked by an I/O disablement state for the quest system program when the polling step indicates the end of a predetermined number of one or more time intervals; exiting said interpretive execution mode, and the host system processing any host system I/O interrupt if any host system interrupt is found by the last testing step.
Claim 2
Independent Claim 157 words
A method, for enabling a host system program, in a data processing system operating under a multiprocessing hypervisor program, comprising the steps of: first, determining if a first predetermined bit indicates an interpretive execution mode for a guest system program; second, determining if a second bit indicates an I/O pass-through state for the guest system program; third, determining if a third bit, which is an I/O enablement mask, indicates an I/O enablement or disablement state for the guest system program; polling at a predetermined time interval while the first bit indicates an interpretive execution mode; testing for any host system I/O interrupt blocked by an I/O disablement state for the quest system program when the polling step indicates the end of a predetermined number of one or more time intervals; exiting said interpretive execution mode, and the host system processing any host system I/O interrupt if any host system interrupt is found by the last testing step.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 41 words
A method, for enabling a host system program, according to claim 1, wherein said step of testing for any host I/O interrupt further comprising the step of forcing a predetermined bit in a hardware program status word to a predetermined value.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 34 words
A method, for enabling a host system program, according to claim 1, further comprising the step of continuing said polling if no interpretive execution mode, or if no host system I/O interrupt is present.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 48 words
A method, for enabling a host system program, according to claim 1, further comprising the step of loading a first predetermined byte of data from a first control register into a current control register if said testing step indicates that said interpretive execution mode does not currently exist.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 36 words
A method, for enabling a host system program, according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: setting a flag bit if the I/O disablement state exists; and testing said flag bit during said polling interval.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 54 words
A method, for enabling a host system program, according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: counting the predetermined number of polling intervals during which said enablement mask is set to an I/O disabled state; and enabling said host to process any host I/O interrupt if said counting step reaches a predetermined value.

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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) 1999-09-10 2000-03-11 2000-09-10 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2003-09-10 2004-03-11 2004-09-10 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2007-09-10 2008-03-11 2008-09-10 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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