Concurrent disk array management system implemented with CPU executable extension

Claim 2

A direct host controlled disk array access management system connected between a host computer controlled by running an operating system program thereon and at least two independent concurrently operational disk arrays, each including a plurality of disks, the disk access management system comprising: a central processing unit (CPU) executable extension device directly accessible and executable by a CPU of said host computer wherein said CPU executable extension device implemented with a plurality of instruction sets of said operating system program for direct control by said CPU in running said operating system employing said instruction sets; a concurrent disk array interface device for interfacing with said concurrent disk arrays for performing disk accesses from said host computer to said disks; and said CPU executable extension device being employed for initializing, configuring and controlling said concurrent disk array interface device in performing the concurrent disk accesses operations under direct control of said CPU of said host computer in running said operating system program employing said instruction sets.

Claim 3

The direct host-controlled disk access management system of claim 1, wherein: said CPU executable extension device includes an array basic input-output system (BIOS) for including a plurality of said instruction sets executable by said CPU of said host computer for performing said disk access operation; and said CPU executable extension device further includes a read only memory (ROM) for storing a plurality of configuration and initialization data therein to be employed by said CPU of said host computer for initializing, configuring and controlling said concurrent disk array interface device in performing said concurrent disk accesses operations in running said operating system program in said host computer.

Claim 4

The direct host-controlled disk access management system of claim 1 further comprises: a plurality of sub-channels, each of which being employed for connecting each of said disks in said independent concurrent disk arrays to said concurrent disk array interface device and said CPU executable extension device whereby said disk access operations being performed in a manner among several disks through said distributed sub-channels.

Claim 5

The direct host-controlled disk access management system of claim 3 wherein: said sub-channels being employed by said concurrent disk array interface device in reading data from or writing data to a plurality of said disks using a RAID0 scheme by reading from or writing to cache of said disks in substantially a symmetrically distributive manner, or a RAID1 scheme by redundantly writing a block of data as a mirror image to two of said disks for increasing fault tolerance thus reducing the possibility of loss of data.

Claim 6

The direct host-controlled disk access management system of claim 4 wherein: said CPU executable extension device further includes an interrupt collection logic for collecting a plurality of interrupts from each of said sub-channels provided for said CPU of said host computer in controlling the timing of performing said disk access operation to each of said disks.

Claim 7

The direct host-controlled disk access management system of claim 3 wherein: said concurrent disk array interface device further including a bus master for interfacing with a local bus of said host computer, a buffer for each of said disk arrays and a arbitration controller for managing the priority and timing of data transfer between said buffer for each of concurrent disk arrays to said bus master.

Claim 8

The direct host-controlled disk access management system of claim 6 wherein: said concurrent disk array interface device further including an automatic channel control means for controlling the disk access to specific disks through different selected subchannels.

Claim 9

The direct host-controlled disk access management system of claim 7 wherein: said concurrent disk array interface device further including a state machine for each of said concurrent disk arrays for controlling the timing of the data transfers, and a pre-fetch control means for each of said concurrent disk arrays for controlling the pre-fetch of data to said data buffer.

Claim 10

A direct host-controlled disk array access management system connected between a host computer controlled by running an operating system program thereon and at least two independent concurrently operational disk arrays, each including a plurality of disks, the disk access management system comprising: a central processing unit (CPU) executable extension device directly accessible and executable by a CPU of said host computer wherein said CPU executable extension device implemented with a plurality of instruction sets of said operating system program for direct control by said CPU in running said operating system employing said instruction sets; a concurrent disk array interface device for interfacing with said concurrent disk arrays for performing disk accesses from said host computer to said disks; said CPU executable extension device being employed for initializing, configuring and controlling said concurrent disk array interface device in performing the concurrent disk accesses operations under direct control of said CPU of said host computer in running said operating system program employing said instruction sets; said CPU executable extension device includes an array basic input-output system (BIOS) for including a plurality of said instruction sets executable by said CPU of said host computer for performing said disk access operation; and said CPU executable extension device further includes a read only memory (ROM) for storing a plurality of configuration and initialization data therein to be employed by said CPU of said host computer for initializing, configuring and controlling said concurrent disk array interface device; said concurrent disk array interface device further including a state machine for each of said concurrent disk arrays for controlling the timing of the data transfers, and a pre-fetch control means for each of said concurrent disk arrays for controlling the pre-fetch of data to said data buffer.

Claim 11

A direct host-controlled disk array access management system connected between a host computer controlled by running an operating system program thereon and at least two independent concurrently operational disk arrays, each including a plurality of disks, the disk access management system comprising: a central processing unit (CPU) executable extension device directly accessible and executable by a CPU of said host computer wherein said CPU executable extension device implemented with a plurality of instruction sets of said operating system program for direct control by said CPU in running said operating system employing said instruction sets; a concurrent disk array interface device for interfacing with said concurrent disk arrays for performing disk accesses from said host computer to said disks; said CPU executable extension device being employed for initializing, configuring and controlling said concurrent disk array interface device in performing the concurrent disk accesses operations under direct control of said CPU of said host computer in running said operating system program employing said instruction sets; said CPU executable extension device includes an array basic input-output system (BIOS) for including a plurality of said instruction sets executable by said CPU of said host computer for performing said disk access operation; and said CPU executable extension device further includes a read only memory (ROM) for storing a plurality of configuration and initialization data therein to be employed by said CPU of said host computer for initializing, configuring and controlling said concurrent disk array interface device; said concurrent disk array interface device further including a state machine for each of said concurrent disk arrays for controlling the timing of the data transfers, and a pre-fetch control means for each of said concurrent disk arrays for controlling the pre-fetch of data to said data buffer.