Automatic disk drive shelf address assignment and error detection method and apparatus

Claim 2

Apparatus for automatically providing a different data processing shelf address to each one of a plurality of shelves that are contained in a sequential physical order within a cabinet of a data processing system, said plurality of shelves including a shelf N, a shelf N-1 that is physically located immediately adjacent to shelf N and on a downstream side of shelf N, and a shelf N+1 that is physically located immediately adjacent to shelf N and on an upstream side of shelf N, comprising: a shelf address output-terminal within shelf N-1 electrically connected to a shelf address input-terminal within shelf N by way of a first electrical connection; said shelf N-1 output-terminal providing a next-shelf address voltage of a given magnitude to said input-terminal of shelf N; magnitude incrementing circuitry within shelf N operable to increase said given magnitude of said next-shelf address voltage to a higher magnitude that comprises an address for shelf N+1, and a shelf address output-terminal within shelf N electrically connected to a shelf address input-terminal within shelf N+1 by way of a second electrical connection; said shelf N output-terminal providing said higher magnitude next-shelf shelf address voltage to said input-terminal within shelf N+1.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 including: a supervisor timer having a timing interval; said supervisory timer being set in operation upon said shelf N-1 output-terminal receiving a next-shelf address voltage of a given magnitude to said input-terminal of shelf N; and said supervisory timer being reset upon said shelf N output-terminal providing said higher magnitude next-shelf shelf address voltage to said input-terminal within shelf N+1.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 2 including redundant said first and second electrical connections.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said given magnitude of said next-shelf address voltage is normally within a valid-magnitude-range that is greater than a zero-magnitude and is less than an upper-limit magnitude, and wherein said shelf-N includes: first comparing circuitry operable to compare said given magnitude of said next-shelf address voltage received by shelf N to said valid-magnitude-range.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said shelf N includes: second comparing circuitry operable to compare said higher magnitude next-shelf address voltage produced by said magnitude incrementing circuitry to said higher magnitude shelf address voltage applied to said input-terminal within shelf N+1 in order to determine that they are of the same magnitude.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 5 including: fault-indicating circuitry connected to said first comparing circuitry and to said second comparing circuitry; said fault-indicating circuitry operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that said next-shelf voltage received by shelf N is not within said valid-magnitude-range, and whenever it is determined that said higher magnitude shelf address voltage applied to said input-terminal within shelf N+1 is not of the same magnitude as said higher magnitude next-shelf address voltage produced by said magnitude incrementing circuitry.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 6 including: third comparing circuitry operable to check said higher magnitude shelf address voltage applied to said input-terminal within shelf N+1 to determine that said higher magnitude shelf address voltage is within said valid-magnitude-range; said fault-indicating circuitry additionally operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that said higher magnitude shelf address voltage is not within said valid-magnitude-range.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 7 including: a redundant pair of said first and second electrical connections.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 8 including: a supervisor timer having a fixed timing interval; said supervisory timer being set in operation upon said shelf N-1 output-terminal receiving a next-shelf address voltage of a given magnitude to said input-terminal of shelf N; said supervisory timer being reset upon said shelf N output-terminal providing said higher magnitude next-shelf shelf address voltage to said input-terminal within shelf N+1; and said fault-indicating circuitry additionally operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that said supervisory timer has reached the end of said fixed timing interval.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: said shelf address output-terminal within shelf N-1 and said shelf address input-terminal within shelf N are physically spaced by a given distance; said shelf address output-terminal within shelf N and said shelf input-terminal within shelf N+1 are physically spaced by said given distance; and said first and second electrical connections are of an operative length that is generally equal to said given distance.

Claim 14

The method of claim 11 including the step of: providing a redundant pair of said first and second electrical conductors.

Claim 15

The method of claim 11 wherein said given magnitude of said next-shelf address voltage is normally within a valid-magnitude-range that is greater than a zero-magnitude and is less than an upper-limit magnitude, and including the step of: providing first comparing circuitry within shelf N operable to compare said given magnitude of said next-shelf address voltage received by shelf N to said valid-magnitude-range.

Claim 16

The method of claim 13 including the step of: providing second comparing circuitry operable to compare said higher magnitude next-shelf address voltage produced by said magnitude incrementing circuitry to said higher magnitude shelf address voltage applied to said input-terminal within shelf N+1 in order to determine that they are of the same magnitude.

Claim 17

The method of claim 14 including the step of: providing fault-indicating circuitry connected to said first comparing circuitry and to said second comparing circuitry; said fault-indicating circuitry operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that said next-shelf voltage received by shelf N is not within said valid-magnitude-range, and whenever it is determined that said higher magnitude shelf address voltage applied to said input-terminal within shelf N+1 is not of the same magnitude as said higher magnitude next-shelf address voltage produced by said magnitude incrementing circuitry.

Claim 18

The method of claim 15 including the step of: providing third comparing circuitry operable to check said higher magnitude shelf address voltage applied to said input-terminal within shelf N+1 to determine that said higher magnitude shelf address voltage is within said valid-magnitude-range; said fault-indicating circuitry additionally operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that said higher magnitude shelf address voltage is not within said valid-magnitude-range.

Claim 19

The method of claim 16 including the steps of: providing a supervisory timer that is operable to time-out at the end of a fixed timing interval, and starting said supervisory timer when said next-shelf address voltage of a given magnitude is applied to said input-terminal of said shelf N; said fixed timing interval normally being longer than the a time interval that is necessary to complete said method; said fault-indicating circuitry additionally operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that said supervisory timer has timed out.

Claim 20

Apparatus for automatically assigning data processing addresses to each of the integer quantity M of physically individual shelves that are within a cabinet, said M shelves being arranged in a sequential order from a first shelf-1 to a last shelf M, said sequential order providing intermediate shelves comprising shelf-2 through shelf M-1, each of said shelves having: an input-terminal adapted to receive a next-shelf address signal having an address-indicative magnitude; an output terminal adapted to transmit a next-shelf address signal having an address-indicative magnitude; a magnitude increasing network operable to step-increase the magnitude of a received next-shelf address signal to a higher magnitude, thereby generating a higher magnitude next-shelf address signal that is applied to said output-terminal; said apparatus including; a first quantity M of electrical cables, a voltage source providing a next-shelf address signal having a low magnitude that comprises a data processing address for said shelf-1, a first of said electrical cables operating to connect said voltage source to said input-terminal of said shelf-1, the quantity M-2 of said electrical cables operating to individually connect said output-terminals to said input-terminals of said shelf-2 through said shelf M-1; and a last of said electrical cables operating to connect said output-terminal of said shelf M-1 to said input-terminal of said shelf-M.

Claim 21

Apparatus for automatically assigning data processing addresses to each of the integer quantity M of physically individual shelves that are within a cabinet, said M shelves being arranged in a sequential order from a first shelf-1 to a last shelf M, said sequential order providing intermediate shelves comprising shelf-2 through shelf M-1, each of said shelves having: an input-terminal adapted to receive a next-shelf address signal having an address-indicative magnitude; an output terminal adapted to transmit a next-shelf address signal having an address-indicative magnitude; a magnitude increasing network operable to step-increase the magnitude of a received next-shelf address signal to a higher magnitude, thereby generating a higher magnitude next-shelf address signal that is applied to said output-terminal; said apparatus including; a first quantity M of electrical cables, a voltage source providing a next-shelf address signal having a low magnitude that comprises a data processing address for said shelf-1, a first of said electrical cables operating to connect said voltage source to said input-terminal of said shelf-1, the quantity M-2 of said electrical cables operating to individually connect said output-terminals to said input-terminals of said shelf-2 through said shelf M-1; and a last of said electrical cables operating to connect said output-terminal of said shelf M-1 to said input-terminal of said shelf-M.

Claim 22

The apparatus of claim 18 including a second quantity M of electrical cables connected to provide M redundant electrical connections for said first quantity M of electrical cables.

Claim 23

The apparatus of claim 18 wherein: said next-shelf address signals comprise DC signals; said voltage source provides a next-shelf address signal having a low DC magnitude to said input-terminal of said shelf-1; said input-terminals of said shelf-2 through shelf M individually receive next-shelf address signals of progressively greater DC magnitudes progressing from said shelf-1 through said shelf-M-1; said shelf-M receives a highest magnitude DC next-shelf address signal; said magnitude range from said low magnitude DC to said highest magnitude DC comprising a critical magnitude range; and each of said shelves further including; first comparing circuitry operable to compare the magnitude of a said next-shelf address signal that is received by a said shelf to said critical magnitude range in order to determine if said received next-shelf address signal is valid.

Claim 24

The apparatus of claim 20 wherein each of said shelves further includes: second comparing circuitry operable to compare (1) the magnitude of a said next-shelf signal produced by said magnitude increasing circuitry, to (2) the magnitude of a said next-shelf address voltage applied to said output terminal, in order to determine that they are of the same magnitude.

Claim 25

The apparatus of claim 21 wherein each of said shelves further includes: fault-indicating circuitry connected to said first comparing circuitry and to said second comparing circuitry; and said fault-indicating circuitry operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that the magnitude of a said next-shelf signal produced by said magnitude increasing circuitry is not the same as the magnitude of a said next-shelf address voltage applied to said output terminal.

Claim 26

The apparatus of claim 22 wherein each of said shelves further includes: third comparing circuitry operable to check a said next-shelf address signal received by said input-terminal to determine if the magnitude of said received next-shelf signal is within said critical-magnitude-range; and said fault-indicating circuitry additionally operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that said magnitude of said received next-shelf signal voltage is not within said critical-magnitude-range.

Claim 27

The apparatus of claim 23 including: a supervisor timer having a fixed time-out interval; said supervisory timer being controlled to begin timing said fixed time-out interval upon said input-terminal receiving a said next-shelf address signal; said supervisory timer being controlled to stop timing said fixed time-out interval upon said output terminal transmitting a said next-shelf address signal; and said fault-indicating circuitry additionally operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that said supervisory timer has timer out.

Claim 28

The apparatus of claim 24 wherein: said output-terminal of each of said shelves and said input-terminal of an immediately adjacent upstream one of said shelves are physically spaced by a given distance; and said first quantity of electrical cables are individually of an operative length that is generally equal to said given distance.

Claim 29

Apparatus for automatically providing a progressively higher magnitude analog-DC shelf-address voltage to each one of a plurality of shelves that are contained in a sequential number order within a cabinet of a data processing system, said plurality of shelves including a shelf N, a shelf-N-1 that is physically located immediately adjacent to said shelf-N and on one side of said shelf-N, and a shelf-N+1 that is physically located immediately adjacent to said shelf-N and on an opposite side of said shelf-N, said apparatus comprising: an output-terminal of said shelf-N-1 electrically connected to an input-terminal of said shelf-N by way of a first electrical cable; said shelf-N-1 output-terminal providing a first analog-DC shelf address voltage to said input-terminal of said shelf-N; a first analog-to-digital converter of shelf-N operable to convert said first analog-DC voltage to a first multi-bit binary number; magnitude increasing circuitry of shelf-N operable to increase said first multi-bit binary number by a fixed binary quantity, thereby generating a first shelf-address binary number that corresponds to an address for shelf N+1; a digital-to-analog converter operable to convert said first shelf-address binary number of a second analog-DC shelf address voltage; an electrical connection of said shelf-N connecting said second analog-DC shelf address voltage to said output-terminal of said shelf-N; and a second electrical cable connecting said output-terminal of said shelf-N to said input-terminal of said shelf-N+1.

Claim 30

Apparatus for automatically providing a progressively higher magnitude analog-DC shelf-address voltage to each one of a plurality of shelves that are contained in a sequential number order within a cabinet of a data processing system, said plurality of shelves including a shelf N, a shelf-N-1 that is physically located immediately adjacent to said shelf-N and on one side of said shelf-N, and a shelf-N+1 that is physically located immediately adjacent to said shelf-N and on an opposite side of said shelf-N, said apparatus comprising: an output-terminal of said shelf-N-1 electrically connected to an input-terminal of said shelf-N by way of a first electrical cable; said shelf-N-1 output-terminal providing a first analog-DC shelf address voltage to said input-terminal of said shelf-N; a first analog-to-digital converter of shelf-N operable to convert said first analog-DC voltage to a first multi-bit binary number; magnitude increasing circuitry of shelf-N operable to increase said first multi-bit binary number by a fixed binary quantity, thereby generating a first shelf-address binary number that corresponds to an address for shelf N+1; a digital-to-analog converter operable to convert said first shelf-address binary number of a second analog-DC shelf address voltage; an electrical connection of said shelf-N connecting said second analog-DC shelf address voltage to said output-terminal of said shelf-N; and a second electrical cable connecting said output-terminal of said shelf-N to said input-terminal of said shelf-N+1.

Claim 31

The apparatus of claim 26 wherein said first and second analog-DC shelf address voltages, when they are of a valid magnitude, are within a magnitude-range that is greater than a zero-magnitude and is less than an upper-limit magnitude, and wherein said shelf-N includes: first digital comparing circuitry operable to compare (1) said first multi-bit binary number, to (2) a binary magnitude range that corresponds to said valid magnitude range.

Claim 32

The apparatus of claim 27 wherein said shelf-N includes: a second analog-to-digital converter connected to said output-terminal of said shelf-N; said second analog-to-digital converter being operable to convert said second analog-DC shelf address voltage to a second multi-bit binary number; second digital comparing circuitry operable to compare (1) said second multi-bit binary number, to (2) said increased first multi-bit binary number, in order to determine that they have the same binary magnitude.

Claim 33

The apparatus of claim 28 wherein said shelf-N includes: fault-indicating circuitry connected to said first digital comparing circuitry and to said second digital comparing circuitry; said fault-indicating circuitry operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that (1) said first multi-bit binary number is not within said binary magnitude range that corresponds to said valid magnitude range, or (2) said second multi-bit binary number and said increased first multi-bit binary number are not of the same binary magnitude.

Claim 34

The apparatus of claim 29 wherein said shelf-N includes: third digital comparing circuitry operable compare (1) said second multi-bit binary number, to (2) said binary magnitude range that corresponds to said valid magnitude range; said fault-indicating circuitry additionally operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that said second multi-bit binary number is not within said valid-magnitude-range.

Claim 35

The apparatus of claim 30 including: a timer having a timing interval, and operable to generate an output at the end of said timing interval; means operable to enable said timer to being timing when said first analog-DC shelf address voltage is applied to said input-terminal of said shelf-N; means operable to stop said timer when said second analog-DC shelf address voltage is applied to said output-terminal of said shelf-N; and said fault-indicating circuitry additionally operating to indicate a fault whenever it is determined that said output of said timer has been generated.

Claim 36

The apparatus of claim 31 wherein: said output-terminal of shelf-N-1 and said input-terminal of shelf-N are separated by a given distance; said output-terminal of said shelf-N and said input-terminal of said shelf-N+1 are separated by said given distance; and said first and second electrical cables are of an operative length that is generally equal to said given distance.