Memory maintenance arrangement for recognizing and isolating a babbling store in a multist ore data processing system

Claim 2

ADDRESSING A PREDETERMINED STORAGE LOCATION IN THE ONE OF SAID STORAGE UNITS FURNISHING SAID WORD DETERMINED TO BE IN ERROR TO READOUT AN IDENTIFICATION WORD, A CORRESPONDING PREDETERMINED LOCATION IN EACH OF SAID STORAGE UNITS NORMALLY CONTAINING A UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION WORD,

Claim 3

In a data processing system having a plurality of memory stores, a central processing unit and a transmission bus over which said processing unit may transmit to and receive from said stores, corresponding ones of said stores being arranged to store duplicate information, one store of each duplicate set of stores being an online store and the other thereof being an off-line store, a maintenance arrangement comprising the steps of: addressing a predetermined location in any one of said memory stores returning an erroneous response to said central processing unit, said predetermined location having recorded therein a word uniquely identifying said one of said stores, decoding said word obtained from said predetermined location to identify another of said plurality of stores from any bits in said word not uniquely identifying said one of said stores, inhibiting said store identified by said decoding from delivering any response to said central processing unit, readdressing said predetermined location in said one of said memory stores to cause the Delivery of its unique identifying word to said central processing unit, marking said first addressed store as defective when said last mentioned unique identifying word is incorrectly received at said central processing unit and marking said store identified by said decoding as defective when said last-mentioned unique identifying word is correctly received thereat.

Claim 4

In a data processing system having a plurality of memory stores, a central processing unit and a transmission bus over which said processing unit may transmit to and receive from said stores, corresponding ones of said stores being arranged to store duplicate information, one store of each duplicate set of stores being an online store and the other thereof being an off-line store, a maintenance arrangement comprising the steps of: addressing a predetermined location in any one of said memory stores returning an erroneous response to said central processing unit, said predetermined location having recorded therein a word uniquely identifying said one of said stores, decoding said word obtained from said predetermined location to identify another of said plurality of stores from any bits in said word not uniquely identifying said one of said stores, inhibiting said store identified by said decoding from delivering any response to said central processing unit, readdressing said predetermined location in said one of said memory stores to cause the Delivery of its unique identifying word to said central processing unit, marking said first addressed store as defective when said last mentioned unique identifying word is incorrectly received at said central processing unit and marking said store identified by said decoding as defective when said last-mentioned unique identifying word is correctly received thereat.

Claim 5

A process for operating a data processing system employing a central processor and a plurality of data and instruction storage units addressable over a common bus comprising the steps of: transmitting a readout command over said common bus from said central processor to obtain in said processor the contents of a predetermined storage location in one of said storage units, comparing in said processor a predetermined word unique to said one of said storage units with the contents of said predetermined storage location obtained by said processor to derive an error signal, examining said error signal to determine whether said signal corresponds to a predetermined contents of a storage location unique to any other of said storage units, transmitting an inhibit-readout command to said other of said storage units determined by said examining of said error signal, retransmitting a readout command to address said predetermined storage location in said one of said storage units, recomparing with said predetermined word unique to said one of said storage units the contents obtained by said central processor responsive to said retransmission of said readout command, marking said storage unit identified by said error signal as defective when said recomparing following said retransmitting shows said last-mentioned word and contents to be identical to each other, and marking said one of said storage units defective when said recomparing following said retransmitting shows said last-mentioned word and contents to be nonidentical.

Claim 6

A process for operating a data processing system employing a central processor and a plurality of data and instruction storage units addressable over a common bus comprising the steps of: transmitting a readout command over said common bus from said central processor to obtain in said processor the contents of a predetermined storage location in one of said storage units, comparing in said processor a predetermined word unique to said one of said storage units with the contents of said predetermined storage location obtained by said processor to derive an error signal, examining said error signal to determine whether said signal corresponds to a predetermined contents of a storage location unique to any other of said storage units, transmitting an inhibit-readout command to said other of said storage units determined by said examining of said error signal, retransmitting a readout command to address said predetermined storage location in said one of said storage units, recomparing with said predetermined word unique to said one of said storage units the contents obtained by said central processor responsive to said retransmission of said readout command, marking said storage unit identified by said error signal as defective when said recomparing following said retransmitting shows said last-mentioned word and contents to be identical to each other, and marking said one of said storage units defective when said recomparing following said retransmitting shows said last-mentioned word and contents to be nonidentical.

Claim 7

MARKING SAID STORAGE UNIT ADDRESSED IN STEP 1 AS DEFECTIVE WHEN SAID UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION WORD IS CORRECTLY READOUT FROM SAID PREDETERMINED STORAGE LOCATION,

Claim 8

MARKING SAID STORAGE UNIT ADDRESSED IN STEP 1 AS DEFECTIVE WHEN SAID UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION WORD IS CORRECTLY READOUT FROM SAID PREDETERMINED STORAGE LOCATION,

Claim 9

marking said storage unit addressed in step 1 as defective when said unique identification word is correctly readout from said predetermined storage location,

Claim 10

marking said storage unit addressed in step 1 as defective when said unique identification word is correctly readout from said predetermined storage location,

Claim 11

responsive to said unique identification word being incorrectly readout determining from said register means whether said storage unit addressed in step 1 is said predetermined unit containing said diagnostic routines,

Claim 12

responsive to said unique identification word being incorrectly readout determining from said register means whether said storage unit addressed in step 1 is said predetermined unit containing said diagnostic routines,

Claim 13

RESPONSIVE TO SAID UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION WORD BEING INCORRECTLY READOUT DETERMINING FROM SAID REGISTER MEANS WHETHER SAID STORAGE UNIT ADDRESSED IN STEP 1 IS SAID PREDETERMINED UNIT CONTAINING SAID DIAGNOSTIC ROUTINES,

Claim 14

RESPONSIVE TO SAID UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION WORD BEING INCORRECTLY READOUT DETERMINING FROM SAID REGISTER MEANS WHETHER SAID STORAGE UNIT ADDRESSED IN STEP 1 IS SAID PREDETERMINED UNIT CONTAINING SAID DIAGNOSTIC ROUTINES,

Claim 15

A process for use in a stored program controlled system having a central processor, a plurality of duplicate stores for communicating with said processor, said process being adapted to detect whether an addressed or a nonaddressed one of said stores furnished an erroneous response to said processor, comprising addressing a predetermined location in the same one of said stores which when previously addressed resulted in said erroneous response, a corresponding predetermined location in each of said stores having stored therein an identification word containing a bit pattern unique to the respective store, ascertaining whether said identification word read from said store by said addressing contains any bits belonging to an identification word for another of said stores, inhibiting said another of said stores from responding to addressing, readdressing said predetermined location, ascertaining whether said identification word read from said store by said readdressing now contains the bit pattern unique to said addressed store, marking said another of said stores as defective when said identification word obtained by said readdressing is unique to said addressed store, and marking said addressed store as defective when said identification word obtained by said readdressing is not unique to said addressed store.

Claim 16

A process for use in a stored program controlled system having a central processor, a plurality of duplicate stores for communicating with said processor, said process being adapted to detect whether an addressed or a nonaddressed one of said stores furnished an erroneous response to said processor, comprising addressing a predetermined location in the same one of said stores which when previously addressed resulted in said erroneous response, a corresponding predetermined location in each of said stores having stored therein an identification word containing a bit pattern unique to the respective store, ascertaining whether said identification word read from said store by said addressing contains any bits belonging to an identification word for another of said stores, inhibiting said another of said stores from responding to addressing, readdressing said predetermined location, ascertaining whether said identification word read from said store by said readdressing now contains the bit pattern unique to said addressed store, marking said another of said stores as defective when said identification word obtained by said readdressing is unique to said addressed store, and marking said addressed store as defective when said identification word obtained by said readdressing is not unique to said addressed store.

Claim 17

An arrangement for detecting a babbling store in a data processing system having multiple stores that are connected to a common transmission bus means, each store having an identifying word uniquely identifying that store in a predetermined memory location, the babbling store causing erroneous information to be present on said transmission bus means due to simultaneous readout from said babbling store and an addressed store, comprising means for registering an identifying word received over said bus means on readout of a store, means for exclusively O-ring the identifying word for the addressed store with said identifying word in said registering means, means for registering the resultAnt word from said exclusive O-ring means, and means for decoding said resultant word to ascertain the identity of a possibly babbling store.

Claim 18

An arrangement for detecting a babbling store in a data processing system having multiple stores that are connected to a common transmission bus means, each store having an identifying word uniquely identifying that store in a predetermined memory location, the babbling store causing erroneous information to be present on said transmission bus means due to simultaneous readout from said babbling store and an addressed store, comprising means for registering an identifying word received over said bus means on readout of a store, means for exclusively O-ring the identifying word for the addressed store with said identifying word in said registering means, means for registering the resultAnt word from said exclusive O-ring means, and means for decoding said resultant word to ascertain the identity of a possibly babbling store.

Claim 19

MARKING SAID STORAGE UNIT ADDRESSED IN STEP 1 AS DEFECTIVE WHEN SAID STORAGE UNIT SO ADDRESSED IS DETERMINED TO BE SAID PREDETERMINED STORAGE UNIT,

Claim 20

MARKING SAID STORAGE UNIT ADDRESSED IN STEP 1 AS DEFECTIVE WHEN SAID STORAGE UNIT SO ADDRESSED IS DETERMINED TO BE SAID PREDETERMINED STORAGE UNIT,

Claim 21

marking said storage unit addressed in step 1 as defective when said storage unit so addressed is determined to be said predetermined storage unit,

Claim 22

marking said storage unit addressed in step 1 as defective when said storage unit so addressed is determined to be said predetermined storage unit,

Claim 23

ascertaining whether said readout identification word contains any bits belonging to an identification word for another of said units,

Claim 24

ascertaining whether said readout identification word contains any bits belonging to an identification word for another of said units,

Claim 25

ASCERTAINING WHETHER SAID READOUT IDENTIFICATION WORD CONTAINS ANY BITS BELONGING TO AN IDENTIFICATION WORD FOR ANOTHER OF SAID UNITS,

Claim 26

ASCERTAINING WHETHER SAID READOUT IDENTIFICATION WORD CONTAINS ANY BITS BELONGING TO AN IDENTIFICATION WORD FOR ANOTHER OF SAID UNITS,

Claim 27

In a data processing system the arrangement in accordance with claim 4 wherein said identification word uniquely designating each store comprises a single binary ''''1'''' in a field of binary ''''0s,'''' and wherein said decoding means includes means for detecting the rightmost ''''1'''' in said resultant word.

Claim 28

In a stored program controlled data processing system having a central processor, a plurality of pairs of duplicate storage units associated with said processor, a pair of communications buses linking said processor with said storage unit pairs, said processor being adapted to address any one unit of said pairs of duplicate storage units over the respective one of said buses to obtain information stored in any addressable location thereof, said processor further being adapted to determine when a word obtained from one of said addressable locations in one of said storage units is in error and to request access to diagnostic routines stored in a predetermined one of said storage units, register means for indicating which of said units is said predetermined one of said units, a method for determining which of said storage units, if any, is defective, said method comprising the steps of:

Claim 29

In a stored program controlled data processing system having a central processor, a plurality of pairs of duplicate storage units associated with said processor, a pair of communications buses linking said processor with said storage unit pairs, said processor being adapted to address any one unit of said pairs of duplicate storage units over the respective one of said buses to obtain information stored in any addressable location thereof, said processor further being adapted to determine when a word obtained from one of said addressable locations in one of said storage units is in error and to request access to diagnostic routines stored in a predetermined one of said storage units, register means for indicating which of said units is said predetermined one of said units, a method for determining which of said storage units, if any, is defective, said method comprising the steps of:

Claim 30

INHIBITING SAID ANOTHER OF SAID STORAGE UNITS FROM RESPONDING TO ANY SUBSEQUENT ADDRESSING,

Claim 31

INHIBITING SAID ANOTHER OF SAID STORAGE UNITS FROM RESPONDING TO ANY SUBSEQUENT ADDRESSING,

Claim 32

inhibiting said another of said storage units from responding to any subsequent addressing,

Claim 33

inhibiting said another of said storage units from responding to any subsequent addressing,

Claim 34

readdressing said predetermined location of said storage unit addressed in step 1,

Claim 35

readdressing said predetermined location of said storage unit addressed in step 1,

Claim 36

READDRESSING SAID PREDETERMINED LOCATION OF SAID STORAGE UNIT ADDRESSED IN STEP 1,

Claim 37

READDRESSING SAID PREDETERMINED LOCATION OF SAID STORAGE UNIT ADDRESSED IN STEP 1,

Claim 38

In a data processing system having a central processor, a plurality of stores, an access bus and an answer bus, each of said stores being assigned to said buses and each of said stores including means containing a store name unique to that store, means for matching said store name with a name code applied over said access bus to said store, and means controlled by said matching means for permitting locations in said store to be addressed, the combination comprising addressable location means at each of said stores distinct from said store name containing means for storing an identification word different from said store name and also unique to that store, said identification word normally comprising a single binary ''''1'''' in a field of binary ''''0s,'''' means at one of said stores responsive to said matching means and to the appearance on said access bus of the address of said addressable location means for causing said identification word to be applied to said answer bus, and means at said central processor for detecting the presence of more than a single binary ''''1'''' in said identification word applied to said answer bus.

Claim 39

In a data processing system having a central processor, a plurality of stores, an access bus and an answer bus, each of said stores being assigned to said buses and each of said stores including means containing a store name unique to that store, means for matching said store name with a name code applied over said access bus to said store, and means controlled by said matching means for permitting locations in said store to be addressed, the combination comprising addressable location means at each of said stores distinct from said store name containing means for storing an identification word different from said store name and also unique to that store, said identification word normally comprising a single binary ''''1'''' in a field of binary ''''0s,'''' means at one of said stores responsive to said matching means and to the appearance on said access bus of the address of said addressable location means for causing said identification word to be applied to said answer bus, and means at said central processor for detecting the presence of more than a single binary ''''1'''' in said identification word applied to said answer bus.

Claim 40

MARKING SAID STORAGE UNIT ADDRESSED IN STEP 7 AS DEFECTIVE WHEN SAID IDENTIFICATION WORD IS INCORRECTLY READOUT, AND

Claim 41

MARKING SAID STORAGE UNIT ADDRESSED IN STEP 7 AS DEFECTIVE WHEN SAID IDENTIFICATION WORD IS INCORRECTLY READOUT, AND

Claim 42

marking said storage unit addressed in step 7 as defective when said identification word is incorrectly readout, and

Claim 43

marking said storage unit addressed in step 7 as defective when said identification word is incorrectly readout, and

Claim 44

marking said another of said storage units as defective when said identification word is correctly readout responsive to said readdressing.

Claim 45

marking said another of said storage units as defective when said identification word is correctly readout responsive to said readdressing.

Claim 46

MARKING SAID ANOTHER OF SAID STORAGE UNITS AS DEFECTIVE WHEN SAID IDENTIFICATION WORD IS CORRECTLY READOUT RESPONSIVE TO SAID READDRESSING.

Claim 47

MARKING SAID ANOTHER OF SAID STORAGE UNITS AS DEFECTIVE WHEN SAID IDENTIFICATION WORD IS CORRECTLY READOUT RESPONSIVE TO SAID READDRESSING.