Patent US2176653A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US3766533A
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Processor utilizing one holographic array and a plurality of photoresponsive storage arrays for high paging performance
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1972-05-30
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Granted: 1973-10-16
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Expires: 1992-05-30
Abstract
Abstract In a data processing system, a holographic array is controllable to change the entire contents, or a part thereof, of a content addressable storage unit, i.e., an associative storage unit having two-state photoresponsive cells or a functional storage unit having four-state photoresponsive cells during one machine cycle. Thus information is transferred in parallel in a broad band path depending upon the size of the photoresponsive cell array, hologram efficiency, etc. During a succeeding machine cycle, the entire contents of the associative or functional storage unit may be searched in accordance with a search argument to select from the storage unit data which corresponds to the search argument. In this fashion, significant quantities of data are searched rapidly. Within the same system, the holographic array can be controlled during one machine cycle to change the entire contents of additional storage arrays which may be of the associative, functional or location addressable type. In this fashion, storage units such as microprogram control stores, operating system program stores and user application program stores can be rapidly changed, for example, a page (e.g., 2000 bytes) at a time during one machine cycle. This adds a new dimension for information transfer within high performance data processing systems. In one embodiment, read/write hologram arrays, the contents of which are selectively changeable, are utilized to provide a greater versatility and performance to system operation.
Inventors
- 👤 J Tait
- 👤 B Updike
- 👤 J Black
- 👤 N Krewson
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-22 20:40
CPC Classifications
G; G11; G11C; G11C15/00; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/90; G06F16/903; G06F16/90335; G06F16/90339; G11C13/00; G11C13/04; G11C13/042
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
122 words
A method of operating a processing system having a plurality of storage units comprising the steps of providing holograms at least some of which store data for each of a plurality of said storage units, and changing the entire contents of each of said storage units simultaneously by steps including addressing a desired storage unit, electrically conditioning the desired storage unit to respond to light patterns impressed thereon, and concurrently controlling a coherent light source and different holograms of an array to generate different light patterns corresponding to the holograms and to direct the patterns upon light responsive devices in all storage units for simultaneously switching the multistable cells of the electrically conditioned storage unit to states corresponding to the light patterns.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
122 words
A method of operating a processing system having a plurality of storage units comprising the steps of providing holograms at least some of which store data for each of a plurality of said storage units, and changing the entire contents of each of said storage units simultaneously by steps including addressing a desired storage unit, electrically conditioning the desired storage unit to respond to light patterns impressed thereon, and concurrently controlling a coherent light source and different holograms of an array to generate different light patterns corresponding to the holograms and to direct the patterns upon light responsive devices in all storage units for simultaneously switching the multistable cells of the electrically conditioned storage unit to states corresponding to the light patterns.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
52 words
The method of claim 1 wherein one of the storage units is content addressable, said method further comprising the step of searching the entire contents of the one storage unit simultaneously for desired data, whereby data directories and tables can be searched a page at a time in two system cycle times.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
127 words
A method of operating a processing system having a plurality of storage units comprising the steps of controlling a coherent beam of light to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, providing holograms, each storing a plurality of pages of data, each page of data having in the order of at least several hundred bits, the pages in each hologram being adapted to be written into Respective ones of the storage units, generating different light patterns corresponding to the hologram data pages for the different beam orientations and directing the patterns to impinge upon light responsive devices in the storage units, and concurrently electrically conditioning one of the storage units to respond to the pattern impinging thereon to simultaneously change the entire contents of the conditioned unit.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
127 words
A method of operating a processing system having a plurality of storage units comprising the steps of controlling a coherent beam of light to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, providing holograms, each storing a plurality of pages of data, each page of data having in the order of at least several hundred bits, the pages in each hologram being adapted to be written into Respective ones of the storage units, generating different light patterns corresponding to the hologram data pages for the different beam orientations and directing the patterns to impinge upon light responsive devices in the storage units, and concurrently electrically conditioning one of the storage units to respond to the pattern impinging thereon to simultaneously change the entire contents of the conditioned unit.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
132 words
A method of operating an associative memory processing system having a plurality of content addressable storage units comprising the steps of controlling a coherent beam of light to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, providing holograms, each storing a page of operands, a page of control word routines and a page of function tables for entry into first, second and third ones of the storage units, generating different light patterns corresponding to the hologram data pages for the different beam orientations and directing the patterns to impinge upon light responsive devices in the first, second and third content addressable storage units, and concurrently electrically conditioning one of the first, second and third storage units to respond to the pattern impinging thereon to simultaneously change the entire contents of the conditioned unit.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
132 words
A method of operating an associative memory processing system having a plurality of content addressable storage units comprising the steps of controlling a coherent beam of light to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, providing holograms, each storing a page of operands, a page of control word routines and a page of function tables for entry into first, second and third ones of the storage units, generating different light patterns corresponding to the hologram data pages for the different beam orientations and directing the patterns to impinge upon light responsive devices in the first, second and third content addressable storage units, and concurrently electrically conditioning one of the first, second and third storage units to respond to the pattern impinging thereon to simultaneously change the entire contents of the conditioned unit.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
126 words
In a data processing system wherein programs are executed by first means including microprogram routines, a microprogram paging mechanism comprising a holographic array for storing the routines, a plurality of storage units, each for storing selected ones of the routines and each including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of multistable cells forming the unit, second means including the array and a controllable coherent light source responsive to the first means for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements of the storage units simultaneously, and third means electrically conditioning one of the storage units to respond to the pattern impinging thereon to change the routines in the one storage unit in parallel.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
126 words
In a data processing system wherein programs are executed by first means including microprogram routines, a microprogram paging mechanism comprising a holographic array for storing the routines, a plurality of storage units, each for storing selected ones of the routines and each including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of multistable cells forming the unit, second means including the array and a controllable coherent light source responsive to the first means for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements of the storage units simultaneously, and third means electrically conditioning one of the storage units to respond to the pattern impinging thereon to change the routines in the one storage unit in parallel.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
194 words
In a program-controlled associative memory data processor of the type in which separate content addressable storage units are provided for storing indicia of the types including operands, control word routines and arithmetic and logical function tables and in which means including identification tags stored in the units control the operation of the units to process operand data in accordance with the routines and tables, the combination of said units with apparatus for changing the entire contents of each of a plurality of said storage units in parallel, said apparatus including light responsive elements in each of said plurality of storage units for controlling the state of each bit storage position thereof, a holographic array including a plurality of holograms each of which stores one or more of said types of indicia, means including the holographic array and a coherent light source for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements of the storage units simultaneously, and means for electrically rendering a selected storage unit responsive to the light pattern impinging on its light responsive elements to switch the states of its bit storage positions according to the pattern.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
194 words
In a program-controlled associative memory data processor of the type in which separate content addressable storage units are provided for storing indicia of the types including operands, control word routines and arithmetic and logical function tables and in which means including identification tags stored in the units control the operation of the units to process operand data in accordance with the routines and tables, the combination of said units with apparatus for changing the entire contents of each of a plurality of said storage units in parallel, said apparatus including light responsive elements in each of said plurality of storage units for controlling the state of each bit storage position thereof, a holographic array including a plurality of holograms each of which stores one or more of said types of indicia, means including the holographic array and a coherent light source for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements of the storage units simultaneously, and means for electrically rendering a selected storage unit responsive to the light pattern impinging on its light responsive elements to switch the states of its bit storage positions according to the pattern.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
271 words
In a data processing system of the type wherein pageable program and data indicia, of the types including system control program segments, microprogram routines, application program segments, and table and index data is paged from peripheral devices into storage unit locations directly accessible to processing means in accordance with address information provided by the system, and wherein the indicia paged into each storage unit is thereafter accessed by the processing means independent of the paging, a paging mechanism comprising a plurality of storaGe units for storing different types of the pageable indicia, each storage unit having a plurality of multi-stable electronic cells for storing data bits, means responsive to certain of said address information for selectively activating the cells of a desired one of the storage units, the cells including light responsive devices responsive to different light patterns applied thereto for switching activated cells to stable states corresponding to the light pattern applied thereto, a holographic array including a plurality of holograms, each storing each of the different types of pageable indicia, a source generating a coherent beam of light, said source being controllable to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, means responsive to other of said address information for controlling the source to provide said different beam orientations, and said holographic array responsive to said different beam orientations for generating different light patterns and directing each portion of said patterns corresponding to a different type of pageable indicia to impinge upon the light responsive devices of a corresponding storage unit to switch the activated cells of the desired storage unit to stable states in accordance with the patterns generated.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
271 words
In a data processing system of the type wherein pageable program and data indicia, of the types including system control program segments, microprogram routines, application program segments, and table and index data is paged from peripheral devices into storage unit locations directly accessible to processing means in accordance with address information provided by the system, and wherein the indicia paged into each storage unit is thereafter accessed by the processing means independent of the paging, a paging mechanism comprising a plurality of storaGe units for storing different types of the pageable indicia, each storage unit having a plurality of multi-stable electronic cells for storing data bits, means responsive to certain of said address information for selectively activating the cells of a desired one of the storage units, the cells including light responsive devices responsive to different light patterns applied thereto for switching activated cells to stable states corresponding to the light pattern applied thereto, a holographic array including a plurality of holograms, each storing each of the different types of pageable indicia, a source generating a coherent beam of light, said source being controllable to provide a plurality of different beam orientations, means responsive to other of said address information for controlling the source to provide said different beam orientations, and said holographic array responsive to said different beam orientations for generating different light patterns and directing each portion of said patterns corresponding to a different type of pageable indicia to impinge upon the light responsive devices of a corresponding storage unit to switch the activated cells of the desired storage unit to stable states in accordance with the patterns generated.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
27 words
The paging mechanism of claim 7 wherein the holographic array comprises holograms storing only those pages of indicia in the system having the highest frequency of use.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
92 words
The paging mechanism of claim 7 further comprising electrically operable means producing search/read cycles for one of said storage units, said one of said storage units being a content addressable memory having its cells arranged to form a plurality of words, each word including a search argument portion and an output data portion, said one storage unit including electrically operable means effective during one search/read cycle to search the entire unit for a desired search argument and to read out the corresponding output data portion if the desired search argument is found.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
178 words
In a data processing system including a processor and address generating means, a paging mechanism comprising a holographic array for storing in each of a plurality of holograms thereof a plurality of pages of data, a plurality of storage units each having a data storage capacity smaller than that of the array and each including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of multistable cells forming the unit, each of the units adapted to store a respective one of said pages of each hologram, means including the array and a controllable coherent light source responsive to the address generating means for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements of the storage units simultaneously, and means responsive to the address generating means for electrically conditioning the cells of one of the storage units to respond to a pattern impinging thereon for setting the conditioned cells to stable states corresponding to the pattern, thereby entering a respective page of data into the one storage unit in parallel.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
178 words
In a data processing system including a processor and address generating means, a paging mechanism comprising a holographic array for storing in each of a plurality of holograms thereof a plurality of pages of data, a plurality of storage units each having a data storage capacity smaller than that of the array and each including different light responsive elements for controlling the states of each of a plurality of multistable cells forming the unit, each of the units adapted to store a respective one of said pages of each hologram, means including the array and a controllable coherent light source responsive to the address generating means for directing light patterns corresponding to holograms in the array to impinge on the elements of the storage units simultaneously, and means responsive to the address generating means for electrically conditioning the cells of one of the storage units to respond to a pattern impinging thereon for setting the conditioned cells to stable states corresponding to the pattern, thereby entering a respective page of data into the one storage unit in parallel.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
32 words
The paging mechanism of claim 10, said array being comprised of read-write holograms, and said paging mechanism further comprising electro-optical means for selectively changing the data in the holograms of the array.
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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) | 1976-10-15 | 1977-04-16 | 1977-10-16 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1980-10-15 | 1981-04-16 | 1981-10-16 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1984-10-15 | 1985-04-16 | 1985-10-16 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |