Data General Corporation

David L Houseman

Thomas M Jones

Ronald H Gruner

Brett L Bachman

Ward Baxter, Ii

Stephen R Redfield

John F Pilat

Craig J Mundie

Michael S Richmond

Gerald F Clancy

Michael B Druke

Paul Bowden

Charles J Young

Steven M Haeffele

William N Coder

Louis E Drew

A content-addressable memory module which performs an associative clear operation in response to a clear signal provided on a clear line. The associative clear operation simultaneously clears all registers in the content-addressable memory module whose contents match bits in a pattern input to the content-addressable memory module. A mask input along with the pattern determines which bits of the pattern are significant for the match. Each register in the content-addressable memory module has a bidirectional match line associated with it. A register's bidirectional match line carries a match signal only if that register contains data matching the pattern bits specified by the mask and the bidirectional match line is receiving a match signal from an external source. Clearing logic associated with each register clears the register when a clear signal appears on the clear line while the register's bidirectional match line is carrying a match signal. In content-addressable memories constructed of such content-addressable memory modules, memory match lines connect match lines associated with a number of registers. The memory match line and all of the match lines connected to it carry match signals only if each of the registers associated with the match lines contains data matching the pattern and mask input to the content-addressable memory module containing the register. The content-addressable memory module further contains logic allowing the use of encoded addresses to address individual registers in the content-addressable memory module.

Content-addressable memory module with associative clear

A digital data system having a memory with a unique multi-ported memory I/O means. Separate means are provided for communicating with any of several buses. Address information, operands, instructions and Input/Output data may be separately sent and received over various of the buses.

Unique memory for use in a digital data system

A digital computer system in which the memory is structured into objects, which are blocks of storage of arbitrary length, in which the data items are accessed by specifying the desired object and the desired data item's offset into that object. The memory controls accommodate any number of memory arrays of any size, automatically transforming the addresses to present the appearance of a single unified memory bank.

Digital data processing system having object-based logical memory

A data processing system having a flexible internal structure, protected from and effecitvely invisible to users, with multilevel control and stack mechanisms and capability of performing multiple, concurrent operations, and providing a flexible, simplified interface to users. The system is internally comprised of a plurality of separate, independent processors, each having a separate microinstruction control and at least one separate, independent port to a central communications and memory node. The communications and memory node is an independent processor having separate, independent microinstruction control and comprised of a plurality of independently operating, microinstruction controlled processors capable of performing multiple, concurrent memory and communications operations. Addressing mechanisms allow permanent, unique identification of information and an extremely large address space accessible and common to all such systems. Addresses are independent of system physical configuration. Information is identified to bit granular level and to information type and format. Protection mechanisms provide variable access rights associated with individual bodies of information. User language instructions are transformed into dialect coded, uniform, intermediate level instructions to provide equal facility of execution for all user languages. Operands are referred to by uniform format names which are transformed, by internal mechanisms transparent to users, into addresses.

Digital data processing system

A system for modifying the manner in which a processor in a digital computer system responds to operation codes in certain instructions. All instructions to which the system responds have operation code syllables containing an operation code and an operation code modifier. In instructions having certain operation codes, the operation code modifier contains a value which modifies the manner in which the processor responds to the operation code. When the processor receives an instruction having such an operation code, a part of the processor which is responsive to the operation code modifier employs the value in the operation code modifier to modify the interpretation of the instruction by the processor. The manner in which the value is employed depends on the operation code. Several uses of the operation code modifier are disclosed. It is used in instructions which have varying numbers of operands to specify the number of operands; it is further used in a branch instruction to calculate the new program value; it is finally used in instructions in which the operation code specifies a set of related operations to specify one operation in the set.

Digital data processing system respoonsive to instructions containing

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Cary, NC, United States of America

David L Houseman