Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Microcomputer Engineering, Ltd.

Minoru Hatada

Hirokazu Ihara

Kotaro Hirasawa

Nobuhiro Hamada

Kunio Hiyama

Hideaki Ishida

Masatoshi Matsushita

Hiroshi Tamura

Hisao Kuma

In a multiprocessor system, a data transferring port into which data can be written only when no data is stored and from which data can be read only when it is stored is provided, and the port itself is caused to perform an exclusion control, whereby that processor of a plurality of processors which has once acquired a bus mastership is prevented from making another bus use request until the bus use requests of the other processors run out.

Access control method for multiprocessor systems

In a loop bus network system where a plurality of processors are connected to a unidirectional loop bus and each of the processors generates a transmission message with a level number which designates the bus use priority of the message, each of node processors, in which message transmission request is generated, transmits to the loop bus a bus control data including a level number of the message generated therewithin and a data which represents the bus use priority assigned to each node processor for that level number. Each of the node processors compares the bus control data transmitted therefrom to a succeeding node with a control data received from a preceding node and then transmits only the larger data of the compared two data, thereby to ascertain that only one bus control data propagates around the loop and a loop bus use priority is assigned to one of the node processors that has generated the above-mentioned one bus control data.

Bus priority control method in loop bus network system

A method of storing articles in a warehouse having a plurality of storage blocks arranged adjacent each other with each of the storage blocks having a plurality of spaced racks for storing articles and linearly extending aisles between the racks. The warehouse also includes article transfer apparatus arranged for movement in respective aisles to transfer articles relative to a given location within a respective storage block and a control arrangement for operating the article transfer apparatus in accordance with a predetermined mode to transfer articles relative to said storage blocks. The method of storing includes the steps of storing a plurality of different articles in the storage blocks with at least two different articles in each storage block, storing in a first storage block at least one and another different articles, storing in a second storage block at least one article common to the one different article in the first storage block and at least one additional different article, storing in a third and any succeeding storage block at least one article common to the at least one additional different article of the immediately preceding storage block and at least one further different article, and storing in the last storage block as the at least one further different article an article common to the another different article of the first storage block to form an imaginary loop of articles in the warehouse.

Method of storing articles in a warehouse to form an imaginary link of

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Kokubunji, Japan

Minoru Hatada