International Business Machines Corporation

Simon Huon

Victor Spagnol

Jean Cholat-Namy

Jean-Marie L Munier

Philippe Emmanuel Thirion

Michel F Choquet

Jacques Belloc

Daniel Ballatore

Daniel Pilost

Francois De Saint Michel

An arbitration device for enabling a common resource to be shared by a plurality of processors, all connected by a common bus and each processor having a certain access priority. When more than one processor requests access to the resource, the highest priority processor request signal is latched and access is granted while the other requesting processor's latches remain set (access not granted). If two processors request access while the resource is busy, then only the latch of the processor having the highest priority of the two will be reset when the bus becomes available, and that processor will gain access.

Arbitration device for latching only the highest priority request when

A DTE can control the modems attached thereto by transmitting command messages over the data path and analyzing report messages supplied by the modems in return. Each command message is identified by a specific header. A command message intended for a remote modem (34) is intercepted by the local modem (30) and reformatted so as to obtain a supervisory message that is then transmitted at the rate of one bit per baud. A command message intended for a remote multichannel modem (48) is transmitted either by a supervisory message or in the data mode of operation.

Method and system for controlling a network of modems

Memory 60 contains a decision table which is a replica of the particular N-bit pattern to be detected. When a bit is received over line 12, a table lookup operation is performed to determine whether the entry at the address indicated by address counter 34 contains a bit that matches the received bit. If so, the content of the address counter is incremented by one and the device waits for another bit to be received over line 12. If the bit in the entry does not match the received bit, then, if the address indicated by the counter is zero, the count of the counter is maintained at zero and the device waits for another bit to be received; or, if the address is different from zero, the counter is reset to zero and the bit present on line 12 is again presented to the table in order, this time, to be compared with the bit in the entry at address zero. The pattern is detected when the address contained in the counter is equal to N and when the last bit in the pattern matches the bit with which it is compared.

Method and device for detecting a particular bit pattern in a serial

A method of testing a communication network that comprises a first and a second multiport modem communicating with each other through a transmission channel, each of said modems being provided with a number of input/output interfaces and each of the interfaces on either modem being associated with a corresponding interface on the other modem. In accordance with the method of the present invention, a test request is applied to one of the interfaces on the first multiport modem, which responds thereto by generating a test configuration code identifying that interface. This modem is then caused to assume a so-called test configuration, in which only that interface to which the test request was applied is active, and a test command comprising an indication of the test to be performed and a link level identifier is applied to that interface. If the identifier designates the link level to which the first modem belongs, this modem will control the test specified in the test command. If another link level is designated, then the test command and the test configuration code will both be sent to the second multiport modem. The second modem will then decode the link level identifier and, if the link level so designated is not the one to which it pertains, will assume a test configuration such that only the interface associated with the first modem interface which received the test request will be active, and the test command will be applied to that active interface. In accordance with another aspect of the invention the test configuration code also identifies the bit rate associated with the test command. The invention also provides a test system that implements the above method. The invention further provides an improved multiport modem to be used in conjunction with the test method and system mentioned above.

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Roquefort Les Pins, France

Simon Huon