Unisys Corporation

Timothy D Updegrove

Timothy C Sell

Timothy S Ehrlich

Philip A Murphy

John A Keller

A feature coordination interface between the Operating System (OS) and a Special Purpose Processor (SPP) in a computer system. Both the OS and SPP maintain a list of bit masks, identified by word numbers, where an associated bit is set in an associated bit mask if the OS or SPP supports a feature identified by the bit. During initialization, the OS transfers each of its bit masks to the SPP whereat features are compared. In response, the SPP sends each of its corresponding bit masks back to the OS together with an error indication if the OS does not support a feature required by the SPP. The OS compares its features with those of the SPP and enters an error shutdown process if the OS has received an error indication from the SPP or if the SPP does not support a feature required by the OS.

Method and apparatus for software features synchronization between software systems

Method and apparatus for software features synchronization between

A system and method are disclosed for providing computers, particularly the Unisys A series computers, with the capability to function with disk drives of more than one sector format, especially if a predetermined sector format is inefficient and/or cost prohibitive. Interfacing is provided for processing I/O requests between a predetermined logical sector format (e.g., 180 byte sectors) and a variable physical sector format (e.g., 512 or 720 byte sectors). Read operations compare read request addresses to physical sector boundaries and discard unwanted data. Write operations, using at least one sector buffer, perform a read/modify/write cycle, such that the necessary physical sector data not associated with the write request is read into the sector buffer, modified and written back to the disk along with the write data inserted at the appropriate location. This system and method can effectively increase the usable capacity of selected disk drives by 15-20%.

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Birdsboro, PA, United States of America

Timothy D Updegrove