The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 02, 1977
Filed:
Jun. 01, 1976
Francis D Lawlor, Hyde Park, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
In a data processing system allocation of excessive main/working storage space to sequential input records (input blocks) of indeterminate length frequently results in wasteful fragmentation. This is avoided by the present invention. An input-output channel of conventional construction is modified so that in chaining mode it (the channel) can operate optionally to: (1) transfer sequential input data blocks of unspecified length into contiguous positions in main storage, and (2) without CPU interruption/intervention store delimiting information, in storage locations containing Channel Command Words (CCW's) designating respective transfers, which effectively distinguishes storage boundaries between adjacent blocks. The storage of delimiting information effectively relieves the control and application programs of the central system of responsibility for analyzing the information context of the data in each block for 'possibly obscure' delimiting intelligence. The foregoing routing and delimiting operations may be made entirely transparent to the peripheral attachment interface of the channel so that peripheral attachment is not complicated.