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:
Oct. 13, 1987
Filed:
Jun. 13, 1986
Masami S Kaino, Del Mar, CA (US);
Rocky M-Y Young, Escondido, CA (US);
NCR Corporation, Dayton, OH (US);
Abstract
A data processing system has a plurality of subsystems or terminals, each containing an independent processor, the terminals linked by a star coupler. The system includes a star coupler to which all the terminals are connected over sending and receiving transmission lines. The function of the coupler is to take the signals received by the coupler, logically ORing all these received signals, and redriving the resulting signal to all processors via the receive side transmission line. To prevent one terminal or processor from tying up the coupler for an undue length of time, the coupler includes means for detecting a message length exceeding a predefined maximum, and determines this to be an overrun condition. When the overrun occurs, the channel from the offending terminal or processor is blocked by the coupler from reaching the logical ORing functional center of the coupler. In this way, the linking section of the star coupler remains as an operative link among the remainder of the processors. When the channel from the offending terminal or processor is no longer transmitting the overrunning signal, this return to the idle condition is detected, and the link of the star coupler is again opened to all processors including the previously overrun terminal.