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:
Feb. 13, 1990
Filed:
Mar. 27, 1987
Chester A Heath, Boca Raton, FL (US);
Jorge E Lenta, Boca Raton, FL (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A computer system in which peripherals greater in number than the number of DMA channels provided in the system can all have DMA access. Some of the DMA channels are dedicated to certain ones of the peripherals, while others, termed 'programmable' DMA channels, are shared by remaining ones of the peripherals. Each peripheral having DMA access has a channel priority value. When a peripheral wants DMA access, it transmits its channel priority value onto an arbitration bus. The winning channel priority value is then compared with prestored DMA channel assignment values. If the comparison is successful, the corresponding peripheral is given a DMA channel corresponding to the DMA Channel assignment value with which the comparison was successful.