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:
Dec. 23, 1997
Filed:
Dec. 18, 1995
Richard Louis Arndt, Austin, TX (US);
James Otto Nicholson, Austin, TX (US);
Edward John Silha, Austin, TX (US);
Steven Mark Thurber, Austin, TX (US);
Amy May Youngs, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An interrupt subsystem within a data processing system is scalable from low-end uni-processor systems to high-end multi-processor (MP) systems. This interrupt subsystem provides for queueing of interrupts from many sources, and for queueing of interrupts to the best processor in a multi-processor system. The external interrupt mechanism is separated into two layers, an interrupt routing layer and an interrupt presentation layer. The interrupt routing layer routes the interrupt conditions to the appropriate instance of an interrupt management area within the interrupt presentation layer. The interrupt presentation layer communicates the interrupt source to the system software which is to service/process the interrupt. By providing two layers within the interrupt subsystem, application or system software can be written which is independent from the types or sources of interrupts. The interrupt routing layer hides the details of a particular hardware implementation from the software. The interrupt presentation layer interfaces to the system and/or application software, and provides hardware independent functionality.