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:
Jun. 01, 1999
Filed:
Feb. 24, 1997
Patrick Delaney Ross, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Bradley David Strand, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Dave Olson, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention comprises a method and system for implementing prioritized communications in a computer system. The present invention is implemented on a computer system having a microprocessor and a plurality of peripheral devices coupled to the computer system. The system of the present invention determines a first priority level and determines a second priority level. The system of the present invention receives a bandwidth allocation request from a software process to transfer data at the first priority level between two or more peripheral devices. The system subsequently allocates a first priority data transfer bandwidth between the devices in response to the request and performs a first data transfer between the devices using the first priority data transfer bandwidth. In addition, the system of the present invention performs a second data transfer between other devices using a second priority data transfer bandwidth. The second data transfer occurs at a second priority level. Thus, the system of the present invention ensures the first data transfer at the first priority level is not disturbed by the second data transfer. In this manner, the system of the present invention guarantees the first priority data transfer bandwidth for the software process.