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:
Sep. 05, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 18, 1998
Michael Richard Crater, Arvada, CO (US);
International Business Machines, Inc., Arnonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An interface for expanding the number of SCSI hosts that can access a storage array includes a SCSI interface chip for receiving a SCSI command from a host via a SCSI bus, a domain indicator for providing a domain number assigned to the SCSI chip, a memory device for storing data and code, and a processing unit responsive to the code and operative to generate a device address from the domain number, the target number, and the logical unit number, and to execute the SCSI command with a particular device of the storage array corresponding to the device address. The domain indicator may be either hardware based (e.g., a mechanical selector switch) or software based (e.g. written to a data storage device of the interface via a SCSI host or WIE the storage array). A method for interfacing a SCSI host with a storage array includes the steps of receiving a SCSI command from the host via a connection to the SCSI bus, the SCSI command including a target number and an LUN, receiving a domain number assigned to the connection to the SCSI bus, generating a device address from the domain number, the target number, and the LUN, and executing the SCSI command with one of the storage devices corresponding to the generated device address.