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. 17, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 15, 1997
Siamak Tavallaei, Spring, TX (US);
Jeffrey S Autor, Houston, TX (US);
Compaq Computer Corporation, Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A computer system utilizing multiple processes includes a semaphore for controlling exclusive access of a single process to a selected resource. The semaphore is implemented in the system input/output and controlled, at least in part, by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). When a process is attempting to acquire an I/O resource, a read is sent to the semaphore. If the resource is available the semaphore will have a first value, and the semaphore will return that first value to the process indicating that the process has acquired the resource. The ASIC will then change the semaphore value to a second value. If the resource is not available the semaphore will have the second value, and the semaphore will return the second value to the process indicating that the resource is not available.