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:
Mar. 12, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 30, 1998
William F. Day, Coral Springs, FL (US);
Susan L. Copeland, Plantation, FL (US);
David A. Hill, Raleigh, NC (US);
Mark J. Hornacek, Cooper City, FL (US);
Michael K. Hosrom, Miramar, FL (US);
Gavin J. Kirton, Pompano Beach, FL (US);
Paula C. Kiser, Sunrise, FL (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A digital data processing system comprises at least one subsystem comprising a plurality of resources, such as a storage subsystem comprising a plurality of drive modules, and a host processor. The host processor is connected to the drive modules through an interconnection which has a topology in the form of a loop. The interconnection has at least one configuration switch that is selectively configurable to a pass-through mode, in which the topology comprises the entire loop, or a bypass mode, in which the topology comprises a portion of the loop including the host processor and, possibly, at least one of the drive modules in the storage subsystem. The host processor can selectively condition the configuration switch into the pass-through mode or said bypass mode to connect more or fewer drive modules into the loop. Each of the disk modules further includes a disk module and a port by-pass switch, the port by-pass switch also being selectively configurable to a pass-through mode, in which the topology of the interconnection includes the disk module, and a bypass mode, in which the topology of the interconnection bypasses the disk module. The host processor can selectively condition the port bypass switches of the disk modules to connect more or fewer disk modules into the loop. The configuration switch and the port by-pass switches are directly controlled by a subsystem controller, which receives commands for controlling the switches from the host processor over a separate command interconnection.