Patent ID: 6457070
Filing Date: 2002-09-24
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
An arrangement for determining a location of peripheral units in a computer system which includes an operating program running on a central unit forming an operating system, the peripheral units being connected to the central unit by data busses, comprising:a data communication link which is separate from said data busses in said computer system; a diagnostic system with addressable diagnostic units, said addressable diagnostic units being connected to each other and to the operating system via said data communication link, said addressable diagnostic units having unique addresses indicating position, said diagnostic system including an allocation unit which determines a position from an address, said addressable diagnostic units having markers, the peripheral units being connected to the diagnostic system so that said markers are uniquely assigned to each of the peripheral units, ones of said markers being queried and reset via said diagnostic system, said markers being set in an assigned one of said addressable diagnostic units by a predetermined state of the corresponding peripheral unit, the operating program generating the predetermined state of the peripheral unit by a predetermined operation and determines the assigned one of said addressable diagnostic units by the set marker, and hence determines a position of the peripheral unit.