Patent GB-1343243-A (GB)
Title: Data processing system
Inventor: MARING B E
IPC: G06F13/26
Filed: 1972-05-30
Abstract: 1343243 Processors INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP 30 May 1972 [30 June 1971] 25165/72 Heading G4A When a plurality of equal priority requests for service from devices I/O 1 , I/O 1  ... occur simultaneously, the devices are instructed in sequence from a cyclically operable storage device during successive operative cycles of the store, one device being instructed in each operating cycle. As described for two devices (e.g. a punch card reader and a punch) in normal low priority service mode device I/O 1  (Fig. 2) receives operating instructions from control store 18 having a common section and a section assigned to each device. With no service request from I/O 0 , latch 34 holds in its reset state so that AND gates 40, 44 are disabled. Consequently at clock pulse D of an 8-pulse operating cycle of store 18, gate 50 is enabled to hold latch 52 in its reset state so that a signal TSC 1 select is applied to an address register for the portion of the store 18 assigned to the device I/O 1 . At the A pulse of the next cycle AND gate 58 is enabled to hold latch 60 in its set state and hence continue to deliver a signal TSC1 active to an external register and local store associated with the device I/O 1 . If however a high priority service request is received from device I/O 0 , latch 34 is raised to its set state so that AND gate 40 is enabled. At clock pulse D gate 66 is then enabled to set latch 52 to supply a signal to a control store address register to read out from the part of the cyclic store assigned to the device I/O 0 . At clock pulse A, gate 72 is enabled to reset latch 62 so that an external register and local store associated with the device I/O 0  receives a signal.  The system stays in this mode until a subsequent reset signal occurs or until a high priority request from device I/O 1  enables OR gate 78. The latter results in alternate cycles to the control store being assigned to each device, this being effected by the request resetting latch 82 so that gate 44 is disabled. At the next D pulse AND gate 50 is consequently enabled to reset the latch 52 resulting in the servicing of the device I/O 1 . This results in AND gate 44 being enabled so that at the next D pulse the latch 52 is set again via gate 66 so that the device I/O 0  is serviced. This process is repeated until a service request is completed when the resulting reset signal resets latch 82 if it occurs when device I/O 1  is being serviced. AND gate 40 continues to be enabled so that the next clock pulse device I/O 0  is selected, the system being held in this state. If the device I/O 0  is being serviced when the service request is completed AND gate 80 is enabled to reset latch 34 and so disable both gates 40 and 44, so the system returns to its normal mode of servicing device I/O 1  with low priority. Fig. 4 (not shown) illustrates an embodiment for three devices in which with low servicing requests the devices are allocated instruction cycles in sequence. A single request results in the requesting device receiving all instruction cycles, two or three requests resulting in successive instruction cycles being allocated to the devices in sequence.