Patent GB-1184601-A (GB)
Title: Data Handling System.
IPC: H04L5/00
Filed: 1967-06-07
Abstract: 1,184,601. Data word assembling and transmission. DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP. 7 June, 1967 [7 June, 1966], No. 26361/67. Heading G4A. A system for assembling character bits of data characters randomly transmitted in serial bit format over a plurality of input lines comprises means for sampling each of the input lines in sequence for incoming character bits, a memory storing a character assembly word associated with each input line and a count word associated with each input line for timing a character transmission thereon, a register into which associated character assembly words are transferred from the memory in response to the associated count words at selected times during transmission over associated input lines, and assembly means operative to connect the register to receive from the input line associated with the character assembly word contained therein the bit on the line and assemble the bit into the character assembly word, one character bit being assembled at each selected time, and to return the character assembly word to the memory for storage during the intervals between the said selected times. As shown (Fig. 1) a plurality of telegraph input and output lines 18 and 22 from a number of remote telegraph stations are connected to a small general purpose digital computer which may for example be a PD P-8 computer modified by the addition of interface logic 14. The computer, which is indicated by dashed lines in the Figure processes the information on the lines 18, 22 and performs other programmes on a time sharing basis. The input lines 18 (which may number 128 for example) are connected to a line register LR which is a multiposition gating network controlled by a counter under the control of the computer. Each time a clock 30 issues a pulse, the computer interrupts the current programme according to known techniques and performs a scanning routine of all the input lines in sequence. The clock frequency is such that the lines are scanned at eight times the baud rate of the lines (assuming these to be equal; other clocks 301, 3011 being provided preferably operating at harmonic frequencies if the rates vary). The computer memory MEM includes in successive locations one or more words for each line which word or words store a status bit which is set to binary 1 when a start bit is received on the corresponding line, a sample count which, starting from the time a start bit is received, is incremented at the sample times to step repeatedly through its counting range of 8 and therefore operates in synchronism with the received bits on the corresponding line and a character assembly word in which the bits of successive characters are assembled. Instruction words for controlling input or output of data are also stored in the memory. As each line is sampled, the corresponding word or words are transferred in sequence from memory MEM into a buffer register MB in which counter incrementing and other operations (e.g. data shift) are performed before being returned to the memory. The sampled input bits are only recorded in the character assembly words when the associated sample count is four, this corresponding roughly to the mid point of the input bits. Having accumulated a complete character as indicated by the start bit having been shifted to the end of the character assembly word, the character may be transferred over a line 28 to a central station (e.g. larger computer) or transmitted on one of the output lines 22, these operations (and others) taking place in the intervals between successive input line samplings. Transmitting of words to the output lines 22 is performed in a similar way, the words to be transmitted being passed in sequence to an accumulator A.C. in synchronism with the scanning of the output lines and the output drivers 16 and flip-flops 24 being energized according to the state of one bit at a time followed by shifting of the other bits, but the scanning is performed at a slower rate (one eighth the input scanning rate and only one eighth of the lines scanned during any one said interval).