Patent ID: 7171525

Claim:
A system, including: at least one multi-port storage device including ports, an operational portion, and a port interface coupled between the ports and the operational portion; and at least two users, each of the users coupled to a different one of the ports by a serial link and configured to contend for access to the storage device by sending a priority bid to said one of the ports over the link, wherein the storage device is operable in a first mode to respond to a set of competing bids received at at least two of the ports from at least two of the users by granting one of the bids and causing a select acknowledgement to be sent over one said link to the user whose priority bid has been granted, wherein the storage device is also operable in a second mode in which the port interface responds to signals received at a selected one of the ports but does not respond to any signal received at any of the other ports, and wherein the storage device undergoes a transition from operation in the first mode to operation the second mode in response to a manual override signal and a port select signal, wherein the port select signal is indicative of said selected one of the ports.