Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/ – Input/output data processing – Peripheral monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-09
2004-10-12
Perveen, Rehana (Department: 2182)
Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/
Input/output data processing
Peripheral monitoring
C710S036000, C710S058000, C710S059000, C710S060000, C710S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06804728
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to an I/O control device and an I/O control method, and particularly to an I/O control device and an I/O control method for transferring data.
A system exists for transferring data residing in one place to another remote domain. In such a system, the I/O instruction is managed upon the transferring of data.
Here, the manageable I/O instruction is determined and controlled according to the storage capacity of the memory.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1
is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional remote copy system. The remote copy system
1
is composed of a host computer
2
, an I/O control device
3
, a storage device
4
, and a circuit control mechanism
5
.
The host computer
2
issues I/O commands, transfers data, and the like. The I/O control device
3
is connected between the host computer, the device
4
, and the circuit control mechanism
5
, and controls the input/output of data according to the I/O instruction.
The device
4
is a storage device such as a hard disk and the like. The circuit control mechanism
5
is connected to circuit
6
.
The I/O control device
3
is mainly composed of a channel adapter
11
, a device adapter
12
, a remote adapter
13
, a control unit
14
, and a transfer control information table
15
.
The channel adapter
11
is a device for establishing communication with the host computer
2
. The device adapter
12
is a device for establishing communication with the device
4
. The remote adapter
13
is a device for establishing communication with the circuit control mechanism
5
.
The control unit
14
controls the transfer of data based on the I/O instruction from the host computer
2
. The transfer control information table
15
is a table that contains the transfer control information.
Now, the operation of the conventional remote copy system shall be explained.
The I/O instruction for executing a remote copying operation is supplied from the host computer
2
to the I/O control device
3
. The I/O instruction is first supplied to the channel adapter
11
. Upon receiving the I/O instruction from the host computer
2
, the channel adapter
11
communicates the received I/O instruction to the control unit
14
.
Upon receiving the I/O instruction, the control unit
14
establishes a transfer control information table
15
for storing transfer control information into the memory of the I/O control device. The transfer control information table
15
establishes a pre-set and predetermined storage domain. The transfer control information is stored in the transfer control information table
15
.
FIG. 2
illustrates an exemplary data composition diagram of the conventional transfer control information.
Transfer control information
20
comprises control classification information
21
, update range information
22
, transfer track information
23
, write classification information
24
, update range information
25
, and error information
26
.
The control classification information
21
indicates the type of I/O instruction. Such information is used, for example, to identify whether the instruction is for a simple update or a remote transfer. The update range information
22
indicates the update range.
The transfer track information
23
designates the transfer track. The write classification information
24
identifies the write type. For example, it is used in order to identify whether the write type is a format write or an update write.
The update range information
25
designates the update range. For instance, it designates the start and end of the information. The error information
26
indicates whether or not an error has occurred.
The control unit
14
reads the data on the track which is to be transferred from device
4
based on the transfer control information stored in transfer control information table
15
, and supplies this to the remote adapter
13
. The remote adapter
13
supplies the data from the control unit
14
to the circuit control mechanism
5
. The circuit control mechanism
5
supplies this to other devices via circuit
6
.
The above is a description of a remote copying operation.
However, in the above remote copying operation, the amount of data for which the remote copying operation can be performed at one time with the I/O instruction is limited according to the storage capacity of the transfer control information table
15
. Therefore, for transferring a large volume of transfer data, it is necessary to perform the transfer by segmenting the I/O instruction.
The object of the present invention is to enable the transfer of data, which does not impose a limitation to the amount of data to be transferred.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention detects the processed state of the transfer control information stored in the transfer control information memory means, and upon completion of transfer control information-dependent transfer processing as a result of the state detection, stores new transfer control information in the transfer control information memory means in place of the above transfer control information.
According to the present invention, the transfer control information can be established without taking into account the limitation of the capacity of the transfer control information memory means though it may have a fixed capacity. Thus, even small devices with a relatively small memory capacity will be able to provide functions similar to that of bigger devices without any demerits whatsoever.
Also, upon detecting an error state in the processing corresponding to the transfer control information, the present invention leaves that transfer control information stored in the transfer control information memory means.
According to the present invention, the transfer control information having an error detected therein will be stored as it is so that the cause of the error may be investigated by examining the stored transfer control information.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5925112 (1999-07-01), Haneda et al.
patent: 6006286 (1999-12-01), Baker et al.
patent: 6493774 (2002-12-01), Suzuki et al.
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patent: 07200453 (1995-08-01), None
Kassai Kunihiko
Saito Takaaki
Tanaka Hideyuki
Tanino Shingo
Fujitsu Limited
Perveen Rehana
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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