A communication mechanism for use in a multi-processing system wherein several processors share a common memory. Each processor has associated with it a local communication segment, stored in memory. The local communication segment is for processor-specific communication. Another segment, the global communication segment, is common to all processors, and is for system-wide communication. Each communication segment has a field containing control flags. The flags are set by one processor and later...

A loosely-coupled computer system certains global resources and is made up of stand-alone systems connected by a data link. Each stand-alone system includes a global identifier list which contains identifiers for global resources and the locations of those resources. The global identifier list in each system is identical to those on other systems. Each system further includes a global identifier list maintenance system, an outbound global resource system, an inbound global resource system, and a...

Multiple processing systems each inclue an administrator processor and a plurality of intelligent resources (like a printer, encoder, for example) which are coupled to the associated administrator processor via a local area network (LAN). Each administrator processor is coupled to two pluralities or sets of intelligent resources with one set being connected through a primary connection node of the associated administrative processor and with the other set being connected to an associated seconda...

An interprocessor communication system for a multiprocessor data processing system includes a common control circuit which includes a plurality of clusters where each cluster includes a plurality of semaphore registers and a plurality of information registers. Each type of register may be directly addressed by any processor. Each processor has a cluster code indicative of which, if any, of the clusters the processor may access. Each processor has a local control circuit in relatively close physi...

In a distributed heterogeneous computer system having a plurality of computer nodes each operatively connected through a network interface to a network to provide for communications and transfers of data between the nodes and wherein the nodes each have a queue for containing jobs to be performed, an improvement for dynamically reallocating the system's resources for optimized job performance. There is first logic at each node for dynamically and periodically calculating and saving a workload va...

A method is disclosed for providing a user dependent status indication for shared electronic mail objects within a distributed computing system. In certain electronic mail systems multiple users are permitted to share access to selected electronic mail objects in a so-called "affinity" relationship whereby selected end users are permitted to access identical address space within a computer. Within such systems it is difficult to ascertain a particular status of a selected electronic mail object ...

A method to preserve system resources during the execution of distributed application programs in an SNA type data processing network that supports program to program communication between an Intelligent Work Station (IWS) and a host processor in accordance with SNA Logical Unit 6.2 protocols when a Virtual Machine Pool Manager exists at the host processor and functions to, (1) create a pool of virtual machines at the host processor that are brought to a run ready state prior to any program to p...

A plurality of processors are connected to the interprocessor communications facility in the multiprocessing system of the invention. The interprocessor communications facility has arbitration circuitry, mailbox circuitry, and processor interrupt circuitry. The interprocessor communications facility of the invention is centralized and does not require the use of main storage. This enables processors to communicate with each other in a fast and efficient manner. The arbitration circuitry prevents...

Control of communication by a plurality of devices, such as computer programs and terminals, via a computer is controlled by an arrangement referred to as a connector. The connector receives a request for communication defining the devices to the communication and, in response to the request, establishes a mapping table defining the source devices and destination devices to the connection. A source device stores data in connector memory and the connector reads the mapping table to determine the ...

In a distributed system comprising a plurality of nodes, each node is provided with the same set of generic configuration rules which configures the resources for the node according to the application requirements and the hardware configuration of the node. The resource server modules are configurable at run-time by node-based configuration management processes in accordance with information contained in resource definition messages. A resource definition message is derived from a resource templ...