Appeal No. 97-1206 Page 3
Application No. 08/219,555
BACKGROUND
The appellant's invention is a method of operating a
controller as a network file server. The controller
interfaces a plurality of host processors to a plurality of
Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) peripheral devices,
i.e., SCSI targets, via a single SCSI initiator within the
controller. When a host processor requests status data, i.e.,
ATTENTION DATA, from a target the data are written to a memory
in the controller from which the processor can read the
requested data. The memory contains separate address spaces
for each of the processors. The requested data are replicated
and a separate copy is stored at each of the address spaces so
that the data are available independently to each of the
processors. Therefore, each of the processors has independent
access to the most currently requested status data.
Claim 1, which is representative of the claims, follows:
1. A method of providing any of a plurality of host
processors ATTENTION DATA and PM DATA on any of a plurality of
SCSI targets through a controller, said controller including a
host adapter, microprocessor, only one SCSI initiator, and
memory, with said memory comprising separate addresses for
ATTENTION DATA from each of said plurality of SCSI targets for
each of said plurality of host processors on a one to one
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