System and method for selecting a subset of autonomous and independent slave entities
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorChristian Lenz Cesar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A master entity is capable of broadcasting commands to a plurality of three-state-selection machine slaves. Transitions from one state to another are effected on instruction from commands in a sequence of commands broadcast from the master. Slaves move to another state when they satisfy a primitive condition specified in the command. By moving slaves among the three sets, a desired subset of slaves can be isolated in one of the sets. This desired subset of slaves then can be moved to one of the states that is unaffected by commands that cause the selection of other desirable subsets of slaves.
Claims18
A state machine slave comprising:
- three or more states, being at least a first state, a second state, and a third state, the slave being in the first state;
- a memory with one or more information values;
- a receiving unit for receiving one or more commands in a command sequence, each of the commands specifying a "transfer from state", a "transfer to state", and a primitive condition;
- and
- a processing unit that causes the slave to move to the second state being the "transfer to state" if the first state is the same as the "transfer from state" and one or more of the information values satisfies the primitive condition, the slave being moved to the third state by another command in the command sequence only if the slave is in the second state, and the slave, once moved into to the third state, remaining in the third state,
- wherein two of the states reverse roles after an end of one or more subsequences in the sequence of commands.
A system for selecting a subset of slaves that satisfy a selection criterion, comprising:
- a master unit for communicating a selection criterion command sequence to a plurality of slaves, the selection criterion command sequence representing the selection criterion;
- each slave of said plurality of slaves at any time being in one of three or more different possible selection states, said states being used for processing the selection criterion command sequence and for determining whether or not said each slave satisfies the selection criterion represented by the selection criterion command sequence;
- a memory in said each slave containing at least one information value for evaluation of primitive selection conditions;
- a receiving unit in said each slave for receiving the selection criterion command sequence from the master unit, each command in the selection criterion command sequence specifying a "from" state, a "to" state, and a primitive selection condition;
- and
- a processing unit in said each slave that processes each successive command in the selection criterion command sequence by moving the slave into the "to" state if and only if the slave is already in the "from" state and the at least one information value satisfies the primitive condition,
- whereby said each slave is deemed to be selected if said each slave is in a particular selection state after the processing unit in said each slave has processed the selection criterion command sequence.
A method for selecting a subset of slaves that satisfy a selection criterion, comprising the steps of:
- storing at least one information value in each of a plurality of slaves for evaluating primitive selection conditions;
- representing a selection criterion as a selection criterion command sequence, each command in the selection criterion command sequence specifying a "from"state, a "to" state, and a primitive selection condition;
- communicating the selection criterion command sequence to the plurality of slaves, each slave of said plurality of slaves at any time being in one of three or more different selection states used for processing the selection criterion command sequence and for determining whether or not said each slave satisfies the selection criterion represented by the selection criterion command sequence;
- processing each successive command in the selection criterion command sequence at said each slave by moving said each slave into the "to" state if and only if the slave is already in the "from" state and the at least one information value satisfies the primitive condition;
- and then
- deeming said each slave in a particular selection state to be selected.
A state machine slave for responding to a selection criterion command sequence from a master unit, the selection criterion command sequence implementing a selection criterion, the state machine slave comprising:
- first, second and third selection states for processing the selection criterion command sequence and for determining whether or not the slave satisfies the selection criterion represented by the selection criterion command sequence;
- a memory containing at least one information value for evaluating primitive selection conditions;
- a receiving unit for receiving the selection criterion command sequence, each command in the selection criterion command sequence specifying a "from" state, a "to" state, and a primitive selection condition;
- and
- a processing unit that process each successive command in the selection criterion command sequence by moving the slave into the "to" state if and only if the slave is already in the "from" state and the at least one information value satisfies the primitive condition,
- whereby the slave is deemed to be selected if the slave is in a particular one of the three states after the processing unit has processed the selection criterion command sequence.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.