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AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsGeorge Henry Ahrens, Mike Conrad Duron, Robert Allan Faust, Charles Andrew McLaughlin, Craig Henry Shempert, Kurt Paul Szabo
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In accordance with the method and system of the present invention, a local processor utilizes registers arranged in a fault/mask/cache fashion for environmental control and sensing within a data processing system. The local processor continuously reads input data from a variety of environmental sensors in order to determine if a threshold level has been reached and a fault condition exists. Cache registers allow the local processor to store/pass detailed sensor information to system firmware within system processor(s). The local processor sets a fault bit within a fault register designed to cause an interrupt to the system level firmware if any of its bits are non-zero, indicating that a fault condition has occurred. A mask register is designed to allow the interaction of both the local processor and system processor(s) when an interrupt is being serviced and help keeps track of which interrupts are being serviced and which are yet to be serviced in the case of multiple interrupt sources. The system firmware will service the interrupt and set the mask bit. The action will signal the local processor that the system has acknowledged the interrupt and will take the appropriate action. The local processor may now post another fault, exactly like the first fault, by clearing the mask bit and causing a subsequent interrupt to the system. The fault, mask, cache, and both local and system processor(s) work together to provide a positive interlock for synchronizing their actions with each other.
A method of environmental sensing and control for one or more devices having associated sensors within a computer system, comprising the steps of:
An information handling system, comprising:
A computer program product residing on a computer usable medium for providing environmental control and sensing to an information handling system, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.