The design of a user-programmable digital interface (Recent Results)

Abstract

An interface for digital computers and peripherals is described in this paper. The design process is traced, beginning with the definition of the problem environment, and the derivation of primitive interfacing functions. The functions are associated with four functional classes; data input/output, data storage, data manipulation, and control. Interface capabilities range from control over the synchronization of input and output pulse data to control over the data word widths acceptable. System limitations include technical, timing, and synchronization problems. The interface is modular, generalized, and user programmable. The control is contained in two levels: a user microprogram, and a read only nanoprogram.