SYSTEM BUS FOR AN EMULATED MULTICHANNEL SYSTEM

A single synchronous system bus interconnecting a number of distributed processors which emulate multiple channels of a multichannel system. The system uses multichannel software and each channel is distributed among all of the distributed processors. The bus provides for communication among the distributed processors and a memory controller. One of the distributed processors accepts and converts multichannel software and transmits formatted words on the system bus and another of the distributed processor stores the instruction received in the formatted words. The first processor, thereby, acquires control over the system bus and the second processor, as slave, processes the instruction received in accordance with its microde programming, generates data transfer control signals and transmits formatted words via the system bus destined for a distributed processor or main memory controller. The processor which transmitted the formatted words to a destination device relinquishes control of the system bus and the destination device acquires control of the system bus for processing the words transmitted to it.