Features of an advanced front-end CPU
Richard Barr Hibbs · 1971
A central processing unit to handle data communications chores as a front-end computer has historically been either a maxi-computer, overpowered for the intended job, or a mini-computer, stripped of many instructions and architectural features that now ease the programming burdens of commercial data processing. Front-end CPU's are evolving into general-purpose machines in their own right due to demands for more generalized processing by the front-end, such as code conversion, message text pre-editing, and local (i.e., not performed by the host computer) message switching. Front-end CPU's must be dual-purpose machines---a special-purpose input-output structure to handle communications efficiently, and a general-purpose data handling structure to perform tasks such as described above. Certain desirable features of a front-end CPU are described informally in this paper, then the architecture of a proposed front-end CPU which incorporates these features is presented.