Importance

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Abstract

A computer communication system includes a host computer system executing software and a computational unit coupled to the host computer via an interface. The computational unit employs a plurality of computational resources and communicates with the host computer using a storage interface protocol, such as a block-oriented storage device protocol. The interface can be a common interface, such as a FireWire USB interface. The host computer uses an application level code that communicates with the computational unit using the storage interface protocol and can include an operating system that includes support for the storage interface protocol. The host computer can transmit request packets to the computational unit, wherein each request packet comprises an atomic unit of work. In turn, the computational unit can transmit response packets to the host computer, wherein each response packet comprises computational results pertaining to an atomic unit of work sent to the computational unit in a request packet and further wherein transmission of response packets by the computational unit uses the storage interface protocol. The host computer software can perform a block read request from a well-known address on the computational unit to determine status and capabilities of the computational unit.

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First Claim