PROTECTION AS A GENERAL SYSTEMS PROBLEM

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Abstract
It is argued that the problem of protection, of controlling mutual access rights to shared resources, is a topic appropriately treated as a major component of general systems theory. Although most widely studied and developed in the context of computer systems, protection modelsare equally applicable to biological systems, such as those involved in movement control. The paper first establishes the nature of the problem of protection in computer systems, noting that it only reaches its full potential complexity in large data-base systems with processes automatically invoked by “data interrupts”. The Graham and Denning model of protection and the concept of a “capability” are then described and the appropriate mathematical tools for the analysis of such models discussed. A detailed model of protection is then developed with examples of the role of algebraic, automata-theoretic, topological and modai/mutti-valued logical, techniques in its analysis. Finally, biological applications, general systems consequences and automatic design techniques, for protection structures are discussed.

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