Nextio Inc.

Emulex Design & Manufacturing Corporation

Freescale Semiconductor,inc.

Other

Annette Pagan

Asif Khan

Christopher Joseph Pettey

Robert Haskell Utley

Richard E Pekkala

Matthew D Akers

Christine E Moran

Richard Pekkala

A method and system for controlling transmission and execution of commands in an integrated circuit (IC) device provide transmission of commands and acknowledgements in an order of their priorities. Priority levels of the commands and acknowledgements are defined based on pre-assigned levels of precedence of the respective master and slave devices. In one application, the invention is used to increase performance of IC devices employing an Advanced eXtensible Interface (AXI).

Method and system for controlling transmission and execution of commands in an integrated circuit device

An apparatus and method are provided that enable I/O devices to be shared among multiple operating system domains. The apparatus has a first plurality of I/O ports, a second I/O port, and core logic. The first plurality of I/O ports is coupled to a plurality of operating system domains through a PCI Express fabric. Each of the first plurality of I/O ports is configured to route PCI Express transactions between said plurality of operating system domains and the switching apparatus. The second I/O port is coupled to a first shared input/output endpoint, where the first shared input/output endpoint is configured to request/complete said PCI Express transactions for each of the plurality of operating system domains. The core logic is coupled to the first plurality of I/O ports and the second I/O port. The core logic routes the PCI Express transactions between the first plurality of I/O ports and the second I/O port.

Switching apparatus and method for providing shared I/O within a load-store fabric

An apparatus and method are provided that enable I/O devices to be shared among multiple operating system domains. The apparatus includes a first plurality of I/O ports, a second I/O port, and a plurality of port initialization logic elements. The first plurality of I/O ports is coupled to a plurality of operating system domains through a load-store fabric. Each of the first plurality of I/O ports routes transactions between the plurality of operating system domains and the switching apparatus. The second I/O port is coupled to a first shared input/output endpoint. The first shared input/output endpoint is configured to request/complete the transactions for each of the plurality of operating system domains. One of the plurality of port initialization logic elements is coupled to the second I/O port and remaining ones of the plurality of port initialization logic elements are each coupled to a corresponding one of the first plurality of I/O ports. The plurality of port initialization logic elements is configured to initialize corresponding links between each of the plurality of operating system domains and the switching apparatus, and between the first shared input/output endpoint and the switching apparatus, to support the transactions, where each of the plurality of port initialization logic elements automatically configures a corresponding polarity for each of the first plurality of I/O ports and the second I/O port, and where the corresponding polarity is in a default polarity prior to being configured.

Apparatus and method for port polarity initialization in a shared I/O device

An apparatus and method are provided that enable I/O devices to be shared among multiple operating system domains. The apparatus has a first plurality of I/O ports, a second I/O port, and link training logic. The first plurality of I/O ports is coupled to a plurality of operating system domains through a load-store fabric. Each of the first plurality of I/O ports is configured to route transactions between the plurality of operating system domains and the switching apparatus. The second I/O port is coupled to a first shared input/output endpoint. The first shared input/output endpoint is configured to request/complete the transactions for each of the plurality of operating system domains. The link training logic is coupled to the second I/O port. The link training logic initializes a link between the second I/O port and the first shared input/output endpoint to support the transactions corresponding to the each of the plurality of operating system domains. The link is initialized in a manner that is transparent to the plurality of operating system domains.

Switching apparatus and method for link initialization in a shared I/O environment

An apparatus and method are provided that enable I/O devices to be shared and/or partitioned among a plurality of operating system domains within the load-store fabric of each of the operating system domains without requiring modification to the operating system or driver software of the operating system domains. The apparatus includes sharing logic and a first shared input/output (I/O) endpoint. The sharing logic is coupled to a plurality of operating system domains through a load-store fabric. The sharing logic routes transactions between the plurality of operating system domains. The first shared input/output (I/O) endpoint is coupled to the sharing logic. The first shared I/O endpoint requests/completes the transactions for the each of said plurality of operating system domains according to a variant of a protocol that encapsulates an OS domain header within a transaction layer packet.

Shared input/output load-store architecture

An apparatus and method is provided for allowing I/O devices to be shared and/or partitioned among a plurality of processing complexes within the load/store fabric of each of the processing complexes without requiring modification to the operating system or driver software of the processing complexes. The apparatus and method includes a switch for selectively coupling each of the processing complexes to one or more shared I/O devices. The apparatus and method further includes placing information within packets transmitted between the switch and the I/O devices to identify which of the processing complexes the packets are associated with. The invention further includes an apparatus and method within the shared I/O devices to allow the shared I/O devices to service each of the processing complexes independently.

Method and apparatus for shared I/O in a load/store fabric

An apparatus has a first plurality of I/O ports, a second I/O port, and link training logic. The first plurality is coupled to a plurality of operating system domains through a load-store fabric. Each of the first plurality is configured to route transactions between the plurality of operating system domains and the switching apparatus. The second I/O port is coupled to a first shared input/output endpoint. The first shared input/output endpoint is configured to request/complete the transactions for each of the plurality of operating system domains. The link training logic is coupled to the second I/O port. The link training logic initializes a link between the second I/O port and the first shared input/output endpoint to support the transactions corresponding to the each of the plurality of operating system domains. The link is initialized in a manner that is transparent to the plurality of operating system domains.

A method of operating a bus interconnect coupled to bus masters and bus slaves is provided. The method includes receiving a request from a bus master to perform a bus transaction associated with a transaction ID with a bus slave of the plurality of bus slaves, the bus transaction being a first type of bus transaction. The method further includes performing the transaction if a resource allocation parameter allocated to the bus master meets a first threshold. The method further includes if the resource allocation parameter does not meet the first threshold, performing the data transaction only if the transaction meets a condition of a set of at least one condition, wherein a condition of the set of at least one condition includes that the transaction ID of the transaction is not a transaction ID of any outstanding bus transaction of the first type requested by the bus master.

Bus interconnect with flow control

An apparatus and method for sharing I/O devices. The apparatus has a first plurality of I/O ports, a second I/O port, and core logic. The first plurality is coupled to a plurality of operating system domains through a load-store fabric. Each of the first plurality routes transactions between the operating system domains and the switching apparatus. The second I/O port is coupled to a first shared input/output endpoint. The first shared input/output endpoint requests/completes transactions for each of the plurality of operating system domains. The core logic is coupled to the first plurality of I/O ports and the second I/O port. The core logic routes the transactions between the first plurality of I/O ports and the second I/O port and associates each of the transactions with a corresponding one of the plurality of operating system domains (OSDs) by encapsulating an OS domain header within a transaction layer packet.

An apparatus having a first plurality of I/O ports, a second I/O port, and core logic. The first plurality of I/O ports is coupled to a plurality of operating system domains (OSDs) through a load-store fabric, each routing transactions between the plurality of OSDs and the switching apparatus. The second I/O port is coupled to a first shared input/output endpoint. The first shared input/output endpoint requests/completes the transactions for each of the plurality of OSDs. The core logic is coupled to the first plurality of I/O ports and the second I/O port. The core logic routes the transactions between the first plurality of I/O ports and the second I/O port. The core logic designates a corresponding one of the plurality of OSDs according to a variant of a protocol, where the protocol provides for routing of the transactions only for a single OSD.

Apparatus and method for sharing I/O endpoints within a load store fabric by encapsulation of domain information in transaction layer packets

A method enabling I/O devices to be shared among multiple operating system domains, including first communicating with each of the operating system domains according to a protocol that provides exclusively for a single system domain ithin the load-store fabric; and second communicating with the shared I/O endpoint according to a variant of the protocol to enable the shared I/O endpoint to associate a prescribed operation with a corresponding one of the independent operating system domains. The second communicating includes encapsulating an OS domain header within a transaction layer packet that otherwise comports with the protocol, wherein the value of the OS domain header designates the corresponding one of the operating system domains; and via core logic within a swithching apparatus, mapping the independent operating system domains to the shared I/O endpoint.

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Annette Pagan