Command interpreter system in an i/o controller

Abstract

A hardware accelerated I/O data processing engine to execute a minimum number of types of I/O data processing commands in response to a stimulus from a host computer. The data processing engine, referred to as a command interpreter includes a command queue, a logic unit, a multiple purpose interface, at least one memory, and a controlling state machine, that each operate in concert with each other and without software control. The types of commands executed by the command interpreter can include, but are not limited to, an Initialize, Copy, DMA Read, DMA Write, Cumulative Exclusive OR, Verify, Compare, and ECC Check. The execution of commands that specify a source data location and a destination data location are characterized by a plurality of reads to an internal cache from the source data location for each bulk write from the internal cache to the destination data location. The locations of the data operated on by the command interpreter include a local I/O controller memory and a non-local I/O controller memory accessible to the command interpreter by way of an I/O bus.