Computer system with bridge logic that includes an internal modular

Abstract

A computer system includes a CPU and a memory device coupled by a North bridge logic unit to an expansion bus, such as a PCI bus. A South bridge logic connects to the expansion bus and couples various secondary busses and peripheral devices to the expansion bus. The South bridge logic includes internal control devices that are targets for masters on the expansion bus. The target devices couple to the expansion bus through a common expansion target interface, which monitors and translates master cycles on the expansion bus on behalf of the target devices. The South bridge also includes an internal modular target expansion bus coupling the internal target devices to the common target interface. The internal modular target expansion bus permits the target devices to receive master cycles from any expansion bus by understanding a standardized group of signals represented by the internal modular target expansion (IMAX) bus. The target interface then is responsible for understanding the protocol of the expansion bus and converting the expansion bus signals to IMAX target bus signals. The IMAX target bus includes both an inbound bus and an outbound data bus for driving out data requested as part of a read cycle to an internal target device.