The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 16, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1998
Joel Gerard Goodwin, Austin, TX (US);
Steven Paul Hartman, Round Rock, TX (US);
Scott Harlan Isensee, Georgetown, TX (US);
Wally Tuten, Georgetown, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method for expansion of an inter-IC (I C) is provided. An expansion processor resides on a primary I C bus. The expansion processor is coupled to a plurality of I C sub-buses each of which may host a plurality of I C devices. Data is transferred between the expansion processor and the plurality of I C devices via the corresponding sub-bus according to an I C protocol. Data transfer is in response to a request initiated by a bus master on the primary I C bus. The bus master communicates with a target device residing on one of the sub-buses by addressing the expansion processor. The bus master informs the expansion processor of the target device by sending the expansion processor a number of the sub-bus on which the target device resides, and an address of the target device. A data stream bound for the target device is directed to the expansion processor which the echos it to the target device. Likewise, a data stream bound from the target device to the bus master on the primary I C bus is transmitted to the expansion processor which the echos it to the bus master.