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:
Jul. 06, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 31, 2001
Jonathan M. Owen, Northboro, MA (US);
Mark D. Hummel, Franklin, MA (US);
Derrick R. Meyer, Austin, TX (US);
Other;
Abstract
A method for initializing a computing system comprising a plurality of devices which communicate on a communication link comprising a plurality of independent point-to-point links is provided, each of the point-to-point links interconnecting a respective pair of the plurality of devices. The method includes a link initialization procedure comprising initially configuring each respective pair of devices to communicate on the respective interconnecting link using common communication parameters, including a common frequency and a common link width. The link initialization procedure also may include an optimization procedure for determining maximum communication parameters for each interconnected pair of devices. If the maximum compatible parameters differ from the common parameters for any pair of devices, then the pair of devices may be reconfigured to communicate on the interconnecting link using the maximum compatible parameters. Once a communication capability has been established, the establishment of one or more communication fabrics for the computer system may be performed. This scheme includes designating a bootstrap processor, locating the boot ROM, establishing the manner in which the devices are interconnected, and defining routing directions for routing communications among the various devices in the computing system.