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.

Date of Patent:
Dec. 15, 2009

Filed:

Aug. 11, 2004
Applicants:

David K. Ferguson, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Robert L. Bailey, La Selva Beach, CA (US);

Brian D. Howard, Portola Valley, CA (US);

Lesley B. Wynne, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Inventors:

David K. Ferguson, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Robert L. Bailey, La Selva Beach, CA (US);

Brian D. Howard, Portola Valley, CA (US);

Lesley B. Wynne, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Assignee:

Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);

Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 3/00 (2006.01); G06F 13/00 (2006.01); G06F 5/00 (2006.01); G06F 13/12 (2006.01); G06F 13/20 (2006.01); G06F 13/36 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that includes an I/O descriptor cache that is accessed by a bus mastering I/O controller. The I/O descriptor cache stores descriptors that describe data to be transferred during corresponding I/O operations. The system also includes an I/O controller configured to control one or more I/O devices. This I/O controller is configured to access I/O descriptors stored in the I/O descriptor cache without having to access the main memory, thereby conserving I/O bandwidth and power.


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