Virtualized SoC bus system and configuration method

Within a system on a chip (SoC), a virtualized bus apparatus, comprising:

• a plurality of hosts configured to send data requests;
• a plurality of system switch modules configured to connect between a plurality of distributor modules and a plurality of arbiter modules, each system switch module including multiple input terminals and multiple output terminals and configured to analyze and distribute the data requests;
• a plurality of distributor modules, each distributor module including a single input terminal and multiple output terminals, the input terminal of each distributor module being directly connected with a corresponding host, the multiple output terminals of each distributor module being directly connected with corresponding system switch modules and
• configured to distribute the data requests received from the connected host to the connected system switch modules
• a plurality of devices configured to receive the data requests;
• and
• a plurality of arbiter modules, each arbiter module including multiple input terminals and a single output terminal, the multiple input terminal of each arbiter module being directly connected with corresponding system switch modules, the output terminal of each arbiter module being directly connected with a corresponding device, each arbiter module being configured with corresponding firewall and flow controller and pooling the data requests sent by the connected system switch modules to the connected device;
• wherein:
• the virtualized bus apparatus provides reliable isolation between virtual machines including hosts and devices in the SoC by performing:
• assigning each of the plurality of system switch modules to each virtual machine that is respectively identified and associated with different sets of hosts and devices;
• configuring routing of output terminals for each of the plurality of distributor modules according to a status of each virtual machine served by each host;
• and
• configuring a firewall and a flow controller for each of the plurality of arbiter modules based on a status of each virtual machine served by each device;
• and
• each virtual machine includes one or more hosts, one or more devices, one or more distributor modules directly connected to the one or more hosts respectively, one or more arbiter modules directly connected to the one or more devices respectively, and one system switch module that directly connects between the one or more distributor modules and the one or more arbiter modules.

A method of configuring a virtualized system on chip (SoC) bus system comprising:

• providing reliable isolation between virtual machines including hosts and devices in a system on chip (SoC) connected through a shared system bus to minimize mutual interference between the virtual machines through the virtualized SoC bus system including a plurality of distributor modules, a plurality of system switch modules, and a plurality of arbiter modules by performing:
• assigning each of the plurality of system switch modules to each virtual machine that is respectively identified and associated with different sets of hosts and devices;
• configuring routing of output terminals for each of the plurality of distributor modules according to a status of each virtual machine served by each host;
• and
• configuring a firewall and a flow controller for each of the plurality of arbiter modules based on a status of each virtual machine served by each a device;
• wherein:
• each system switch module includes multiple input terminals and multiple output terminals which are directly connected with corresponding distributor modules and arbiter modules;
• each distributor module includes a single input terminal and multiple output terminals, the input terminal of each distributor module is directly connected with a corresponding host, the multiple output terminals of each distributor module are directly connected with corresponding system switch modules, and each distributor module distributes data requests received from the connected host to the connected system switch modules;
• each arbiter module includes multiple input terminals and a single output terminal, the multiple input terminals are directly connected with corresponding system switch modules, the output terminal is directly connected with a corresponding device, each arbiter module is configured with corresponding firewall and flow controller and pools the data requests sent by the connected system switch modules to the connected device;
• and
• each virtual machine includes one or more hosts, one or more devices, one or more distributor modules directly connected to the one or more hosts respectively, one or more arbiter modules directly connected to the one or more devices respectively, and one system switch module that directly connects between the one or more distributor modules and the one or more arbiter modules.