PCI bridge and data transfer methods
OwnerPatrick Boilyinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A bridge for interconnecting a processor to a peripheral device by way of a PCI bus may have a read buffer. The bridge autonomously requests data from the peripheral device and places received data in the read buffer. The processor reads the data from the receive buffer. The bridge may have a write buffer. The bridge accumulates data in the write buffer until a triggering event occurs. Upon the occurrence of a triggering event the bridge sends the data in the receive buffer to the peripheral device in a burst.
Claims54
Bridge apparatus for permitting a processor to access data from at least one peripheral device, the apparatus comprising:
- a PCI bus interface;
- a processor interface;
- a read buffer accessible to a processor by way of the processor interface;
- and,
- a controller configured to periodically request data from one or more peripheral devices by way of the PCI bus interface and to store the requested data in the read buffer for access by the processor.
Apparatus for permitting a processor to write data to at least one peripheral device, the apparatus comprising:
- a PCI bus interface;
- a write buffer accessible to the processor;
- a controller configured to:
- receive by way of the processor interface data addressed to contiguous addresses in a peripheral device accessible by way of the PCI bus interface;
- accumulate the received data in a write buffer;
- and,
- upon the occurrence of one or one or more triggering events, send the accumulated data to the contiguous addresses as a burst by way of the PCI bus interface;
- wherein the one or more triggering events include a receipt by way of the processor interface of data addressed to an address non-contiguous with data accumulated in the write buffer.
A method for transferring data across a bus, the method comprising:
- at a bridge connected to the bus, receiving from a processor data addressed to contiguous addresses in a peripheral device connected to the bus and accumulating the received data in a write buffer;
- sending the accumulated data to the peripheral device upon the occurrence of one of one or more triggering events, the one or more triggering events including a receipt from the processor of data addressed to a non-contiguous address.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.