NETWORK INTERFACE FOR A SoC COMPRISING AN IMPROVED COMMUNICATION CONTROLLER

A system on chip comprising:

• plural resources connected to a network on chip through dedicated network interfaces, a network interface being adapted to interface a data processing unit of a resource with the network on chip, each network interface comprising a local interface controller adapted to configure the network interface in a communication between two resources and to make the network interface adopt a series of configurations;
• the system comprising means of setting up a communication between a first and a second resource through first and second associated network interfaces respectively, wherein the first network interface comprises an output communication controller comprising:
• means of receiving credits, capable of receiving credits from the second network interface, and
• means of sending data, capable of sending data to be processed output by the first resource, on the network, to the second resource;
• and
• wherein the second network interface comprises an input communication controller comprising:
• means of sending credits capable of sending credits on the network to the first network resource, and
• means of receiving data, capable of receiving data to be processed from the first network resource and addressed to the second resource;
• the system further comprising means of providing information to communication controllers when a new communication associated with a new configuration is set up, the information indicating if the communication between the first and the second resources is static or dynamic, a communication being static or dynamic depending on whether the number of data to be exchanged is known or unknown to the network interfaces when the communication is being set up;
• and
• the output communication controller of the first interface comprises:
• means of receiving an end of communication indicator between the first resource and the second resource with which a dynamic communication is set up, and
• means of sending a close communication message to the second resource on the network on chip, following detection of an end of communication indicator, sending such a message terminating the dynamic communication and sending of data related to this communication;
• and
• the input communication controller of the second interface comprises:
• means of receiving the close communication message sent by the first network interface, reception of such a message terminating waiting for data to be processed by the second resource during this dynamic communication and sending of credits related to the communication, and each network interface comprises means of informing its network interface controller about the end of the communication, and the controller then reconfigures this network interface for a new communication.

A system on chip comprising:

• plural resources connected to a network on chip through dedicated network interfaces, a network interface being adapted to interface a data processing unit of a resource with the network on chip, each network interface comprising a local interface controller for configuring the network interface in a communication between two resources and to make the network interface adopt a series of configurations;
• the system comprising means of setting up a communication between a first and a second resource through first and second associated network interfaces respectively, wherein the first network interface comprising an output communication controller comprising:
• means of receiving credits, capable of receiving credits from the second network interface, and
• means of sending data, capable of sending data to be processed output by the first resource, on the network to the second resource;
• and
• the second network interface comprises an input communication controller comprising:
• means of sending credits capable of sending credits on the network to the first network resource, and
• means of receiving data, capable of receiving data to be processed from the first network resource and addressed to the second resource;
• the system further comprising means of providing information to communication controllers when a new communication associated with a new configuration is being set up, information indicating if the communication between the first and second resources is static or dynamic, a communication being static or dynamic depending on whether the number of data to be exchanged is known or unknown to the network interfaces when the communication is being set up;
• and
• the input communication controller of the second interface comprises:
• means of receiving an end of communication indicator between the first resource and the second resource with which a dynamic communication is set up, and means of sending a close communication message to the first resource on the network on chip, following detection of an end of communication indicator, sending such a message terminating said dynamic communication and sending of credits related to this communication;
• and
• the output communication controller of the first interface comprises:
• means of receiving the close communication message sent by the second network interface, reception of such a message terminating waiting of the first interface for credits during this dynamic communication, and sending of data related to this communication, and each network interface comprises means of informing its network interface controller about the end of communication, and this controller then reconfigures this network interface for a new communication.