Computer system and method for performing wavetable music synthesis which stores wavetable data in system memory employing a high priority I/O bus request mechanism for improved audio fidelity

A method of performing wavetable music synthesis in a system comprising a system memory storing wavetable data samples, an I/O bus, and I/O bus arbiter and a system audio device, said system audio device having an I/O bus interface coupled to said I/O bus, a synthesizer, a plurality of buffers coupled to said I/O bus interface and said synthesizer, and a buffer manager coupled to said I/O bus interface, said synthesizer, and said plurality of buffers, comprising:

• said synthesizer requesting a wavetable data sample for a current voice;
• said buffer manager determining if said wavetable data sample reside in said plurality of buffers after said synthesizer requesting samples;
• said buffer manager generating a high priority fill request for said wavetable data sample to said I/O bus interface if said buffer manager determines said wavetable data sample does not reside in said plurality of buffers;
• said I/O bus interface generating a high priority I/O bus request to said I/O bus arbiter in response to said high priority fill request.

A method of performing wavetable music synthesis in a system comprising a system memory storing wavetable data samples, an I/O bus, and I/O bus arbiter and a system audio device, said system audio device having an I/O bus interface coupled to said I/O bus, a synthesizer, a plurality of buffers coupled to said I/O bus interface and said synthesizer, and a buffer manager coupled to said I/O bus interface, said synthesizer, and said plurality of buffers, comprising:

• said synthesizer requesting a wavetable data sample for a current voice;
• said buffer manager determining if said wavetable data sample reside in said plurality of buffers after said synthesizer requesting samples;
• said buffer manager generating a high priority fill request for said wavetable data sample to said I/O bus interface if said buffer manager determines said wavetable data sample does not reside in said plurality of buffers;
• said I/O bus interface generating a high priority I/O bus request to said I/O bus arbiter in response to said high priority fill request;
• said I/O bus arbiter granting I/O bus mastership to said I/O bus interface after said I/O bus interface generating said high priority I/O bus request to said I/O bus arbiter;
• said buffer manager filling from said system memory one of said plurality of buffers corresponding to said current voice associated with said high priority fill request after said I/O bus arbiter granting I/O bus mastership;
• said buffer manager passing said wavetable data sample from said plurality of buffers to said synthesizer if said buffer manager determines said wavetable data sample resides in said plurality of buffers;
• said buffer manager determining if one of said plurality of buffers is a predetermined amount empty after said buffer manager passing said wavetable data sample;
• said buffer manager generating a normal fill request to said I/O bus interface to fill one or more of said plurality of buffers when said buffer manager determines one of said plurality of buffers is a predetermined amount empty;
• said I/O bus interface generating a normal priority I/O bus request to said I/O bus arbiter in response to said normal fill request;
• said I/O bus arbiter granting I/O bus mastership to said I/O bus interface after said I/O bus generating said normal priority I/O bus request to said I/O bus arbiter;
• said buffer manager filling from said system memory all of said plurality of buffers corresponding to active voices after said I/O bus arbiter granting I/O bus mastership.

A computer system for performing wavetable music synthesis comprising:

• a system memory, said system memory storing wavetable data;
• an I/O bus coupled to said system memory;
• an I/O bus arbiter coupled to said I/O bus which accommodates normal priority I/O bus requests and high priority I/O bus requests;
• and
• a system audio device comprising:
• an I/O bus interface coupled to said I/O bus;
• and
• a synthesizer coupled to said I/O bus interface;
• wherein said synthesizer generates a first request for one or more wavetable data samples to said I/O bus interface, wherein said first request is a normal fill request, wherein said I/O bus generates a normal priority I/O bus request to said I/O bus arbiter in response to said normal fill request;
• wherein said synthesizer generates a second request for one or more wavetable data samples to said I/O bus interface, wherein said second request is a high priority fill request, wherein said I/O bus generates a high priority I/O bus request to said I/O bus arbiter in response to said normal fill request;
• and
• wherein said synthesizer generates sounds in response to said wavetable data samples.

A method of performing wavetable music synthesis in a system comprising a system memory storing wavetable data samples, an I/O bus, and I/O bus arbiter and a system audio device, said system audio device having an I/O bus interface coupled to said I/O bus, and a synthesizer, comprising:

• said synthesizer generating a first fill request to said I/O bus interface for a wavetable data sample, wherein said first fill request is a normal fill request;
• said I/O bus interface generating a normal priority I/O bus request to said I/O bus arbiter in response to said normal priority fill request;
• said synthesizer generating a second fill request to said I/O bus interface for a wavetable data sample, wherein said second fill request is a high priority fill request;
• said I/O bus interface generating a high priority I/O bus request to said I/O bus arbiter in response to said high priority fill request.