System for bridging a system bus with multiple PCI buses

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a system for interfacing a system bus to a plurality of Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) buses. Specifically, the invention is directed to a system that interfaces a system bus to a plurality of PCI buses, wherein each PCI bus is dedicated to a single PCI device, or slot. The configuration provided by the present invention realizes significant performance enhancements over prior art systems that have shared PCI buses (multiple PCI devices per PCI bus), by providing a direct pipe between the system bus to each PCI device. In accordance with the invention, the system comprises multiple integrated circuit components, including a first integrated circuit and a plurality of second integrated circuit components. The first integrated circuit includes a system bus interface configured to interface with the system bus and a plurality of output interfaces. Each output interface has a fewer number of signals than the system bus interface, and each is configured to generally operate at a communication frequency that matches the communication frequency of a corresponding PCI device/bus. Each of the second integrated circuits includes a PCI interface configured to interface with a PCI bus and at least one input interface configured to directly interface with an output interface of the first integrated circuit.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.