Interfacing between a network interface and a bus
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorHarshad Nakil
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus are described for interfacing between a network interface and a bus. For the network interface-to-bus side, the method comprises (a) forming a network address of a message transferred via the network interface to the bus, and (b) mapping the network address to a bus address of the bus, the bus address being within an address space occupied by a bus device coupled to the bus. For the bus-to-network interface side, the method comprises (a) forming a bus index from a bus address of the bus where the bus address is within an address space occupied by a bus device coupled to the bus; and (b) mapping the bus index to a network address of a message transferred via the network interface to the bus.
Claims54
A method for interfacing between a network interface and a bus, the method comprising:
- forming a fist network address of a first message transferred via the network interface to the bus;
- and
- mapping the first network address to a first bus address of the bus, the first bus address being within an address space occupied by a bus device coupled to the bus, the mapping comprising looking up the first bus address from a bus look-up table;
- wherein the bus look-up table is a memory indexed by a compressed index, the compressed index being formed by bits selected from the network address.
An apparatus for interfacing between a network interface and a bus, the apparatus comprising:
- a network address generator coupled to the network interface to form a first network address of a first message transferred via the network interface to the bus;
- and
- a network address mapper coupled to the network address generator to map the network address to a first bus address of the bus, the first bus address being within an address space occupied by a bus device coupled to the bus, the address mapper comprising a bus look-up table to provide the first bus address;
- wherein the bus look-up table is a memory indexed by a compressed index, the compressed index being formed by bits selected from the first network address.
A system comprising:
- a processor;
- a bus coupled to the processor;
- and
- a circuit for interfacing between a network interface and the bus, the circuit comprising:
- a network address generator coupled to the network interface to form a first network address of a first message transferred via the network interface to the bus, and
- a network address mapper coupled to the network address generator to map the first network address to a first bus address of the bus, the first bus address being within an address space occupied by a bus device coupled to the bus, the address mapper comprising a bus look-up table to provide the first bus address;
- wherein the bus look-up table is a memory indexed by a compressed index, the compressed index being formed by bits selected from the first network address.
An apparatus for interfacing between a network interface and a bus, the apparatus comprising:
- means for forming a first network address of a first message transferred via the network interface to the bus;
- and
- means for mapping the network address to a first bus address of the bus, the first bus address being within an address space occupied by a bus device coupled to the bus, the means for mapping comprising means for providing the first bus address;
- wherein the means for providing the first bus address is a memory indexed by a compressed index, the compressed index being formed by bits selected from the first network address.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.