Supporting a host-to-input/output (I/O) bridge
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorSompong Paul Olarig
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a computer system, a host-to-I/O bridge (e.g., a host-to-PCI-X bridge) includes core logic that interfaces with at least two host buses for coupling a central processing unit(s) and the bridge, and interfaces with at least two PCI-X buses for coupling at least two PCI-X devices and the bridge. The core logic includes at least two PCI-X configuration registers adapted to have bits set to partition the core logic for resource allocation. Embodiments of the present invention allow the system to program the logical bus zero to behave as a single logical bus zero or partition into two or more separate “bus zero” PCI-X buses with their own configuration resources. Partitioning allows performance and functional isolation and transparent I/O sharing.
Claims34
A dual-mode host-to-I/O bridge, comprising:
- core logic, the core logic including:
- interfaces for at least two host buses adapted to couple a central processing unit(s) and the host-to-I/O bridge;
- interfaces for at least two I/O buses adapted to couple at least two I/O devices and the host-to-I/O bridge, wherein the at least two I/O buses are defined as the same logical bus number;
- and
- configuration logic adapted to selectively set the host-to-I/O bridge in one of at least a non-partitioned mode and a partitioned mode, wherein the at least two I/O buses behave as a single I/O bus in the non-partitioned mode, and wherein the at least two I/O buses behave as separate I/O buses having the same logical bus number in the partitioned mode.
A computer system, comprising:
- a central processing unit(s);
- means for coupling at least one host bus to the central processing unit(s) and a core logic;
- means for coupling at least two I/O buses to at least two I/O devices and the core logic, wherein the at least two I/O buses are defined as the same logical bus number;
- means for selectively setting the core logic in one of at least a non-partitioned mode and a partitioned mode, wherein, in the non-partitioned mode, the at least two I/O buses behave as a single I/O bus, and, in the partitioned mode, the at least two I/O buses behave as separate I/O buses having the same logical bus number;
- and
- when the partitioned mode is set, means for partitioning the core logic into at least two partitions for carrying out independent functions in the computer system.
A method of supporting a host-to-I/O bridge, the method comprising:
- interfacing at least two host buses to a central processing unit(s) and a host-to-I/O bridge in a core logic;
- interfacing at least two I/O buses having the same logical bus number to at least two I/O devices and the host-to-I/O bridge;
- and
- partitioning the host-to-I/O bridge into multiple partitions for effectively producing multiple computing units.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.