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US 8,412,916 B2Granted
Computing system having CPU and bridge operating using CPU frequency
AssigneeATI Technologies ULC
InventorsAdrian Sfarti, Korbin Van Dyke, Michael Frank, Arkadi Avrukin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated circuit also referred to as an integrated computing system has a single substrate that has either deposited thereon or etched thereon, a central processing unit, a north bridge, a south bridge, and a graphics controller. An internal bus is coupled between the north bridge and the central processing unit. The central processing unit and north bridge do not require interfaces to perform bus protocol conversions.
Claims9
An integrated computing system comprising:
- a central processing unit etched on a single substrate;
- north bridge operably coupled to the central processing unit, and etched on the single substrate, wherein the north bridge includes a memory access request buffer interoperably coupled with a memory controller, wherein the memory access request buffer receives the memory access request from the central processing unit at an operating clock rate of the central processing unit;
- a bus operably coupled to the central processing unit and the north bridge and contained on the single substrate, wherein the bus provides a transport medium for memory access requests and corresponding memory responses between the central processing unit and the north bridge at an operating clock rate of the central processing unit;
- south bridge that is etched on the single substrate, wherein the south bridge provides an interface between at least one external device and the north bridge;
- a device bus that is contained on the substrate, wherein the device bus couples the north bridge to the south bridge;
- and
- a graphics controller that is etched on the substrate, wherein the graphics controller includes a frame buffer controller for processing data transferences between the graphics controller and a frame buffer and wherein the graphics controller issues a graphics memory access request to the north bridge.
4 more elements
An integrated computing system comprising:
- a central processing unit deposited on a single substrate;
- north bridge operably coupled to the central processing unit, and deposited on the single substrate, wherein the north bridge includes a memory access request buffer interoperably coupled with a memory controller, wherein the memory access request buffer receives the memory access request from the central processing unit at an operating clock rate of the central processing unit;
- a bus operably coupled to the central processing unit and the north bridge and contained on the single substrate, wherein the bus provides a transport medium for memory access requests and corresponding memory responses between the central processing unit and the north bridge at an operating clock rate of the central processing unit;
- south bridge that is deposited on the single substrate, wherein the south bridge provides an interface between at least one external device and the north bridge;
- a device bus that is contained on the substrate, wherein the device bus couples the north bridge to the south bridge;
- and
- a graphics controller that is deposited on the substrate, wherein the graphics controller includes a frame buffer controller for processing data transferences between the graphics controller and a frame buffer and wherein the graphics controller issues a graphics memory access request to the north bridge.
4 more elements
An integrated computing system comprises:
- a central processing unit operable to execute operational instructions, wherein the central processing unit includes an arithmetic logic unit interoperably coupled with a data module, an instruction module, and a programmable phase locked loop that provides an operating clock rate for the central processing unit, wherein the central processing unit issues a memory access request when information relating to executing one of the operational instructions is not stored within the data module or the instruction module, and wherein the central processing unit is etched on a single substrate;
- north bridge operably coupled to interface with memory at a memory rate, wherein the north bridge includes a memory access request buffer interoperably coupled with a memory controller, wherein the memory access request buffer receives the memory access request from the central processing unit at the operating clock rate of the central processing unit, wherein the memory controller retrieves the memory access request from the memory access request buffer at the memory rate, wherein the memory controller processes the memory access request to produce a memory response that includes the information, and wherein the north bridge is etched on the substrate;
- and
- a bus, contained on the substrate, operably coupled to the central processing unit and the north bridge, wherein the bus provides a transport medium for memory access requests and corresponding memory responses between the central processing unit and the north bridge at the operating clock rate of the central processing unit.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.