# US 8,751,722 B2 · Providing a peripheral component interconnect (PCI)-compatible transaction level protocol for a system on a chip (SoC)

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- Number: US 8,751,722 B2
- Document ID: US8751722B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/851,337
- Filed: 2013-03-27
- Published: 2013-11-07
- Granted: 2014-06-10
- Earliest claimed: 2008-05-30
- Assignees: Intel Corporation
- Applicants: Intel Corporation
- Inventors: Ken Shoemaker; Mahesh Wagh; Woojong Han; Madhu Athreya; Arvind Mandhani; Shreekant S. Thakkar
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8751722B2

## CPC

- G06F 13/385: {for adaptation of a particular data processing system to different peripheral devices}
- G06F 13/4022: {using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network (G06F13/4009 takes precedence)}
- G06F 13/4027: {using bus bridges (G06F13/4022 takes precedence)}
- G06F 13/404: {with address mapping}
- G06F 13/4045: {where the bus bridge performs an extender function}
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

In one embodiment, the present invention includes an apparatus having an adapter to communicate according to a personal computer (PC) protocol and a second protocol. A first interface coupled to the adapter is to perform address translation and ordering of transactions received from upstream of the adapter. The first interface is coupled in turn via one or more physical units to heterogeneous resources, each of which includes an intellectual property (IP) core and a shim, where the shim is to implement a header of the PC protocol for the IP core to enable its incorporation into the apparatus without modification. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system-on-chip (SoC) comprising:
an adapter adapted on a semiconductor die to communicate with a first component in a manner compatible with a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) protocol and to communicate with a first interface in a manner compatible with a second protocol;
the first interface adapted on the semiconductor die to perform a conversion of a PCI transaction to a second transaction, perform address translation and translate between a re-locatable address and a fixed address; and
an interconnect adapted on the semiconductor die to couple the first interface to a plurality of heterogeneous resources via a corresponding one of a plurality of physical units, each of the plurality of heterogeneous resources including an intellectual property (IP) core and an interface logic, wherein the SoC is to operate in a manner compatible with the PCI protocol and the IP core is to operate in a manner compatible with the second protocol.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The SoC of claim 1, wherein the first interface is to translate configuration cycles of the PCI protocol into a format for the second protocol.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The SoC of claim 2, wherein the first interface is to perform the address translation to translate a re-locatable PCI address into an advanced extensible interface (AXI)/open core protocol (OCP) address.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The SoC of claim 1, wherein the first interface is to perform operations that are common across the plurality of heterogeneous resources, and each interface logic is to perform operations that are specific to the corresponding IP core.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The SoC of claim 1, wherein the first interface and the interface logic provide a separated transaction-physical protocol.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The SoC of claim 5, wherein the IP core of each of the plurality of heterogeneous resources does not include a physical unit.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The SoC of claim 1, wherein the first interface includes decode logic to perform a target decode for the plurality of heterogeneous resources.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The SoC of claim 1, wherein the first interface is to route accesses to a PCI header to a corresponding interface logic, and to route accesses to a device memory space to the corresponding interface logic, and the corresponding interface logic is to consume read-write operations to the PCI header and communicate other transactions to the corresponding IP core.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The SoC of claim 1, wherein the first component comprises a processor, and at least some of the plurality of heterogeneous resources are according to an advanced extensible interface (AXI)/open core protocol (OCP) technology.

### Claim 10

A system comprising:
a processor;
a host interface coupled to the processor, the host interface to couple the processor to a memory;
an adapter coupled to the host interface to communicate according to a first protocol and to communicate with a second interface according to a second protocol;
the second interface coupled to the adapter and to perform a conversion of a transaction from the adapter to a second transaction and to perform address translation between a re-locatable address and a fixed address; and
a first physical unit coupled between the second interface and an interconnect to communicate transactions between the second interface and the interconnect, wherein the interconnect is to couple the second interface to a plurality of heterogeneous resources, each of the plurality of heterogeneous resources including an intellectual property (IP) core and an interface logic, wherein the system is to operate in accordance with the first protocol and the IP core is to operate in accordance with the second protocol.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the system comprises an ultra mobile system and the processor is to execute an operating system compatible with the first protocol.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the second interface is to translate configuration cycles of the first protocol into a format for the second protocol and to perform the address translation to translate a re-locatable peripheral component interconnect (PCI) address into an advanced extensible interface/open core protocol (AXI/OCP) address.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein the second interface is to perform operations that are common across the plurality of heterogeneous resources, and each interface logic is to perform operations that are specific to the corresponding IP core, the common operations including the address translation and ordering of transactions, and the specific operations including power management and error handling.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein the second interface is to route accesses to a PCI header to a corresponding interface logic, and to further route accesses to a device memory space to the corresponding interface logic and wherein the corresponding interface logic is to consume read-write operations to the PCI header and to communicate other transactions to the corresponding IP core.

### Claim 15 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, further comprising a plurality of physical units each to couple between one of the plurality of heterogeneous resources and the interconnect.

### Claim 16

A method comprising:
converting a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) transaction to a transaction having a format for a second protocol and performing an address translation between a re-locatable address and a fixed address for an intellectual property (IP) core that operates according to the second protocol, via a first interface;
communicating the transaction between the first interface and an interconnect via a first physical unit coupled between the first interface and the interconnect; and
implementing a PCI header of the PCI protocol for the IP core via an interface logic coupled to the interconnect.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, further comprising translating configuration cycles of the PCI protocol into the format for the second protocol via the first interface.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, further comprising performing the address translation to translate a re-locatable PCI address into a second address format.

### Claim 19 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, further comprising performing operations that are common across a plurality of heterogeneous resources each having an IP core and a corresponding interface logic, via the first interface, wherein each interface logic is to perform operations that are specific to the corresponding heterogeneous resource.

### Claim 20 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, further comprising routing accesses to a PCI header to the interface logic, consuming read-write operations to the PCI header in the interface logic, and communicating other transactions to the IP core via the interface logic.