Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080307146 | STRUCTURE FOR DYNAMICALLY SCALABLE QUEUES FOR PERFORMANCE DRIVEN PCI EXPRESS MEMORY TRAFFIC - A method, computer system, and PCI Express device/protocol for a design structure that enables high performance IO data transfers for multiple, different IO configurations, which include variable packet sizes and/or variable/different numbers of transactions on the IO link. PCI Express protocol is enhanced to support utilization of counters and dynamically variable queue sizes. In addition to the standard queue entries, several (or a selected number of) dynamically changeable queue entries are provided/reserved and a dynamic queue modification (DQM) utility is provided within the enhanced PCI Express protocol to monitor ongoing, current data transfer and manage when the size(s) of the queue entries are modified (increased or decreased) based on current data traffic transmitting on the PCI Express IO link. The enhanced PCI Express protocol provides an equilibrium point at which many large data packets are transferred efficiently, while imposing a limit on the number of each size of packets outstanding. | 12-11-2008 |
20090125666 | DYNAMICALLY SCALABLE QUEUES FOR PERFORMANCE DRIVEN PCI EXPRESS MEMORY TRAFFIC - A computer program product for implementing a method within a data processing system and a PCI Express protocol for enabling high performance IO data transfers for multiple, different IO configurations, which include variable packet sizes and/or variable/different numbers of transactions on the IO link. PCI Express protocol is enhanced to support utilization of counters and dynamically variable queue sizes. In addition to the standard queue entries, several (or a selected number of) dynamically changeable queue entries are provided/reserved and a dynamic queue modification (DQM) utility is provided within the enhanced PCI Express protocol to monitor ongoing, current data transfer and manage when the size(s) of the queue entries are modified (increased or decreased) based on current data traffic transmitting on the PCI Express IO link. The enhanced PCI Express protocol provides an equilibrium point at which many large data packets are transferred efficiently, while imposing a limit on the number of each size of packets outstanding. | 05-14-2009 |
20110252167 | PHYSICAL TO HIERARCHICAL BUS TRANSLATION - In an embodiment, a translation of a physical bus number to a hierarchical bus number is written to a south chip. The south chip receives a configuration write command that comprises a physical bus number. The south chip sends the configuration write command to a device via the bus identified by the physical bus number, and the device stores the physical bus number in the device. In response to a received message from a device that comprises the physical bus number, the south chip replaces the physical bus number in the message with the hierarchical bus number. The south chip sends the message to a north chip via a point-to-point serial link. Both the physical bus number and the hierarchical bus number identify a bus with which the device connects to a bridge in the south chip. | 10-13-2011 |
20110252170 | HIERARCHICAL TO PHYSICAL BUS TRANSLATION - In an embodiment, a translation of a hierarchical bus number to a physical bus number and a bridge identifier of a bridge are written to a north chip. A request is received that comprises an identifier of a destination. A determination is made that the identifier comprises the hierarchical bus number. In response to the determination, the identifier of the destination is replaced in the request with the physical bus number and the bridge identifier. The request is sent to the bridge identified by the bridge identifier. A south chip comprises the bridge, and the south chip is connected to the north chip via a point-to-point serial link. The physical bus number identifies a bus that connects the bridge to a device. The request comprises a configuration write request that requests a write of data to the device. | 10-13-2011 |
20110252173 | TRANSLATING A REQUESTER IDENTIFIER TO A CHIP IDENTIFIER - In an embodiment a translation of RID (requester identifier) ranges to identifiers of north chips is stored into a south chip. A command that comprises a command RID is received at the south chip from a device. In response, a RID range is determined that encompasses the command RID, and a north chip identifier is found that is assigned a virtual function identified by the command RID. The command is sent from the south chip to the north chip identified by the north chip identifier. The translation comprises a RID compare value and a RID mask. A determination is made that the RID range encompasses the command RID by performing a logical-and operation on the command RID and the RID mask and comparing a result of the logical-and operation to the RID compare value. | 10-13-2011 |
20110252174 | HIERARCHICAL TO PHYSICAL MEMORY MAPPED INPUT/OUTPUT TRANSLATION - In an embodiment, a translation of a hierarchical MMIO address range to a physical MMIO address range and an identifier of a bridge in a south chip are written to a north chip. A transaction is received that comprises a hierarchical MMIO address. The hierarchical MMIO address that is within the hierarchical MMIO address range is replaced in the transaction with the identifier of the bridge and with a physical MMIO address that is within the physical MMIO address range in the south chip. The transaction is sent to the device that is connected to the bridge in the south chip. The physical MMIO address range specifies a range of physical MMIO addresses in memory in the device. | 10-13-2011 |
20110276779 | MEMORY MAPPED INPUT/OUTPUT BUS ADDRESS RANGE TRANSLATION - In an embodiment, a north chip receives a secondary bus identifier that identifies a bus that is immediately downstream from a bridge in a south chip, a subordinate bus identifier that identifies a highest bus identifier of all of buses reachable downstream of the bridge, and an MMIO bus address range that comprises a memory base and a memory limit. The north chip writes a translation of a bridge identifier and a south chip identifier to the secondary bus identifier, the subordinate bus identifier, and the MMIO bus address range. The north chip sends the secondary bus identifier, the subordinate bus identifier, the memory base, and the memory limit to the bridge. The bridge stores the secondary bus identifier, the subordinate bus identifier, the memory base, and the memory limit in the bridge. | 11-10-2011 |
20110296074 | MEMORY MAPPED INPUT/OUTPUT BUS ADDRESS RANGE TRANSLATION FOR VIRTUAL BRIDGES - In an embodiment, a south chip comprises a first virtual bridge connected to a shared egress port and a second virtual bridge also connected to the shared egress port. The first virtual bridge receives a first secondary bus identifier, a first subordinate bus identifier, and a first MMIO bus address range from a first north chip. The second virtual bridge receives a second secondary bus identifier, a second subordinate bus identifier, and a second MMIO bus address range from a second north chip. The first virtual bridge stores the first secondary bus identifier, the first subordinate bus identifier, and the first MMIO bus address range. The second virtual bridge stores the second secondary bus identifier, the second subordinate bus identifier, and the second MMIO bus address range. The first north chip and the second north chip are connected to the south chip via respective first and second point-to-point connections. | 12-01-2011 |
20110320671 | MOVING OWNERSHIP OF A DEVICE BETWEEN COMPUTE ELEMENTS - In an embodiment, a command is received that requests movement of ownership of a target device from an origin compute element to a destination compute element. From the origin compute element, a translation of a virtual bridge identifier to a first secondary bus identifier, a first subordinate bus identifier, and a first MMIO bus address range is removed. To the destination compute element, a translation of the target virtual bridge identifier to a second secondary bus identifier, a second subordinate bus identifier, and a second MMIO bus address range is added. From a south chip that comprises the target virtual bridge, a translation of the target virtual bridge identifier to an identifier of the origin compute element is removed. To the south chip, a translation of the target virtual bridge identifier to an identifier of the destination compute element is added. | 12-29-2011 |
20120011283 | Transmitting Retry Request Associated With Non-Posted Command Via Response Credit Channel - In a particular embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes, at a first computing device coupled to a second computing device via a bus, receiving a request from the second computing device to complete a non-posted command, where the request is received via a request credit channel of the bus, and where the first computing device is configured to receive requests to complete non-posted commands and requests to complete posted commands via the request credit channel. The method also includes removing the request to complete the non-posted command from the request credit channel. The method further includes transmitting a retry request associated with the non-posted command to the second computing device via a response credit channel of the bus. | 01-12-2012 |
20120311221 | USING A PCI STANDARD HOT PLUG CONTROLLER TO MODIFY THE HIERARCHY OF A DISTRIBUTED SWITCH - The standard hot-plug controller (SHPC) specification may be used to generate PCI messages in a distributed switch to disconnect and/or connect virtual hierarchies of an endpoint from hosts that are connected based on multi-root input/output virtualization (MR-IOV). A management controller may instruct a SHPC to generate a PCI packet that specifies a particular virtual hierarchy to disconnect from a particular host. An upstream port connected to the host and the SHPC receives the PCI packet and uses a header that identifies the virtual endpoint in the packet to index into a routing table to identify a downstream port in the distributed switch that is connected to the endpoint. Once the PCI packet traverses the switch and arrives at the downstream port, the downstream port changes routing logic which logically disconnects the host from the specified virtual hierarchy. | 12-06-2012 |
20130212308 | MEMORY MAPPED INPUT/OUTPUT BUS ADDRESS RANGE TRANSLATION - In an embodiment, a north chip receives a secondary bus identifier that identifies a bus that is immediately downstream from a bridge in a south chip, a subordinate bus identifier that identifies a highest bus identifier of all of buses reachable downstream of the bridge, and an MMIO bus address range that comprises a memory base and a memory limit. The north chip writes a translation of a bridge identifier and a south chip identifier to the secondary bus identifier, the subordinate bus identifier, and the MMIO bus address range. The north chip sends the secondary bus identifier, the subordinate bus identifier, the memory base, and the memory limit to the bridge. The bridge stores the secondary bus identifier, the subordinate bus identifier, the memory base, and the memory limit in the bridge. | 08-15-2013 |
20130339825 | EXTERNAL SETTINGS THAT RECONFIGURE THE ERROR HANDLING BEHAVIOR OF A DISTRIBUTED PCIE SWITCH - Method for performing an operation to maintain data integrity in a parallel computing system, the operation comprising providing a lookup table specifying a plurality of predefined destinations for data packets, receiving a first data packet comprising a destination address specifying a first destination, wherein the first data packet has an error of a first type, identifying, from the lookup table, an entry specifying a second destination for data packets having errors of the first type, and sending the first data packet to the second destination to avoid corrupting the first destination. | 12-19-2013 |
20130339826 | EXTERNAL SETTINGS THAT RECONFIGURE THE ERROR HANDLING BEHAVIOR OF A DISTRIBUTED PCIe SWITCH - Method, computer program product, and system for performing an operation to maintain data integrity in a parallel computing system, the operation comprising providing a lookup table specifying a plurality of predefined destinations for data packets, receiving a first data packet comprising a destination address specifying a first destination, wherein the first data packet has an error of a first type, identifying, from the lookup table, an entry specifying a second destination for data packets having errors of the first type, and sending the first data packet to the second destination to avoid corrupting the first destination. | 12-19-2013 |
20130346653 | VERSATILE LANE CONFIGURATION USING A PCIE PIE-8 INTERFACE - Each PCIe device may include a media access control (MAC) interface and a physical (PHY) interface that support a plurality of different lane configurations. These interfaces may include hardware modules that support 1×32, 2×16, 4×8, 8×4, 16×2, and 32×1 communication. Instead of physically connecting each of the hardware modules in the MAC interface to respective hardware modules in the PHY interface using dedicated traces, the device may include two bus controllers that arbitrate which hardware modules are connected to a internal bus coupling the two interfaces. When a different lane configuration is desired, the bus controller couples the corresponding hardware module to the internal bus. In this manner, the different lane configurations share the same lanes (and wires) of the bus as the other lane configurations. Accordingly, the shared bus only needs to include enough lanes (and wires) necessary to accommodate the widest lane configuration. | 12-26-2013 |
20130346662 | USING A PCI STANDARD HOT PLUG CONTROLLER TO MODIFY THE HIERARCHY OF A DISTRIBUTED SWITCH - The standard hot-plug controller (SHPC) specification may be used to generate PCI messages in a distributed switch to disconnect and/or connect virtual hierarchies of an endpoint from hosts that are connected based on multi-root input/output virtualization (MR-IOV). A management controller may instruct a SHPC to generate a PCI packet that specifies a particular virtual hierarchy to disconnect from a particular host. An upstream port connected to the host and the SHPC receives the PCI packet and uses a header that identifies the virtual endpoint in the packet to index into a routing table to identify a downstream port in the distributed switch that is connected to the endpoint. Once the PCI packet traverses the switch and arrives at the downstream port, the downstream port changes routing logic which logically disconnects the host from the specified virtual hierarchy. | 12-26-2013 |
20130346665 | VERSATILE LANE CONFIGURATION USING A PCIE PIE-8 INTERFACE - Each PCIe device may include a media access control (MAC) interface and a physical (PHY) interface that support a plurality of different lane configurations. These interfaces may include hardware modules that support 1×32, 2×16, 4×8, 8×4, 16×2, and 32×1 communication. Instead of physically connecting each of the hardware modules in the MAC interface to respective hardware modules in the PHY interface using dedicated traces, the device may include two bus controllers that arbitrate which hardware modules are connected to a internal bus coupling the two interfaces. When a different lane configuration is desired, the bus controller couples the corresponding hardware module to the internal bus. In this manner, the different lane configurations share the same lanes (and wires) of the bus as the other lane configurations. Accordingly, the shared bus only needs to include enough lanes (and wires) necessary to accommodate the widest lane configuration. | 12-26-2013 |
20130346801 | BANDWIDTH LIMITING ON GENERATED PCIE PACKETS FROM DEBUG SOURCE - Method, circuit, and system for performing an operation for regulating bandwidth, the operation comprising receiving at a memory, debug data packets and functional data packets for transmittal on a shared bus. The operation then transmits, via the shared bus, the functional data packets and one or more of the debug data packets according to a predefined ratio of debug data packets to functional data packets. The operation then drops one or more of the received debug data packets at the memory, and maintains a count of the one or more dropped debug data packets. The operation then updates the predefined ratio based on the count, and uses the updated predefined ratio to transmit the functional data packets and one or more of the debug data packets. | 12-26-2013 |
20130346802 | BANDWIDTH LIMITING ON GENERATED PCIE PACKETS FROM DEBUG SOURCE - Method, circuit, and system for performing an operation for regulating bandwidth, the operation comprising receiving at a memory, debug data packets and functional data packets for transmittal on a shared bus. The operation then transmits, via the shared bus, the functional data packets and one or more of the debug data packets according to a predefined ratio of debug data packets to functional data packets. The operation then drops one or more of the received debug data packets at the memory, and maintains a count of the one or more dropped debug data packets. The operation then updates the predefined ratio based on the count, and uses the updated predefined ratio to transmit the functional data packets and one or more of the debug data packets. | 12-26-2013 |
20140351484 | BROADCAST FOR A DISTRIBUTED SWITCH NETWORK - Techniques for broadcasting a command in a distributed switch, at a first switch module within the distributed switch. Embodiments receive a request to reset a PCIe link for a first host device, the first host device connected to a plurality of downstream PCIe devices through the distributed switch. A routing table specifying a plurality of downstream switch modules, connected to the first switch modules by one or more ports of the first switch module, is identified. Embodiments suspend PCIe traffic for the first host device on the one or more ports of the first switch module. Broadcast messages are transmitted to the plurality of downstream switch modules, specifying a first reset operation. Upon receiving an acknowledgement message from each of the plurality of downstream switch modules specified in the routing table, embodiments resume PCIe traffic for the first host device on the one or more ports. | 11-27-2014 |
20150254200 | PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT EXPRESS (PCIe) PING IN A SWITCH-BASED ENVIRONMENT - A sideband PCI Express (PCIe) packet initiator in a distributed PCIe switch fabric verifies a PCIe connection between a host device and a PCIe endpoint device without having to power on the host device. The packet initiator assembles a PCIe test packet that acts as a ping for testing reachability of the endpoint device, from the perspective of the host device. The test packet may also verify configurations and settings of the path to the endpoint device. The distributed switch fabric is configured to compare completion data with expected results to verify the PCIe connection, without having to boot the host device. | 09-10-2015 |
20150254202 | PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT EXPRESS (PCIe) PING IN A SWITCH-BASED ENVIRONMENT - A sideband PCI Express (PCIe) packet initiator in a distributed PCIe switch fabric verifies a PCIe connection between a host device and a PCIe endpoint device without having to power on the host device. The packet initiator assembles a PCIe test packet that acts as a ping for testing reachability of the endpoint device, from the perspective of the host device. The test packet may also verify configurations and settings of the path to the endpoint device. The distributed switch fabric is configured to compare completion data with expected results to verify the PCIe connection, without having to boot the host device. | 09-10-2015 |