Interface for use between a memory and components of a module switching apparatus
US4480307A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 4, 1982 |
| Grant date | Oct 30, 1984 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 4, 2002 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/1615
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A number of intelligent bus interface units (100) are provided in a matrix of orthogonal lines interconnecting processor modules (110) and memory control unit (MCU) modules (112). The matrix is composed of processor buses (105) and corresponding control lines; and memory buses (107) with corresponding control lines (108). At the intersection of these lines is a bus interface unit node (100). The bus interface units function to pass memory requests from a processor module to a memory module attached to an MCU node and to pass any data associated with the requests. The memory bus is a packet-oriented bus. Accesses are handled by means of a series of messages transmitted by message generator (417) in accordance with a specific control protocol. Packets comprising one or more bus transmission slots are issued sequentially and contiguously. Each slot in a packet includes an opcode, address, data, control, and parity-check bits. Write-request packets and read-request packets are issued to the memory-control unit. The memory-control unit responds with reply packets. A message controller (416), bus monitor (413), and pipeline and reply monitor ( 414), run the memory bus in a three-level pi…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.