Memory consistent pre-ownership method and system for transferring data between and I/O device and a main memory
US5623635A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 17, 1996 |
| Grant date | Apr 22, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 17, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F12/0835
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and system is disclosed for efficiently transferring a sequence of data words from an I/O device to sequential addresses in a main memory via an I/O bridge. The sequence of data words to be transferred includes one or more subsequences of data words. Each subsequence of data words include only data words destined to addresses of the main memory in which data words of only one data line are stored. The I/O bridge has control logic for receiving a first subsequence of data words corresponding to a currently owned data line and for claiming ownership in one or more of the very next data lines corresponding to the next subsequences of data words to be transferred from the I/O device. The I/O bridge also has a buffer memory for storing a subsequence of the sequence of data words received from the I/O device. The control logic maintains in a pre-own tag array a list of the data lines in which ownership has been successfully claimed and a list in a buffer tag array of storage locations in the buffer memory allocated to receiving data words of particular subsequences of the sequence of data words from the I/O device.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.