Method and apparatus for a first device accessing computer memory and a second device detecting the access and responding by performing sequence of actions
US5915124A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 3, 1997 |
| Grant date | Jun 22, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 3, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2212/206
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method of controlling an input/output (I/O) device connected to a computer to facilitate fast I/O data transfers. An address space for the I/O device is created in the virtual memory of the computer, wherein the address space comprises virtual registers that are used to directly control the I/O device. In essence, control registers and/or memory of the I/O devices are mapped into the virtual address space, and the virtual address space is backed by control registers and/or memory on the I/O device. Thereafter, the I/O device detects writes to the address space. As a result, a pre-defined sequence of actions can be triggered in the I/O device by programming specified values into the data written into the mapped virtual address space.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.