METHOD, DEVICE AND SYSTEM FOR AGGREGATION OF SHARED ADDRESS DEVICES

• US 20130339565A1
• Filed: 12/22/2011
• Published: 12/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Veal, Bryan E., Wehage, Eric R., Foong, Annie
• Granted Patent: US 9,460,040 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/306
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/105 where the programme performs an input/output emulation function
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4027 using bus bridges G06F13/4022 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0205 Lever arrangements for operating keyboard cursor control keys in a joystick-like manner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/441 Multiboot arrangements, i.e. selecting an operating system to be loaded

Abstract

Techniques and mechanisms for managing resources of an aggregate device which spans multiple physical devices of a computer platform. In an embodiment, an aggregation device coupled to a host bus of the computer platform receives resource information generated by a pre-boot software process of the computer platform. In another embodiment, the aggregation device, based on the received resource information, represents a resource in a first input/output (I/O) device to a host operating system (OS) as residing in the aggregation device, the first I/O device coupled to the aggregation device via a host bus for exchanging communications referencing a shared address space.

Claims

1. A device for operation in a computer platform, the device comprising:

a first interface to couple the device to a host bus of the computer platform, the host bus for exchanging communications referencing a shared address space, wherein the first interface to couple the device via the host bus to a first input/output (I/O);

an aggregation control unit including circuit logic to receive resource information generated by a pre-boot software process of the computer platform, the resource information identifying the first I/O device as a child device of the device, wherein, based on the resource information, the aggregation control unit to represent a resource in the first I/O device to a host operating system (OS) of the computer platform as residing in the device, including the aggregation control unit to represent an address in the shared address space to the host OS as addressing the resource; and

a second interface to exchange communications between the device aggregation control unit and a processor core executing the host OS.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the resource information includes information associated with the first I/O device, and wherein the aggregation control unit to represent the resource to the host OS includes the aggregation control unit to represent the resource with a device driver for the device, including the aggregation control unit to provide the information associated with the first I/O device to the device driver for the device.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the device driver encapsulates a logical device driver for the first I/O device.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the device driver includes driver logic for operating the host bus.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the aggregation control unit includes logic to perform an access of the first I/O device, wherein the access is in response to an I/O request from the host OS targeting the address in the shared address space, and wherein the access is based on memory mapping information indicating a correspondence of the resource with the address in the shared address space.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the device and a device driver for the device are to operate to block an enumeration request of the host OS to prevent an identification of the first I/O device as being a distinct physical device residing on the computer platform.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the first I/O device includes an interrupt mechanism, and wherein the device and the device driver are to represent the interrupt mechanism to the host OS as residing in the device.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the first I/O device is configured send to the host OS an event notification including information representing the event notification as originating at the device.

9. A method at an aggregation device of a computer platform, the method comprising:

receiving resource information generated by a pre-boot software process of the computer platform, wherein the aggregation device is coupled to a first input/output (I/O) device via a host bus for exchanging communications referencing a shared address space, wherein the aggregation device is further coupled to a processor core of the computer platform executing a host operating system (OS), the resource information identifying the first I/O device as a child device of the aggregation device; and

based on the received resource information, representing a resource in the first I/O device to the host OS as residing in the aggregation device, including representing an address in the shared address space to the host OS as addressing the resource.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the resource information includes information associated with the first I/O device, and wherein representing the resource to the host OS includes representing the resource with a device driver for the device, including providing the information associated with the first I/O device to the device driver for the device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the device driver encapsulates a logical device driver for the first I/O device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the device driver includes driver logic for operating the host bus.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising performing an access of the first I/O device, wherein the access is in response to an I/O request from the host OS targeting the address in the shared address space, and wherein the access is based on memory mapping information indicating a correspondence of the resource with the address in the shared address space.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising blocking an enumeration request of the host OS to prevent an identification of the first I/O device as being a distinct physical device residing on the computer platform.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the first I/O device includes an interrupt mechanism, and wherein the device and the device driver are to represent the interrupt mechanism to the host OS as residing in the device.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the first I/O device is configured send to the host OS an event notification including information representing the event notification as originating at the device.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by one or more processing units, cause the one or more processing units to perform a method comprising:

with a device driver for an aggregation device of a computer platform;

receiving resource information generated by a pre-boot software process of the computer platform, wherein the aggregation device is coupled to a first input/output (I/O) device via a host bus for exchanging communications referencing a shared address space, wherein the aggregation device is further coupled to a processor core of the computer platform executing a host operating system (OS), the resource information identifying the first I/O device as a child device of the aggregation device; and

based on the received resource information, representing a resource in the first I/O device to the host OS as residing in the aggregation device, including representing an address in the shared address space to the host OS as addressing the resource.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising encapsulating in the driver for the aggregation device a logical device driver for the first I/O device.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising encapsulating driver logic for operating the host bus in the device driver for the aggregation device.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising performing an access of the first I/O device in response to an I/O request from the host OS targeting the address in the shared address space, wherein the access is based on memory mapping information indicating a correspondence of the resource with the address in the shared address space.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the device and a device driver for the device are to operate to block an enumeration request of the host OS to prevent an identification of the first I/O device as being a distinct physical device residing on the computer platform.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first I/O device includes an interrupt mechanism, and wherein the device and the device driver are to represent the interrupt mechanism to the host OS as residing in the device.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first I/O device is configured send to the host OS an event notification including information representing the event notification as originating at the device.

24. A method in a computer platform, the method comprising:

during pre-boot operation of the computer platform;

determining a configuration for an aggregation device of the computer platform, the aggregation device coupled to a first input/output (I/O) device via a host bus for exchanging communications referencing a shared address space, the aggregation device further coupled to a processor core of the computer platform for executing a host operating system (OS)

generating resource information to implement the determined configuration of the aggregation device; and

providing the resource information to the aggregation device, wherein the aggregation device, based on the provided resource information, represents a resource in the first I/O device to the host OS as residing in the aggregation device, wherein the aggregation control unit represents an address in the shared address space to the host OS as addressing the resource.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein determining the configuration for the aggregation device includes identifying that the first I/O device is to operate as a child device of the aggregation device.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein generating the resource information includes determining a total amount of resources required for an aggregate device, wherein the aggregation device is a parent device of the aggregate device and the first I/O device is a child device of the aggregate device

27. The method of claim 26, wherein providing the resource information to the aggregation device is to configure the aggregation device to request from the host OS an allocation of the total amount of resources