METHOD AND APPARATUS TO ENABLE MULTIPLE MASTERS TO OPERATE IN A SINGLE MASTER BUS ARCHITECTURE
First Claim
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1. A device, comprising:
- a single line interrupt request (IRQ) bus to which a plurality of master devices are coupled, wherein the plurality of master devices include an active master device and one or more inactive master devices;
a data bus to which the plurality of master devices are also coupled;
a processing circuit within the active master device, the processing circuit adapted to;
manage communications over the data bus for all devices coupled to the data bus based on interrupt signals asserted over the IRQ bus;
monitor the IRQ bus to ascertain when an IRQ signal has been asserted;
poll the inactive master devices over the data bus to ascertain which inactive master device asserted the IRQ signal on the IRQ bus; and
hand over control of the data bus to an asserting inactive master device upon obtaining an indication from the inactive master device that it made a master request.
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Abstract
To accommodate multiple masters over bus architectures supporting a single master device, a mechanism is provided for an inactive master device to trigger an IRQ signal over a shared, single line IRQ bus. A current master then polls the other inactive master devices over a shared data bus to ascertain which inactive master device is asserting the IRQ signal. Upon identifying the asserting inactive master device, the current master device grants control of the data bus to the new master device, thereby making the inactive master the new active master device.
25 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A device, comprising:
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a single line interrupt request (IRQ) bus to which a plurality of master devices are coupled, wherein the plurality of master devices include an active master device and one or more inactive master devices; a data bus to which the plurality of master devices are also coupled; a processing circuit within the active master device, the processing circuit adapted to; manage communications over the data bus for all devices coupled to the data bus based on interrupt signals asserted over the IRQ bus; monitor the IRQ bus to ascertain when an IRQ signal has been asserted; poll the inactive master devices over the data bus to ascertain which inactive master device asserted the IRQ signal on the IRQ bus; and hand over control of the data bus to an asserting inactive master device upon obtaining an indication from the inactive master device that it made a master request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method operational on a device, comprising:
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managing communications over a data bus for all devices coupled to the data bus based on interrupt signals asserted over a single line interrupt request (IRQ) bus, wherein a plurality of master devices are coupled to IRQ bus and the data bus; monitoring the IRQ bus to ascertain when an IRQ signal has been asserted; polling the inactive master devices over the data bus to ascertain which inactive master device asserted the IRQ signal on the IRQ bus; and handing over control of the data bus to an asserting inactive master device upon obtaining an indication from the inactive master device that it made a master request. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having one or more instructions stored thereon, which when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to:
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manage communications over a data bus for all devices coupled to the data bus based on interrupt signals asserted over an interrupt request (IRQ) bus, wherein a plurality of master devices are coupled to IRQ bus and the data bus; monitor the IRQ bus to ascertain when an IRQ signal has been asserted; poll the inactive master devices over the data bus to ascertain which inactive master device asserted the IRQ signal on the IRQ bus; and hand over control of the data bus to an asserting inactive master device upon obtaining an indication from the inactive master device that it made a master request.
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22. A device, comprising:
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a first interface to couple to a single line interrupt request (IRQ) bus to which a plurality of other devices are coupled; a second interface to couple to a data bus to which the plurality of other devices are also coupled; a processing circuit coupled to the first interface and second interface, the processing circuit adapted to; manage communications over the data bus for all devices coupled to the data bus based on interrupt signals asserted over the IRQ bus; monitor the IRQ bus to ascertain when an IRQ signal has been asserted; poll the inactive master devices over the data bus to ascertain which inactive master device asserted the IRQ signal on the IRQ bus; and hand over control of the data bus to an asserting inactive master device upon obtaining an indication from the inactive master device that it made a master request. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification