Secondary channel for command information for fibre channel system interface bus

• US 5,848,251 A
• Filed: 08/06/1996
• Issued: 12/08/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Lomelino, Lawrence W., Sabotta, Michael L., Grieff, Thomas W.
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng-Ai T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lefkowitz, Sumati
• Application Number:
  US08/692,516
• Time in Patent Office: 854 Days
• Field of Search: 395/280-281, 395/306-309, 395/825
• US Class Current: 710/305
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4278 using an embedded synchronisation

Abstract

The present invention relates to a secondary channel for a point-to-point burst style bus associated with a computer system. The point-to-point bus may originate as a standardized bus from a fibre channel controller. The point-to-point bus connects to another circuit which may be a bridge circuit, a minicomputer or a peripheral device. A secondary channel is also connected to the point-to-point bus and is adapted to share the bus by receiving information having predetermined addresses. The information recieved by the secondary channel can be stored in a memory that is shared with a processor. Command/control information can be extracted from the point-to-point bus before data is transferred through the bridge circuit in order to allow the data to be acted on more quickly by processing/storage devices since the control data was already made available to the storage devices via the secondary channel.

Claims

1. A computer system having a fibre channel system interface apparatus for communicating information from a fibre channel system interface bus, such that control command information is separated from data stream information and available for processing in advance of data stream information, said fibre channel system interface comprising:

a first circuit connected to said system interface bus for determining if an information on said system interface bus is at least one of a control command for controlling a storage device and a data stream for storage in said storage device;

a second circuit connected to said system interface bus for directing said control command to a memory circuit if said first circuit determines that said information is designated for controlling said storage device, said first circuit transforms said data stream from a first format to a second format and then places the transformed data stream onto a secondary bus, said secondary bus being connected to said storage device.

2. The computer system having a fibre channel interface of claim 1, further comprising a processor, said processor being adapted to access said memory circuit when said second circuit has determined that said system interface bus does not have an information designated for controlling said storage device.

3. The computer system having a fibre channel interface of claim 2, wherein said processor accesses said memory circuit via said second circuit.

4. The computer system having a fibre channel interface of claim 1, wherein said system interface bus is clocked at a first frequency and said memory circuit is clocked at a second frequency that is both synchronous with said first frequency and a multiple of said first frequency.

5. The computer system having a fibre channel interface of claim 1, wherein said system interface bus is a Tachyon System Interface (TSI) bus.

6. The computer system having a fibre channel interface of claim 5, wherein said first circuit is a Tachyon System Interface (TSI) bus to PCI bus bridge circuit.

7. The computer system having a fibre channel interface of claim 1, wherein said system interface bus is a Tachyon System Interface (TSI) bus that originates from a Tachyon circuit, said tachyon circuit being connected to a fibre channel bus.

8. The computer system having a fibre channel interface of claim 1, wherein said system interface bus originates from a fibre channel controller circuit.

9. A computer system having a fibre channel interface system, said fiber channel interface system comprising:

a fibre channel controller for receiving electronic information from a fibre channel and for placing said electronic information on a system interface bus;

a bridge circuit connected to said system interface bus, said bridge circuit determining whether said electronic information is at least one of data and a control command and extracting said control command from said electronic information;

a secondary channel connected to said system interface bus, said secondary channel being for receiving said control command, processing said control command and informing one of a plurality of controller circuits that data from said bridge circuit is imminent in at least one clock cycle.

10. The computer system of claim 9, having a fibre channel interface system, wherein said bridge circuit transforms said data from a first format to a PCI bus format.

11. The computer system of claim 9, having a fibre channel interface system, wherein said secondary channel comprises a secondary channel arbitrator and a local processor for receiving and processing said control command.