Apparatus and method for smart host bus adapter for personal computer cards
First Claim
1. An apparatus for a Smart Host Bus Adapter (HBA) for seamlessly interfacing computer cards with computers, said apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of channel devices, each channel device including;
a single port for connecting to a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus;
an interrupt handler coupled to said single port;
a direct memory access controller (DMAC) device coupled to said single port;
a state machine operable to;
decode and execute a set of commands as received from a controller;
initiate commands and alert or acknowledgment messages to agents on a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) busperform a direct memory access controller (DMAC) function, said state machine coupled to said single port;
said direct memory access controller (DMAC) device is coupled to each channel device of said plurality of channel devices for controlling memory access by said computer cards; and
each of said plurality of channel devices further includes an interrupt vector register coupled to a channel device to provide a vector for interrupts.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system is shown to improve data transfer between computers and PC Cards, which have a Host Bus Adapter (HBA). Previous HBA designs are limited in routing interrupts to the system and transferring data. The Smart HBA (150) detects an interrupt, alerts a target controller of the interrupt and provides a vector to the PC Card driver. This also eliminates acknowledgment routines and saves bus cycles. To each PC Card it appears that it is interfacing directly to its software driver. The command handling feature allows bus agents to communicate between fast access devices without using Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) commands that cannot be posted. Thus all commands can be posted in PCI bridges, no bus accesses have to wait for arbitration across multiple busses and no slow devices require a retry. Direct memory access (DMA) operations can be performed by legacy PC Cards when connected to a PCI bus.
-
Citations
17 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for a Smart Host Bus Adapter (HBA) for seamlessly interfacing computer cards with computers, said apparatus comprising:
-
a plurality of channel devices, each channel device including; a single port for connecting to a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus; an interrupt handler coupled to said single port; a direct memory access controller (DMAC) device coupled to said single port; a state machine operable to; decode and execute a set of commands as received from a controller; initiate commands and alert or acknowledgment messages to agents on a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus perform a direct memory access controller (DMAC) function, said state machine coupled to said single port; said direct memory access controller (DMAC) device is coupled to each channel device of said plurality of channel devices for controlling memory access by said computer cards; and each of said plurality of channel devices further includes an interrupt vector register coupled to a channel device to provide a vector for interrupts. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method to improve functionality of computer cards in a computer system between a Smart Host Bus Adapter (HBA) and portable equipment, said method comprising the steps of:
-
generating commands upon detection of a computer interrupt; decoding a set of commands received from a computer controller; executing a set of commands received from a computer controller; performing a direct memory access (DMA) control function on data; and arbitrating between channels and peripheral component interconnect (PCI) busses. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
-
Specification