Switch/network adapter port incorporating shared memory resources selectively accessible by a direct execution logic element and one or more dense logic devices
First Claim
1. A computer system comprising:
- at least one dense logic device;
a controller coupling said at least one dense logic device to a control block and a memory bus;
one or more memory module slots coupled to said memory bus;
an adapter port associated with a subset of said one or more memory module slots, said adapter port including associated memory resources, wherein said control block provides control information to said adapter port and wherein said adapter port shares access control to said memory resources with said controller such that when said controller is in control of said memory resources said adapter port is barred from accessing said memory resources and when said adapter port is in control of said memory resources said controller is disconnected from said memory resources and wherein said controller is disconnected from said memory resources said adapter port monitors said control block for control information; and
at least one direct execution logic element coupled to said adapter port, said memory resources being substantially equally accessible by said at least one dense logic device and said at least one direct execution logic element.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An enhanced switch/network adapter port (“SNAP™”) including collocated shared memory resources (“SNAPM™”) in a dual in-line memory module (“DIMM”) or any other memory module format for clustered computing systems employing direct execution logic such as multi-adaptive processor elements (“MAP®”, all trademarks of SRC Computers, Inc.). Functionally, the SNAPM modules incorporate and properly allocate memory resources so that the memory appears to the associated dense logic device(s) (e.g. a microprocessor) to be functionally like any other system memory such that no time penalties are incurred when accessing it. Through the use of a programmable access coordination mechanism, the control of this memory can be handed off to the SNAPM memory controller and, once in control, the controller can move data between the shared memory resources and the computer network such that the transfer is performed at the maximum rate that the memory devices themselves can sustain. This provides the highest performance link to the other network devices such as MAP® elements, common memory boards and the like.
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Citations
82 Claims
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1. A computer system comprising:
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at least one dense logic device; a controller coupling said at least one dense logic device to a control block and a memory bus; one or more memory module slots coupled to said memory bus; an adapter port associated with a subset of said one or more memory module slots, said adapter port including associated memory resources, wherein said control block provides control information to said adapter port and wherein said adapter port shares access control to said memory resources with said controller such that when said controller is in control of said memory resources said adapter port is barred from accessing said memory resources and when said adapter port is in control of said memory resources said controller is disconnected from said memory resources and wherein said controller is disconnected from said memory resources said adapter port monitors said control block for control information; and at least one direct execution logic element coupled to said adapter port, said memory resources being substantially equally accessible by said at least one dense logic device and said at least one direct execution logic element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer system comprising:
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at least one dense logic device; an interleaved controller coupling said at least one dense logic device to a control block and a memory bus; a plurality of memory slots coupled to said memory bus; an adapter port associated with at least two of said plurality of memory slots, each of said adapter port including associated memory resources, wherein said control block provides control information to said adapter port and wherein said adapter port shares access control to said memory resources with said controller such that when said controller is in control of said memory resources said adapter port is barred from accessing said memory resources and when said adapter port is in control of said memory resources said controller is disconnected from said memory resources and wherein said controller is disconnected from said memory resources said adapter port monitors said control block for control information; and a direct execution logic element coupled to at least one of said adapter ports, said memory resources being substantially equally accessible by said at least one dense logic device and said direct execution logic element. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A computer system including an adapter port for electrical coupling between a memory bus of said computer system and a network interface, said computer system comprising at least one dense logic device coupled to said memory bus and said memory bus comprising at least one memory module slot, said adapter port comprising:
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a memory resource associated with said adapter port wherein said adapter port is configured for physical retention within said at least one memory module slot; and a control block for selectively enabling access by said at least one dense logic device to said memory resource, wherein said control block provides control information to said adapter port and wherein said adapter port shares access control to said memory resource with said controller such that when said controller is in control of said memory resource said adapter port is barred from accessing said memory resource and when said adapter port is in control of said memory resource said controller is disconnected from said memory resource and wherein said controller is disconnected from said memory resource said adapter port monitors said control block for control information. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82)
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Specification