PCI express switch and computer system using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10162780-B2
Application number	US-201313958241-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 2, 2013
Priority date	Dec 17, 2012
Publication date	Dec 25, 2018
Grant date	Dec 25, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed herein are a PCI Express switch and a computer system using the switch, which do not require a separate switch device for communication between computers, and enable a switch to be mounted in each PCI Express (PCIe) device, thus enabling main memory to be shared between the computers. The PCI Express switch is employed in a computer system, and includes a downstream port for transmitting a packet, and an upstream port for receiving the packet, wherein the downstream port and the upstream port are directly connected to another computer system. The present invention has a structure which enables the memory of other computers to be accessed by changing only the structure of a switch within a computer. Accordingly, there is an advantage in that the memory of other computers can be directly accessed without requiring a separate switch device or complicated software for a connection between computers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express switch employed in a computer system, the PCI Express switch comprising:
a downstream port for transmitting only Configuration Transaction Layer Packets (TLPs) to search for an upstream port bridge of another computer system; and
an upstream port for receiving only Configuration TLPs from another computer system to generate a virtual endpoint configuration space in an upstream port bridge of the PCI Express switch in the computer system,
wherein the computer system using the PCI Express switch recognizes that memory of another computer system is added as an endpoint device of the computer system,
wherein the computer system accesses the memory of another computer system,
wherein the memory of another computer system is accessed without using Non-Transparent (NT) ports, Advanced Switch (AS) networks, and Multi-Root Aware (MRA) switches,
wherein the computer system accesses the memory of another computer system without using separate software or hardware device drivers, and
wherein the upstream port bridge stores information of the memory of another computer system using Base Address Registers (BAR) of the upstream port bridge.

2. A computer system comprising:
memory directly connected to a root complex; and
a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express switch directly connected to the root complex, and provided with a downstream port for transmitting a packet to request for accessing memory of another computer system, and an upstream port for receiving a packet from another computer system to complete accessing the memory of the computer system,
wherein the computer system accesses the memory of another computer system,
wherein the memory of another computer system is accessed without using Non-Transparent (NT) ports, Advanced Switch (AS) networks, and Multi-Root Aware (MRA) switches,
wherein the computer system accesses the memory of another computer system without using separate software or hardware device drivers.

Assignees

• Electronics & Telecommunications Res Inst

Inventors

• Choi Yong-Seok

Classifications

• G06F12/08

  in hierarchically structured memory systems, e.g. virtual memory systems · CPC title

• G06F13/36

  for access to common bus or bus system · CPC title

• G06F13/20

  for access to input/output bus · CPC title

• G06F13/4022 Primary

  using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network (G06F13/4009 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F13/14 Primary

  Handling requests for interconnection or transfer · CPC title