Tunnel suitable for multi-segment communication links and method therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9268732-B2
Application number	US-201313893901-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2013
Priority date	Jun 8, 2012
Publication date	Feb 23, 2016
Grant date	Feb 23, 2016

Abstract

A tunnel for a communication system includes first and second bridges. The first bridge has a first port adapted to couple to a first link and a second port, and has a first programmable bus number and a first programmable function number. The second bridge has a first port coupled to the second port of the first bridge, and a second port, and has a second programmable bus number and a second programmable function number. In a hoist enabled mode, the first bridge forwards a packet on the first link to the second bridge if the second programmable bus number is equal to the first programmable bus number, a bus number of the packet is equal to the first programmable bus number, and a function number of the packet is equal to the second programmable function number.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tunnel for a communication system comprising:
a first bridge having a first port adapted to couple to a first link and a second port, and having a first programmable bus number and a first programmable function number; and
a second bridge having a first port coupled to the second port of the first bridge, and a second port, and having a second programmable bus number and a second programmable function number,
wherein in a hoist enabled mode, the first bridge forwards a packet on the first link to the second bridge if the second programmable bus number is equal to the first programmable bus number, a bus number of the packet is equal to the first programmable bus number and a function number of the packet is equal to the second programmable function number.

2. The tunnel of claim 1 , wherein in a non-hoist enabled mode, the first bridge is responsive to the packet on the first link to forward the packet to the second bridge if the bus number of the packet is equal to the second programmable function number.

3. The tunnel of claim 1 , wherein the first bridge selectively receives the packet using standard Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express protocol.

4. The tunnel of claim 3 , wherein the first bridge captures the first programmable bus number and the first programmable function number during a Type 0 Configuration cycle.

5. The tunnel of claim 1 , wherein the second bridge selectively forwards the packet using a protocol other than standard Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express protocol.

6. The tunnel of claim 1 , wherein in the hoist enabled mode the first bridge selectively routes a Type 0 Configuration request to a corresponding one of a plurality of downstream bridges if a function number of the Type 0 Configuration request is between the first programmable function number plus one, and the first programmable function number plus one plus a number of the corresponding one of the plurality of downstream bridges.

7. The tunnel of claim 1 , further comprising a third bridge having a first port coupled to the second port of the first bridge, and a second port, and having a third programmable bus number and a third programmable function number, wherein in the hoist enabled mode, the first bridge is responsive to the packet on the first link to forward the packet to the third bridge if the third programmable bus number is equal to the first programmable bus number, if the bus number of the packet is equal to the first programmable bus number, and if the function number of the packet is greater than the first programmable function number.

8. The tunnel of claim 1 , further comprising:
a configuration space for storing configuration information for operation of the tunnel, the configuration space comprising a hoist extended capability descriptor having a hoist enable field, wherein said tunnel is responsive to the hoist enable field to enter the hoist enabled mode.

9. The tunnel of claim 8 , wherein the hoist extended capability descriptor comprises:
a first field for storing an identification of the hoist extended capability descriptor; and
a second field for storing an original device and function number before hoisting.

10. The tunnel of claim 8 , wherein the hoist extended capability descriptor comprises:
a third field for storing a hoist function base, wherein the first programmable function number is equal to the hoist function base, and the second programmable function number is equal to the hoist function base plus one.

11. The tunnel of claim 1 , wherein said packet is characterized as being identification (ID) routed.

12. A tunnel for a communication system comprising:
an upstream bridge having a first port adapted to couple to a first link and a second port, and having a first programmable bus number and a first programmable function number; and
a plurality of downstream bridges each having a first port coupled to the second port of the upstream bridge, and a second port, and having a second programmable bus number and a second programmable function number,
wherein in a hoist enabled mode, the upstream bridge selectively routes a first type of configuration request to a corresponding one of the plurality of downstream bridges if a function number of the first type of configuration request is between the first programmable function number plus one, and the first programmable function number plus one plus a number of the corresponding one of the plurality of downstream bridges.

13. The tunnel of claim 12 , wherein the first type of configuration request comprises a Type 0 Configuration request according to existing Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express protocol.

14. The tunnel of claim 12 , wherein in a non-hoist enabled mode, the upstream bridge selectively routes the first type of configuration request according to existing Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express protocol.

15. The tunnel of claim 12 , wherein the upstream bridge selectively routes a second type of configuration request according to existing Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express protocol.

16. The tunnel of claim 15 , wherein the second type of configuration request comprises a Type 1 Configuration request according to existing Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express protocol.

17. The tunnel of claim 12 , wherein in the hoist enabled mode, the upstream bridge selectively routes the first type of configuration request to a corresponding one of the plurality of downstream bridges if the function number of the first type of configuration request is not between the first programmable function number plus one, and the first programmable function number plus one plus the number of the plurality of downstream bridges, there is exactly one downstream bridge with a secondary bus number matching the first programmable bus number, and the function number is below the first programmable function number.

18. The tunnel of claim 12 , wherein the upstream bridge rejects a packet received on the second port thereof with a bus number equal to the first programmable bus number and a function number equal to the first programmable function number.

19. The tunnel of claim 12 , wherein each of the plurality of downstream bridges rejects a packet received on the second port thereof with a bus number equal to the second programmable bus number and a function number equal to the second programmable function number.

20. A tunnel for a communication system comprising:
a first bridge having a first port adapted to couple to a first link operating according to a first protocol, and a second port;
a second bridge having a first port coupled to the second port of the first bridge, and a second port adapted to couple to a second link according to a second protocol incompatible with the first protocol; and
a configuration space for storing configuration information for operation of the tunnel, the configuration space comprising an abstract link capability descriptor having a field for storing at least one parameter of the second protocol.

21. The tunnel of claim 20 , wherein the first protocol is compatible with Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), and the second protocol is compatible with IEEE 802.11.

22. The tunnel of claim 20 , wherein the first protocol is compatible with Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), and the abstract link capability descriptor is a PCIe extended capability descriptor.

23. The t

Assignees

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc

Inventors

• Glaser Stephen D

Classifications

• G06F13/4286 Primary

  using a handshaking protocol, e.g. RS232C link · CPC title