Importance

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Abstract

A method and apparatus performs high bandwidth low latency programmed I/O (PIO) write operations by passing tokens. A computer system in accordance with the present invention includes a plurality of CPUs, with each CPU coupled to a CPU agent. Each CPU agents is coupled to an interconnection fabric, which in turn is coupled to an I/O agent and memory. The computer system may also have multiple I/O agents. Each I/O agent is coupled to an I/O card, and the computer system may have multiple I/O cards. The CPU agents and the I/O agents have token slots, and tokens circulate between the token slots. When a CPU seeks to write to an I/O card, the CPU forwards a PIO write request to the CPU agent. If the CPU agent does not have the token, the CPU agent sends the write data along with a request for the token to the I/O agent. If the token is currently owned by the I/O agent, it is sent to the CPU agent. If the token is owned by another CPU agent, the I/O agent will issue a request to the other CPU agent to recall the token. When the token arrives at the I/O agent, the I/O agent sends the token to the requesting CPU agent and writes the data to the I/O card. At this point, the CPU agent acknowledges the PIO write to the CPU, and the CPU will be able to issue as many back-to-back PIO writes via the CPU agent as buffering, flow control, and device processing speeds will allow. The present invention includes a protocol to control the flow of write data, tokens, requests, and acknowledgments between the CPU agents and the I/O agents. The present invention achieves performance levels comparable to those provided by accelerated PIO write operations, while providing backward compatibility with existing CPUs, operating systems, and drivers.

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First Claim