Patent ID: 9608935
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: G06F,H04L

Claim:
1. A network on chip (NoC) comprising: one or more channels configured to carry data packets in a first direction, the first direction comprising an upstream end and a downstream end; and a tunnel configured between an upstream element at the upstream end and a downstream element at the downstream end; wherein the tunnel comprises common wires which are shared by the one or more channels and the tunnel is configured to transmit data packets of two or more formats on the common wires using common signals, wherein the common signals comprise data signals to transmit one or more of data, control, or debug information belonging to the data packets on the common wires, and framing signals to control transmission of the data signals on the common wires, wherein the framing signals transmitted in the first direction comprise a go signal to indicate an engaged status of the data packet, wherein the engaged status represents a high priority status to indicate that the data packet transmission on the tunnel should not be interrupted, wherein the transmission of an engaged first data packet is not interrupted, unless the downstream element becomes incapable of receiving and forwarding words of the engaged first data packet to the downstream end of the corresponding channel or if the engaged first data packet has pre-existing bubbles before entering the upstream element, and wherein the engaged first data packet is reshaped.