Patent ID: 6418504
Filing Date: 2002-07-09
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A system for coupling one or more peripheral devices to a computer, comprising:a computer system, wherein the computer system includes a CPU and memory, wherein the computer system includes: a first Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus; and a first interface coupled to the first PCI bus, wherein the first interface includes PCI interface circuitry for interfacing to the first PCI bus; a remote device located remotely from the computer system, the remote device comprising: a second PCI bus; one or more peripheral devices coupled to the second PCI bus; and a second interface coupled to the second PCI bus, wherein the second interface includes PCI interface circuitry for interfacing to the second PCI bus; a serial bus coupled between the first interface and the second interface, wherein the serial bus includes first and second ends, wherein the first end of the serial bus is coupled to the first interface and the second end of the serial bus is coupled to the second interface; wherein each of the first interface and the second interface include parallel/serial transceivers for converting parallel data generated on the first PCI bus and second PCI bus, respectively, to serial data for transmission on the serial bus and for converting serial data received from the serial bus to parallel data for generation on the first PCI bus and second PCI bus, respectively; wherein the first interface and the second interface operate as a single PCIâ€”PCI bridge; wherein the first interface operates as a first portion of a PCIâ€”PCI bridge, and wherein the second interface operates as a second portion of the PCIâ€”PCI bridge.