Patent ID: 7574482
Filing Date: 2009-08-11
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A network processor integrated circuit comprising: a plurality of processor clients internal to the network processor integrated circuit; an internal memory having a plurality of memory instances; and an internal memory controller for controlling access of the plurality of processor clients to the plurality of memory instances, the internal memory controller comprising a configurable switching element; the configurable switching element being connectable between the plurality of processor clients and the plurality of memory instances and being operative to control access of particular ones of the plurality of processor clients to particular ones of the plurality of memory instances; wherein the configurable switching element is configurable to connect any one of at least a subset of the plurality of processor clients to each of at least a subset of the plurality of memory instances, such that in a first selectable configuration of the configurable switching element, a given one of the processor clients is permitted to access a first set of memory instances comprising one or more of the plurality of memory instances, and in a second selectable configuration of the configurable switching element, the given processor client is permitted to access a second set of memory instances comprising one or more of the plurality of memory instances, the second set being different than the first set; wherein a different set of mask bits is associated with each of a plurality of different memory instance sizes, and a different address decoder value is associated with each of the plurality of memory instances; wherein address decoding logic applies the mask bits for a client memory instance to an incoming address from the given processor client, and compares the result to the address decoder value for the given memory instance to determine if the incoming address is directed to an address in the given memory instance.