Patent ID: 7937447
Filing Date: 2011-05-03
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for transferring data between multiple separate computer systems using an I/O bus protocol, the method comprising: reading a descriptor comprising a pointer to an address in a first computer system memory address space of a first computer system, the address corresponding to a data block address of a data block in the first computer system memory address space in a first computer system physical memory, the descriptor provided by a first computer system processor of the first computer system, wherein the descriptor is read by a second computer system connected to the first computer system over a PCI Express connection, wherein the second computer system is separate from the first computer system and comprising a second computer system DMA controller that arbitrates for access to the PCI Express connection; and upon obtaining access to the PCI Express connection, reading the data block directly from the first computer system memory address space by the second computer system DMA controller into a second computer system memory address space in a second computer system physical memory, over the PCI Express connection using information contained in the descriptor, wherein the descriptor is read by a first computer system Direct Memory Access (DMA) controller of the first computer system and wherein the first computer system DMA controller provides a write completion descriptor with status information upon detecting that the read of the data block is complete.