Patent ID: 6377581
Filing Date: 2002-04-23
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
An apparatus for providing communication comprising:a secondary bus having a standard communication protocol; a plurality of circuit blocks coupled to said secondary bus wherein each circuit block comprises: a bus interface unit; and other functional circuitry, wherein each bus interface unit communicates with a portion of said secondary bus through external bus control circuits and wherein each bus interface unit facilitates communication between said other functional circuitry and said secondary bus, wherein each bus interface unit internally comprises: a duplicated master port for establishing a communication of information over said secondary bus using said standard communication protocol; and a duplicated slave port for responding to a duplicated master port in receiving or transmitting information over said secondary bus using said standard communication protocol; a primary bus for providing point-to-point communication between a memory and a processor; and a bridge coupled to provide communication between said primary bus and said secondary bus and wherein said primary bus and said bridge are configurable to support different communication protocols.