MICROPROCESSOR INTERFACE CONTROL APPARATUS

Abstract: An interface (214, 215, 216) between a microprocessor chip (200) and input/output, and memory modules. The interface uses a single, bidirectional bus (214) comprised of a number of lines which is less than the number necessary to carry a complete address word or a full width data word. Information transfer is effected by transferring information in small portions utilizing two or more interface clock cycles. An encoded control specification placed on the bus (214) during the first cycle of information transfer specifies the type of access, the direction of transfer, and the length (number of bytes) of data to be moved. Two additional simplex lines, ISA (215) from the microprocessor and ISB (216) to the microprocessor are needed to complete the basic interface.

Description: 2 DESCRIPTION 3 "MICROPROCESSOR INTERFACE CONTROL APPARATUS" 4 Field of the Invention 5. The present invention relates to microprocessors , 6 and more particularly to apparatus for controlling the 7 movement of data off of and onto a microprocessor chip. 8 Description of the Prior .Art 9 Computer systems have in the past been concerned 10 with the movement of digital data between modules in the . 11 system. Traditionally, the central processing unit has 12 been packaged separately from memory units and peripheral 13 input/output devices such as disc files, printers, and 14 magnetic tape storage units. Prior to the development of 15 large-scale integration (LSI) technology, the interface 16 between units was mainly concerned with transferring data 17 at the highest speed possible commensurate " with the 18 electrical characteristics of the cables between the units 19 and the electronic circuits which drive signals on the 20 cables. An example of such an interface in wide use today 21 is that used on the IBM System/360 computers between 22 input/output devices and the input/output channel of the 23 main processor. This interface is described in U.S. 24 Patent 3,336,582—Interlocked Communication System— 25 Beausoleil et al, filed September 1, 1964, and issued 26 August 15, 1967. This I/O interface provides for a data 27 format and control signal sequence definition which is 28 common to all control units which can be attached to the 29 system. The rise and fall of all signals transmitted 30 over the interface are controlled by corresponding inter- 31 locked responses. In such a system there is no practical 32 limit on the number of lines which can be utilized between 33 the units, and, therefore, a separate bus is provided 34 for address information and data information. The width ' 35 of the data bus is conveniently made equal to the width 36 of data words utilized within the data processing unit. 37 Furthermore, the address bus is made equal to the width 38 of the data word used for address development. The IBM 39 System/360 Interface therefore uses nine lines to repre- 40 sent bus out which is used to transmit data, I/O device OMPI __ addresses, commands, and control orders to the periph- eral devices. Furthermore, a separate set of nine lines, bus in, is used to transmit data, selected I/O device identification, status information, and sense data from the peripheral devices. In addition, more than 16 simplex input and output lines are utilized for controlling information on the buses, for special sequences, for the scanning of or selection of attached input/output devices, and for usage meters. A total of over 34 lines are used to control data movement. The use of such an interface with microprocessors is prohibitive because there are not enough input/output pins available on the LSI package with present-day technology. To solve this problem, microprocessors have to use fewer actual lines interconnecting the modules, but still have the requirement of being able to handle data movement and control operations just as complex as those of previous data processing systems. This has been accomplished in the past by providing bidirectional information bus lines which carry information first iii one direction, and then in- another direction, thus avoiding duplication of the signal lines. The number of bus lines required is further reduced in prior micro- processors by multiplexing the address of the peripheral device on the data bus and synchronizing the output of both address and data on the output buses. Furthermore, data transfer control signals have been encoded to simplify read and write input/output and memory operations, thus resulting in reduced pin requirements. In addition to a line carrying system clock signals, a typical microprocessor interface would include the following lines: Two status signal lines are utilized to encode the status of the data transfer, read, write, halt, or fetch. One control line is utilized to indicate whether the device being addressed is a memory device or an I/O device. One line is utilized by an external device to signal a request that the device needs the address and data bus. Another line from the microprocessor " -3- indicates to the external device that the above- mentioned request has been acknowledged. A separate line is utilized by the peripheral to generate an interrupt request. A single line is utilized by the microprocessor to latch address information into the peripheral device. An 8-bit address bus and a separate 8-bit data bus complete the minimum lines necessary for this type of interface. If a 16-bit address is utilized, the data bus carries a portion of the address word during an address cycle. In a subsequent cycle this bus is used to carry data. As seen from the above, it takes 23 lines to pro- vide the functions described. As more and more complex functions are incorporated on a microprocessor chip, the number of pins dedicated to input/output functions becomes more critical. This is particularly true where large microprocessors are partitioned between two or more chips. This means that more and more pins have to be dedicated to interchip control signals, thus making fewer pins available for input/output operations. It is therefore desirable to further reduce the number of bidirectional information bus lines and other pins utilized while maintaining a simplified data transfer protocol between the micropro- cessor and peripheral units. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, the present invention utilizes a single bidirectional address/control/data bus in combination with two simplex control lines to perform all complex address control and data transfer functions. This is accomplished by assigning different functions to these lines during sequential cycles of a data transfer operation. During a first cycle the bus carries a con- trol data specification and the low order bits of the peripheral address. The control specification is encoded to provide information indicating the type of access (memory device or I/O device) , the direction of data transfer (read or write) , the length of data to be transferred (1 byte, 2 bytes, etc.), and modifier bits which further define the type of access being under- taken. Interprocessor communication (IPC) is signaled * during this first cycle by lowering the simplex control line from the peripheral device to the microprocessor. During the second cycle the remainder of the address information is placed on the bus and the simplex line from the microprocessor to the peripheral is asserted to indicate that valid data is on the bus. Subsequent cycles are utilized to transfer data (up to 16 bits at a time) until the total number of bytes has been transferred. During these multiple cycles the simplex line from the peripheral device to the micropro- cessor is asserted high to indicate that valid data is on the bus during a read cycle or that data has been accepted during a write cycle. Error information is signaled at the end of a read or write cycle by holding this particular simplex line low. The invention has the advantage that in one trans- action a variable-length data transfer takes place with the transmission of only one * set of address and control specification information. Prior microprocessors are constrained to issue data transfer reques " ts which are closely related to the physical width of the memory (8 or 16 bits) . The present invention encodes a complex data transfer request into a compact two-cycle control spec±- fication, which may direct an external unit (such as a memory) to transfer up to 20 bytes of information. further advantage of the invention is that address information does not have to be maintained on a separate bus for the several cycles during which data is transferred because the length information indicates to the peripheral device the number of bytes to be stored in the address specified during the first and second ////////// ////////// ////////// ////////// ////////// ////////// OM cycle. Thus the address information can be latched in the peripheral and the address bus used to transfer data. A further advantage of the invention is that simplex lines for encoding status information and information indicating whether the peripheral device is a memory or an I/O device can be eliminated because this information is placed directly on the data bus during the first cycle of an operation. The invention has the further advantage that only two simplex lines are needed to synchronize data and to perform error functions and interprocessor communication functions because these lines are assigned different meanings at different times during the cycles of a complete operation. It can thus be seen that the present invention performs a complex information transfer operation over an interface by using a bare minimum of signal lines. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The foregoing and other objects, features and advan- tages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description. of a preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein: FIGURE 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating the various components of a microprocessor in which the invention is embodied; FIGURE 2 is a timing diagram which shows the func- tions of the various interface lines during various cycles of a data transfer operation; FIGURE 3 is a table setting forth the control speci- fications for the address, control, and data bytes; FIGURE 4 is a more detailed block diagram of those components of the instruction unit shown in FIGURE 1 which are necessary for an understanding of the present invention; FIGURE 5 is a block diagram of those components of the execution unit shown in FIGURE 1 which are necessary for an understanding of the present invention; l " " " - " "" -6- ~ ^ 2 FIGURE 6 is a block diagram of those components of 3 the bus interface unit shown in FIGURE 1 which are neces- 4 sary for a complete understanding of the present invention; 5 FIGURE 7 is a timing diagram which shows the nominal 6 read timing; 7 FIGURE 8 is a timing diagram which shows the minimum 8 read timing; 9 FIGURE 9 is a timing diagram which shows a nominal 0 write timing; and, 1 FIGURE 10 is a timing diagram which shows a 2 minimum write timing. 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 4 FIGURE 1 is a block diagram of a microprocessor in which the present invention is embodied. The overall 6 system is more fully described in copending international 7 application entitled "Data Processing System" by Steven R. 8 Colley, et al, application No. (D-1074) , 9 filed on ; . As more fully described 0 in the above-referenced application, a microprocessor 200 is attached to a bus interface unit 201 which provides for interface control of data transfers between the processor 3 200 and other units such as memories, I/O devices, or 4 other processors in the system. The microprocessor is comprised of two separate 6 chips, one for the instruction unit 210, and the other for 7 the execution unit 212. Communication between the instruc- 8 tion unit and the execution unit is over an interchip bus. 9 The instruction unit is shown in more detail in FIGURE 4 and the execution unit is shown in more detail in FIGURE 5. The logic shown in these figures is only that which is necessary for an understanding of the present invention. A more detailed description of these two units is found in the above-identified Colley et al patent application. Off-chip communication with external processors, memories, or peripheral devices is accomplished by means of an interface which communicates with a bus interface unit 201 more fully described in FIGURE 6. The interrξace lines as a minimum are comprised of a clock line (CL A not shown in FIGURE 1) , an address/control/data bus 214 which -7- includes a plurality of bidirectional lines, a simplex line (ISA) 215 from the execution unit 212 to the instruc- tion unit 210 and the bus interface unit 20 * 1, and a simplex line (ISB) 216 from the bus interface unit 201 to the instruction unit 210 and the execution unit 212. It should, be understood that the processor 200 could be implemented on a single chip, and that the present inven- tion is not limited to the specific two-chip configuration shown in FIGURE 1. Interface Lines and their Functions ACD 15-0 These 16 lines comprise a bidirectional address/ control/data bus. The lines are output from the execution unit to indicate the action desired to the bus interface. In the other direction, the bus is input to the instruction unit and the execution unit from the bus interface to carry information read in. ISA ' The ISA line 215 is output from the execution unit to the instruction unit and the bus interface unit. Referring to FIGURE 2 , ISA is low whenever no transaction is taking place between the processor and external units. ISA is high whenever a transaction is underway, such as during the second cycle when address, data is on the ACD bus and the third and subsequent cycles when read or write data is being transferred. ISA is low for the first cycle of a transaction when lines 15-8 of the ACD bus carry a control specification and when ACD 7-0 carry the low 8 bytes of. the address for memory references. ISA is high during the second cycle when the high order 16 address bits of a memory reference are on the ACD bus. During this cycle a request is canceled by asserting ISA low. ISA is low during the last cycle of a write operation (which may serve also as the first cycle of the subsequent transaction). ISB ISB is a simplex line from the bus interface unit to both the instruction unit and the execution unit. ISB can have three different types of significance depending upon the cycle during which it is asserted. ISB has either 1 -8- 2 interprocessor communication (IPC) significance, stretch 3 significance, or error significance. 4 Whenever ISA is low, ISB has IPC significance, for 5 example, during the first and second cycles shown in 6 FIGURE 2. Whenever ISA is low, ISB has IPC significance 7 except in the first cycle following a write type of 8 transaction (as specified by bit 14 of the control speci- 9 fication shown in FIGURE 3) , in which event ISB has error 10 significance. 11 ISB also, has IPC significance in the first cycle of a 12 transaction during which ISA is high, for example, during 13 the second cycle shown in FIGURE.2. Thereaf er ISB has 14 stretch significance for the remainder of the time ISA is 15 high except in the last cycle of a read transaction when 16 it has error significance. 17 Stretch significance means that read or write data is 18 stretched over several cycles depending upon the length of 19 data to be transferred as specified by bits 10, 11, and 12 20 in the control specification, FIGURE 3. 21 Referring now to FIGURE 2, the basic operation of the 22 interface will now be described. For simplicity of illus- 23 tration, only one bus interface unit is shown connected to 24 the interface. It is understood that more than one bus 25 interface unit can be utilized in the practice of the 26 present invention. Timing synchronization between the 27 units shown in FIGURE 1 is provided by a clock signal (CLKA) 28 which is connected to each of the units. A read or write 29 operation takes place over several clock cycles. Prior to 30 the start of a read or write operation the ACD bus is 31 energized by the execution unit to generate all ones 32 (called a "null" specification) . ISA is asserted low by 33 the execution unit during this period. ISB is normally 34 asserted high by the bus interface unit to indicate that -.35 there is no interprocessor communication message waiting 36 to be transferred to the processor 200. The function of 37 the IPC operation . is more fully described in the above- 38 mentioned copending patent application entitled "Interpro- 39 cessor Communication Apparatus" by George Cox and Justin 40 Rattner. The execution unit commences a data transfer OM 2 operation in response to an access memory type of micro- 3 instruction received from the instruction unit 210. The 4 execution unit 212 generates the physical address of the 5 reference and issues the least significant byte of the 6 address along with control information specifying the 7 type of reference and the number of bytes to be trans- 8 ferred. The control specification is shown in detail in 9 the table of FIGURE 3. The bus interface unit monitors 10 the ACD bus. When it changes from a "null" specification, 11 then the bus interface clocks the least significant byte 12 of address and the control specification into registers in 13 the bus interface unit 201. During the second cycle the 14 execution unit places the most significant byte of address 15 information on the ACD bus and asserts ISA high to indicate 16 to the bus interface unit that the address information is 17 now on the bus. The execution unit is able to cancel the 18 request by asserting ISA low (instead of high) during this .19 second cycle, which will be interpreted by the bus inter- 20 face as a canceled request signal, even though information 21 may still be on the ACD bus. 22 The processor 200 may issue requests for one, two, four, 23 six, eight, ten, sixteen, or twenty bytes of data to be 24 transferred. This, le'ngth information is part of a control 25 field which was transmitted during the first cycle of the 26 transaction. As the data bytes are returned from memory 27 (for a read request) , they are buffered and aligned by the 28 bus interface unit and transferred to the processor 200 in 29 the correct order. During the third cycle of a write 30 transaction, the execution unit places write information on 31 the ACD bus, holds ISA asserted high and waits for ISB to 32 be asserted high, thus indicating that the bus interface 33 unit has accepted the write data. If data transfer is to 34 be in the opposite direction, the execution unit waits - 35 during the third cycle until ISB is asserted high. This 36 indicates that the bus interface unit has placed read data 37 on the ACD bus and that the data is valid. Cycles similar 38 to that described for the third cycle are repeated until 39 all the bytes of data indicated by the length control 40 specification generated during the first cycle are received, O PI i -10- 2 During the last cycle a "null" (all ones) is generated on 3 the ACD bus and ISA is brought low by the execution unit 4 to end the write operation. An error is signaled by ISB 5 being asserted.low by the bus interface unit. During a 6 read operation ISA is brought low in the cycle following 7 the last cycle and ISB again has error significance in the 8 last cycle. In this manner, ISA is used to signal the end 9 of a write operation by going from high to low during the 10 * last cycle of a write operation. ISA is held asserted 11 high during a read operation for the last cycle during 12 which time ISB has error significance. During a write 13 operation the execution unit places all ones on the ACD 14 bus during the last cycle and asserts ISA low. ISB is 15 then used to signal an error condition, high for no error 16 and low for error. 17 The logic for performing the interface functions just 18 described is shown in more detail in FIGURES 4, 5, and 6. 19 Only those portions concerned with controlling interface 20 sequences will be discussed so that the present invention 21 can be more easily understood. A much more detailed 22 description of the operation of the various units is given 23 in the above-identified Colley et al patent application. 24 Wherever possible throughout' this specification the same 25 reference numerals are used to identify the same system 26 blocks shown in the aforementioned application. 27 Referring to FIGURE 4, the instruction unit is a 28 macroinstruction decoder which,decodes an instruction 29 stream and transfers the microinstructions necessary to 30 execute the stream to the execution unit of FIGURE 5 over 31 the interchip bus.. In addition, the instruction unit also 32 transfers logical address information to holding registers 33 in the execution unit. The execution unit, described 34 subsequently, decodes and executes the microinstructions 35 received from the instruction unit. 36 The instruction unit is comprised of two main blocks, 37 the instruction decoder 222 and the microinstruction 38 sequencer 224. The instruction decoder (ID) receives 39 instructions from the ACD bus 214 and latches them into 40 the instruction decoder by means of the valid instruction O 1 - - .2 fetch- data line 221 which is generated by the microinstruc- 3 tion sequencer in response to the state of the ISA and ISB 4 interface lines. The ID interprets the fields of the 5 instruction and generates the microinstructions (or starting 6 addresses for the longer microinstruction routines) which 7 are necessary to execute the macroinstruction. In addition, 8 the ID formats logical address information for subsequent • 9 transfer to holding registers on the execution unit. 10 The microinstruction sequencer- (MIS) 224 contains the 11 control circuitry for sequencing through the various micro- 12 instruction flows necessary to execute the macroinstructions. 13 The MIS receives starting addresses for microinstruction 14 routines from, the ID, decodes the microinstructions from a 15 microprogrammed ROM to control the microprogrammed 16 sequencing, and transfers the microinstructions over the 17 interchip bus to the execution unit where they are executed. 18 By monitoring ISA and ISB, the microinstruction sequencer is 19 able to determine when valid data is on the ACD bus 214. 20 For example, when ISA is high after the second cycle of a 21 data transfer, ISB is asserted high to indicate that valid 22 read information is on the bus. In response to this indi- 23 cation the microinstruction sequencer MIS generates a signal 24 on the line 221 to thereby energize AND circuit 223 thus 25 gating information on the ACD bus into the instruction 26 decoder 222. 27 Referring now to FIGURE 5, the microinstruction stream 28 is received by the execution unit over the interchip bus. 29 The interchip bus is connected to logic block 225 which 30 includes the data manipulation unit (DMU) , reference 31 generation unit (RGU) , and control unit (CU) logic which is 32 fully described in the above-described Colley et al patent 33 application. 34 Briefly, the DMU performs arithmetic, logical, and -- 35 execution operations on data brought in during the course 36 of program execution. The RGU builds 24-bit physical 37 addresses from logical addresses in the macroinstruction 38 and issues addresses. The control unit receives micro- 39 instructions from the instruction unit, retains them, and 40 exercises the DMU and the RGU. Many other functions are __,_ _ _ ^_._ 1 -12- 2 performed by the logic 225; however, for purposes of this 3 specification, only those functions which pertain to the 4 operation of the present invention are shown in FIGURE 5. 5 The execution unit drives a "null" specification on 6 the ACD. bus whenever there is no transaction in progress 7 by energizing line 236 which forces all ones onto the ACD 8 bus lines. Also, ISA is forced low. Once the execution 9 unit receives an access memory type of microinstruction 10 from the instruction unit, it generates the physical 11 address of the reference and stores it in address register 12 238. The least significant byte of the address is outputte 13 to GATE circuit 240. The most significant bytes in the 14 remainder- of the address are outputted to GATE circuit 242. 15 The logic 225 also composes control information specifying 16 the type of reference and the number of bytes to be trans- 17 ferred, whether the operation is a read or write operation 18 along with certain modifier bytes shown and described pre- 19 viously with respect to FIGURE 3. This control specifica- 20 tion is stored in a control specification register 244. Th 21 control specification register is outputted to GATE circuit 22 246. During cycle one, generated by the logic 225, GATE 23 circuits 240, 246 are energized to thus gate the low order 24 byte of the address from address register 238 along with 25 the control specification to the ACD bus 214. At the same 26 time the logic 225 asserts the ISA line 215 low. 27 During the next cycle, the logic 225 energizes the 28 cycle two line and disenergizes the cycle one line. This 29 causes GATE circuit 242 to be energized, thus forcing the 30 most significant bytes of the remainder of the address, 31 stored in register 238, onto the ACD bus. At the same 32 time the logic 225 asserts the ISA line 215 high. A 33 request is canceled (e.g., due to a bounds violation) by 34 asserting ISA low at this time. "" 35 The execution unit monitors the ISB line, 216, from 36 the bus interface unit. A low on the ISB line when a bus _ 37 transaction is not in .progress (ISA is low) indicates to 38 the processor that there is an interprocessor ccrπnunication 39 (IPC) waiting for it. The logic for performing this func- 40 tion is comprised of OR circuit 252, and AND circuit 254. - τT ISB has IPC significance whenever ISA is low, and during the first cycle (cycle two) that ISA is high except when ISB has error significance, which is during the last cycle of a transaction. In that situation when ISB is asserted high, this indicates a no error condition out of AND circuit 256. ISB is also used by the bus interface to indicate bus errors to the processor. ISB has error significance during the last cycle of a transaction. A low on ISB when it has error significance, AND circuit 256, indicates to the processor that a bus error was detected during the trans- action. During a bus transaction (ISA high) , ISB has "stretch" significance whenever it does not have IPC or error signifi- canσe. This is represented by the logic of AND circuit 259, which energizes AND circuits 258 and 260 whenever it is not cycle one, not cycle two, or not the last cycle of an operation. Under these conditions ISB is given stretch significance. Thus, during a read operation, an output from AND circuit 258 indicates to the logic 225 that valid data has been placed by the bus interface onto the ACD bus. Similarly, during a write operation, an output from AND circuit 260 indicates (ISB high) that data has been accepted by the bus interface unit. If the bus interface has not accepted the write data, the processor keeps the data on the ACD bus until it is accepted. As stated previously, if a read transaction is an instruction fetch, the data is latched into the instruction unit. If the read transaction is a data fetch, the data is latched into the execution unit by energizing data fetch line 262 which gates the information on the ACD bus into data register 266. Write transactions are initiated only by the execution unit. The bus interface unit shown in FIGURE 6 terminates and monitors the ACD bus 214 and the ISA line 215. AND circuit 268 detects a "null" pattern and provides an output signal, 269, to the specification decoder and control logic 270. When the interface changes from the nul specification (of all ones or some other predetermined bit pattern) , an output, 269, is generated and the specificatio decoder and control logic energizes cycle one line, 272, in response thereto. This line gates the ACD bus into the control specification register 278 and the least significan byte portion of the address register, loadable counter, 280. The control register is decoded. Depending upon the coding of the bits in accordance with FIGURE 3, either the memory access line 282 is energized or the other access line, 284, is energized. Further, the direction line 286 is energized for a write operation or deenergized for a read operation. If a write operation, is indicated, AND circuit 288 is ener- gized to gate subsequent data into the write data register, 290 via gate signal Gl. If a read operation is indicated, data is gated from the read data register 292 through driver circuit 294 onto the ACD bus under control of AND circuit 293 and gate signal G2. During cycle 2 line 296 is energized, thus gating the most significant bits of the address into the most signifi- cant bits portion of the address register, loadable counter, 280. The memory address in counter 280 is accepte ky the memory module if a memory access is indicated. Othe wise, the address.is accepted by another module. Similarly, the write data register output 273 is accepted by memory if specified, or by another module if a memory access is not specified. Two additional outputs are provided, buffer in (BIN) and buffer out (BOUT) , FIGURE 5, to control bus transceivers to buffer and isolate the processor from other processors. The use of buffers may.be desired in systems with heavy pin loading. BIN is asserted low when information is to enter the instruction unit or the execution unit on the ACD bus. BOUT is asserted high when information is to leave the execution unit on the ACD lines. The timing of BOUT and BIN is shown in FIGURES 7 and 8. In FIGURE 7 a 32-byte read access is shown. Since the ACD bus is two bytes in width (i.e., 16 bits), two read data cycles are necessary to transfer the information. Initially the ACD bus is asserted ' "null" (all ones) . The execution unit receives a 32-byte read access on the ICB (interchip bus). In response to this, it generates part of the address, and a control specification during cycle one of the transaction. During cycle two the execution unit 'raises ISA and places the remainder of the address on ACD. The execution unit lowers BOUT and BIN, thus energizing the input buffers. As soon as the interface unit has fetched the data from the memory address specified, it places the data on the ACD bus and asserts ISB positive during cycle five. It then lowers ISB and fetches the next data byte, taking into con- sideration the length information specified by the control bytes. The interface unit places the second two bytes of data on ACD and again raises ISB. During the last cycle ISB has error significance and is asserted low if an error has been detected by the bus interface unit. BIN and BOUT are asserted high at the end of the read transaction by the execution unit. FIGURE 8 is a timing diagram illustrating a minimum read timing. Here the read access would be for one or two bytes of data. FIGURE 9 is a timing diagram illustrating nominal write timing for a 32-bit write access. During cycle one part of the address and the entire control specification is placed on ACD. During cycle two ISA is asserted high and the remainder of the address is placed on ACD. During cycle three write data is placed on the ACD bus by the execution unit and the execution unit maintains the write data on the bus until the bus interface unit asserts ISB high. ISB asserted high indicates that the bus interface unit has accepted the write data. The execution unit can now place the second two bytes of write data on the ACD bus. The bus interface unit responds by asserting ISB high which is an indication to the execution unit that it can remove the write data from the ACD bus and go on to the next access. During the last cycle ISB has error significance. FIGURE 10 illustrates the minimum write timing. During the last cycle (which may be the first cycle of the next 2 transaction) the ISB line has error significance. 3 It will be understood from the foregoing description 4 of the various embodiments that additional modifications 5 and changes in form and details may be made without 6 departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as 7 claimed. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 " 16 17 18 19 20 . . . 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 - 35 36 37 38 39 40 ■ ^URE

Claims: ' CLAIMS CLAIM 1. For use with a microprocessor interface of the type having a bidirectional multiline bus for carrying an address, said bus having a number of lines which is less than the total number of bits comprising said address; an output line (ISA) ; an input line (ISB); means, connected to said bus, operative during a first cycle for placing a first portion of said address on a first portion of said bus lines, and a control specifica- tion on a second portion of said bus lines; and, means, connected to said bus, operative during a second, cycle following said first cycle for placing a second portion of said address on said first portion and said second portion of said bus lines; a bus interface unit comprising: logic means connected to said first portion and said second, portion of said bus lines, said logic means operative during said first cycle for decoding said control specifica- tion and for registering said address, said means including first address registering means operative during said first cycle for registering said first portion of said address and second address registering means operative during said second cycle for registering said second portion of said address; first means connected to said logic means for con- trolling the direction of data transfer; and, second means connected to said logic means for con- trolling the amount of data transferred, sai ' d first and second controlling means being operative in accordance with control information contained in said control specification. CLAIM 2. The combination in accordance with Claim 1 further comprising: means operative during a decoded read and a decoded write operation specified by said control information for asserting said input line in each cycle subsequent to said second cycle to thereby indicate that valid data has been 2 placed on said bus during a read operation and to indicate 3 that data has. been accepted during a write operation. 4 ■ CLAIM 3. The combination in accordance with Claim 1 5 further comprising: 6 means responsive to said first and second address 7 registering means for providing a memory address comprised 8 of said first portion and said second portion of said 9 address. 10 CLAIM 4. The combination in accordance with Claim 1 11 wherein said first and second address registering means 12 comprise a loadable counter, and said second means for 13 controlling the amount of data transferred include means 14 for incrementing said counter. 15 CLAIM 5. An off-chip interface logic for use with a 16 microprocessor chip, comprising: 17 means for terminating a single, bidirectional bus com- 18 prised of a number of lines which is less than the number 19 of lines necessary to carry a complete address word; 20 means for receiving an encoded control specification 21 on said bus during a first cycle of information transfer, 22 said control specification specifying the type of access, 23 the direction of transfer> and the length of data to be 24 moved; 25 means for terminating a simplex line from said micro- 26 processor chip for indicating that a bus transaction is 27. underway; and 28 means for energizing a simplex line into said micro- 29 processor chip, energizable to indicate, alternatively, to 30 said microprocessor chip that valid data has been placed 31 on said bus or accepted from said bus, respectively, during 32 a read operation or a write operation. 33 CLAIM 6. The combination in accordance with Claim 5 34 wherein said bidirectional bus terminating means comprises -- -35 means for detecting a predetermined pattern of energization 36 of said bidirectional bus lines. 37 CLAIM 7. The combination in accordance with Claim 5 38 wherein said bidirectional bus terminating means comprises: 39 an address register; 40 first means for gating a first portion of said bus 2 lines to a first portion of said address register, and, 3 second means for gating a second portion of said bus 4 lines to a second portion of said address register; 5 whereby a complete address may be constructed sequen- 6 tially during successive cycles of operation of said 7 bidirectional bus. 8 CLAIM 8. The combination in accordance with Claim 7 9 wherein said means for receiving an encoded control specifi- 10 cation includes means for decoding said specification to 11 provide signals specifying the type of access, the direction 12 of data transfer, and the length of data to be moved. 13 CLAIM 9. The combination in accordance with Claim 8 14 wherein said address register comprises a loadable counter, 15 and said.means for decoding said specification provides a 16 signal for incrementing said counter to provide sequential 17 addresses corresponding to sequential bytes of data being 18 moved. 19 CLAIM 10. The combination in accordance with Claim 5 20 further comprising means for indicating specific cycles of 21 a read or write operation wherein said simplex line has 22 status significance other than that valid data has been 23 placed on said bus or accepted from said bus, . respectively, 24 during said read or * write operation. 25 CLAIM 11. A method of transferring information 26 between a processor and at least one peripheral device over 27 a bidirectional bus, the number of lines comprising said 28 bus being less than the maximum number of bits comprising 29 transferrable data, said method comprising the steps of: 30 generating at least a. first portion of an address on a 31 first portion of said bus and a control specification on a 32 remaining portion of said bus during a first cycle, said 33 control specification including control information to 34 indicate to said peripheral device whether an operation is - 35 a memory access or another Input/Output device access, 36 whether the operation is a read or a write, and the number 37 of bytes of information to be transferred during subsequent 38 cycles; and 39 generating a signal on a first simplex line from said 40 processor to said peripheral device to indicate that a bus transaction is underway. CLAIM 12. The method in accordance with Claim 11 further comprising the step of: generating a predetermined pattern of bits on said bus prior to said first cycle, whereby said peripheral device is able to distinguish the beginning of said first cycle by detecting a change in said null pattern. CLAIM 13. The method in accordance with Claim 11 further comprising the step of: generating a signal on a second simplex line from said peripheral device to said processor during a decoded read and a decoded write operation specified by said control information to thereby indicate that valid data has been placed on said bus during a read operation and to indicate that data has been accepted during a write operation, respectively. CLAIM 14. The method in accordance with Claim 11 further comprising the steps of: generating a second portion of said address on said bus during a second cycle; and assembling said address at said peripheral device by combining said first portion of said address generated during said first cycle with said second portion of said address generated. during said second cycle. CLAIM 15. The method in. accordance with Claim 14 further comprising the step of: " incrementing said assembled address by a predetermined amount to provide a contiguous set of addresses to corre- spond with each cycle subsequent to said second cycle, whereby bytes of information transferred in accordance with the number of bytes indicated by said control specifi- cation are paired with a corresponding address. ////////// ////////// ////////// ////////// ////////// ////////// ////////// O

Inventors: JACKSON D
Applicants: INTEL CORP
Application year: 1980
Main classification: G06F3
IPC codes: G06F13, G06F15