Patent Publication Number: US-2021182221-A1

Title: Novel ssd architecture for fpga based acceleration

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION DATA 
     This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/752,612, filed Jan. 24, 2020, now allowed, which is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/122,865, filed Sep. 5, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,585,819, issued Mar. 10, 2020, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/638,904, filed Mar. 5, 2018, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/641,267, filed Mar. 9, 2018, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/642,568, filed Mar. 13, 2018, all of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. 
     This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/124,179, filed Sep. 6, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,585,843, issued Mar. 10, 2020, which is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. 
     This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/124,182, filed Sep. 6, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,592,463, issued Mar. 17, 2020, which is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. 
     This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/124,183, filed Sep. 6, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,592,443, issued Mar. 17, 2020, which is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The inventive concepts relate generally to storage devices, and more particularly to accelerating Solid State Drive (SSD) performance using additional hardware. 
     BACKGROUND 
     There are situations where using storage devices in conventional ways is inefficient. For example, consider a situation where a query needs to be run on a database. The conventional solution is to load the database into the memory of the computer, perform the query on the in-memory copy of the database, and then process the results. While such an approach might be reasonable where the database is relatively small, loading a database that contains thousands, millions, or more records, where the result of the query is to identify a single record in the database, is very inefficient. Huge amount of data need to be moved into memory to perform the query, likely displacing other data already stored in the memory. And then the majority of that data is discarded once the query has been performed, since most of the data is not needed after the query completes. This problem may be magnified when queries need to be performed against the database repeatedly: each query might require the database be loaded anew into memory. 
     A need remains for a way to accelerate operations involving storage devices. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a machine supporting accelerated operations on a storage device, according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 2  shows additional details of the machine of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  shows components of the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  and the storage device of  FIG. 1 , according to a first embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 4  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the first embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 5  shows components of the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  and the storage device of  FIG. 1 , according to a second embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 6  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the second embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 7  shows components of the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  and the storage device of  FIG. 1 , according to a third embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 8  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the third embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 9  shows components of the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  and the storage device of  FIG. 1 , according to a fourth embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 10  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the fourth embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 11  shows components of the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  and the storage device of  FIG. 1 , according to a fifth embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 12  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the fifth embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 13  shows components of the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  and the storage device of  FIG. 1 , according to a sixth embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 14  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the sixth embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 15  shows components of the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  and the storage device of  FIG. 1 , according to a seventh embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 16  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the seventh embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 17  shows components of the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  and the storage device of  FIG. 1 , according to an eighth embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 18  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the eighth embodiment of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 19  shows components of the system of  FIG. 1  with bridging components managing communications with the acceleration module of  FIG. 1 , according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
         FIGS. 20A-20B  show communications between the processor of  FIG. 1 , the acceleration module of  FIG. 1 , and the storage device of  FIG. 1 , according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 21  shows a flowchart of an example procedure for the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  to process PCIe transactions, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
         FIGS. 22A-22C  show a flowchart of a more detailed example procedure for the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  to process a PCIe transaction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
         FIGS. 23A-23B  show a flowchart of an example procedure for the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  to determine whether a PCIe transaction coming from the processor of  FIG. 1  includes an acceleration instruction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 24  shows a flowchart of an example procedure for the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  to determine whether a PCIe transaction coming from the storage device of  FIG. 1  includes an acceleration instruction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 25  shows a flowchart of an example procedure for the first bridging component of  FIG. 19  to determine whether a PCIe transaction coming from the processor of  FIG. 1  includes an acceleration instruction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
         FIG. 26  shows a flowchart of an example procedure for the second bridging component of  FIG. 19  to determine whether a PCIe transaction coming from the storage device of  FIG. 1  includes an acceleration instruction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
         FIGS. 27A-27C  show a flowchart of an example procedure for the storage device of  FIG. 1  to process a PCIe transaction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
         FIGS. 28A-28B  show a flowchart of an example procedure for the storage device of  FIG. 1  to determine whether a PCIe transaction coming from the acceleration module of  FIG. 1  includes an acceleration instruction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to enable a thorough understanding of the inventive concept. It should be understood, however, that persons having ordinary skill in the art may practice the inventive concept without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, circuits, and networks have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the embodiments. 
     It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first module could be termed a second module, and, similarly, a second module could be termed a first module, without departing from the scope of the inventive concept. 
     The terminology used in the description of the inventive concept herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the inventive concept. As used in the description of the inventive concept and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the term “and/or” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The components and features of the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. 
     Embodiments of the inventive concept propose a Solid State Drive (SSD) or other storage device architecture in which a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is used for acceleration certain data processing functions. An FPGA device is placed in front of or along side an SSD that provides a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) host interface. As the host transactions are received on the FPGA PCIe interface, those PCIe transactions are forwarded to the backend SSD Controller. The terms “SSD” and “SSD Controller” are used interchangeably and generally mean the same except where noted. The backend SSD implements a PCIe end point and a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) Controller. Hence, the host directly talks NVMe protocol to the backend SSD. That is to say, the PCIe interface from host to the backend SSD via the FPGA is of pass-through nature. The SSD performs the data transfers via direct memory accesses (DMAs) to/from host system memory. An FPGA Down-Stream Port (DSP) is programmed with a memory Filter Address Range (FAR) that is used as PCIe transaction filter. The DSP filters all the PCIe transactions falling in the FAR window and forwards them to the logic and memory on the FPGA. All the PCIe transactions not falling in the programmed FAR window belong to host system memory and are passed directly to the host. The SSD Controller programs the appropriate FAR window in the FPGA using a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) mechanism or other side band bus such as I 2 C/SMBus. The SSD Controller requests a block of address range through a PCIe Base Address Register (BAR) to the host. After the host BIOS has allocated the SSD Controller the requested address block, the SSD controller programs a subset of that address range in the FPGA DSP as the FAR window. The address range programmed in the DSP is used by the SSD Controller and the FPGA to communicate with each other. That is to say, with the host allocated address block, the SSD and the FPGA may share the PCIe bus with host transactions without interfering with each other or other PCIe devices in the PCIe hierarchy. Using this FAR window over the shared PCIe bus, the SSD controller may provide acceleration instructions and data to the FPGA. It is also possible for the FPGA or the host to use the shared PCIe bus and the above-mentioned address range to request data for acceleration from the SSD Controller. The FPGA may also use the same mechanism to provide acceleration results back to the SSD Controller. The proposed architecture and mechanism enables a low cost, and low power solution for SSD based application acceleration using FPGA devices. 
     Details of Proposed Solutions 
     The basic idea is that the FPGA and the SSD (and/or other storage device) work collectively (either as separate devices or merged into a single device) communicating with a host. There are three traffic streams: 
     1) From the host to the storage device. Communications from the host to the storage device are managed by the FPGA by simply forwarding all traffic through the FPGA, from the upstream port (USP) or endpoint (EP) to the downstream port (DSP) or root port or root complex port (RP), depending on the FPGA implementation, to be delivered to the EP of the storage device. The FPGA may include a physical function that is exposed to the host by the storage device to support NVMe communications between the host and the storage device. 
     2) Communication of acceleration instructions to the FPGA. In some embodiments of the inventive concept, acceleration instructions are handled in the following manner: an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) may run on the host. The ASM may communicate with the Acceleration Platform Manager (APM), which may include components as part of both the storage device (identified as APM-S) and the FPGA (identified as APM-F). The ASM on the host may use the NVMe protocol to tunnel acceleration instructions and related information to the SSD. The SSD then acts as the acceleration orchestrator relative to the FPGA: all acceleration instructions accepted by the APM-S are used to provide appropriate instructions to the APM-F using a proprietary interface. The proprietary interface is facilitated using an address space window. This address space window may be allocated within the host memory address map, at the request of the storage device (partly to facilitate communication using the NVMe protocol between the storage device and the host). Any instructions that use an address in the appropriate address space may be filtered by the FPGA for processing by the APM-F, rather than being communicated directly from either the host or the storage device to the other. Filtering may also be performed using a tag associated with the instruction, or using PCIe message-based filtering. This filtering may be performed by a filter connected to the DSP/RP that connects the FPGA to the storage device. 
     3) Communication between FPGA and SSD to fetch data for acceleration and processing of that data. In some embodiments of the inventive concept, acceleration is performed in the following manner: when the FPGA wants to fetch data for acceleration processing, the FPGA may send a request using the address space allocated within the host memory address map used for storage device-FPGA communication, as discussed above. 
     DSP Filter Architecture 
     This architecture proposes a method by which a PCIe bus between host and an SSD may be shared with an FPGA for accelerated data processing. 
     Logically speaking, an FPGA is operably placed in between a host and an SSD Controller. The host connects to an Up-Stream Port (USP) of FPGA and the SSD is connected to the Down-Stream Port (DSP) of the FPGA. The PCIe buses used to connect to the host and/or to the SSD may be x4 or x8 lanes, or any other desired width. The FPGA USP and DSP ports forward PCIe transactions—i.e., Transaction Layer Packets (TLPs)—in both the directions. The examples of PCIe TLP are Config Read, Config Write, Memory Read, and Memory Write. Hence, the host directly communicates with the SSD. The DSP port on the FPGA has a logic that filters all the PCIe transactions coming from the SSD Controller based on the programmed filter address range (FAR). The intercepted SSD Controller PCIe transactions are then directed to the Acceleration Platform Manager—FPGA (APM-F) block. The APM-F module communicates with the SSD Controller. The APM-F module receives data and acceleration instructions from the Acceleration Platform Manager—SSD (APM-S) firmware from the SSD Controller. The APM-F module then provides the received acceleration instructions and data to a runtime (RT) Scheduler. The RT Scheduler in turn programs the appropriate Acceleration Engines to perform data processing. 
     The use of the FPGA represents one possible implementation, but implementations other than the FPGA may be used. The FPGA may be implemented within the storage device. The FPGA supports accelerated data processing, which may be done close to the storage device rather than by fetching the data to the host memory and then processing the data on the host. Instead of fetching the data, the storage device/FPGA may receive queries and perform the processing locally. 
     The SSD Controller implements an NVMe protocol processing logic using a PCIe transport. As part of PCIe Configuration, the SSD Controller requests a block of host system address map for its own usage. The SSD Controller requests a block that is bigger than what it needs normally to support the NVMe protocol: some or all of the additional space may be used for managing communication between the storage device and the FPGA. For example, the NVMe protocol may need, say, a 64 KB address space; then in the proposed architecture the SSD Controller may request, say, a 10 MB address block. The SSD Controller uses part of the allocated address map to communicate with the FPGA in a host transparent manner. The subset of system address map reserved for SSD-FPGA communication is called as Filter Address Range (FAR). The SSD Controller then programs the FAR window in the FPGA DSP. The SSD Controller may use a side band bus such as I 2 C/SMBus to program the FAR window in the FPGA. The SSD Controller may also use a PCIe Vendor Defined Messages (VDM) to program the FAR window in the FPGA. 
     A Host Interface Logic (HIL) module implements the NVMe protocol and communicates with the NVMe driver running on the host. The HIL module interacts with a Flash Translation Layer (FTL) to execute normal host NVMe commands. Additionally, the HIL module intercepts special acceleration commands received from the host side and forwards them to the APM-S module. The APM-S may be implemented as firmware or firmware+hardware. The APM-S module may process the special acceleration commands and then prepare acceleration instructions and data to be sent to the APM-F module on the FPGA. The APM-S module then uses the Filter Address Range (FAR) addresses to send the acceleration information to the FPGA. The communication between APM-S and APM-F may be message-based. It is possible to use many different methods for such communication between APM-S and APM-F. 
     The proposed architecture and mechanism allows the SSD Controller to share the host PCIe bus to enable FPGA-based acceleration. Embodiments of the inventive concept provide a low cost and low power solution for application acceleration using an FPGA in an SSD. 
     DSP+USP Filter Architecture 
     In this architecture, the FPGA is made visible to the host in an indirect manner. The communication between FPGA and SSD remains the same as Proposed Solution 1. The SSD Controller may request a large system address space from the host. The SSD Controller may divide the allotted address block into three windows. One window is used for the NVMe Controller register address space. The second window is used for communication between the FPGA and the SSD, as described above. The third window is for communication between the host and the FPGA. The host may discover the location of FPGA device from a special NVMe register. The SSD Controller may advertise the third window in a special register that may be read by a host application to know the location of the FPGA device. The SSD Controller may also program the USP with the same address window so that USP may filter those transactions. The USP may filter all the transactions from the host falling in the third window&#39;s address space and may forward them to the FPGA acceleration logic. This mechanism may be used by the Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) on the host to communication acceleration instructions and data to the FPGA. 
     Thus, in some embodiments of the inventive concept, filtering may also be done based on traffic received by the FPGA from the host. That is, the host may also send acceleration instructions/data to the FPGA. A filter, similar to that connected to the DSP/RP of the FPGA, may be connected to the USP/EP of the FPGA as well. The host may use addresses in the address space requested by the storage device. The address(es) used by the host for host-FPGA communication may be part of the address space requested by the storage device for NVMe communication with the host (again, where the requested address space may be larger than the space needed for NVMe communication), or part of a separate address space within the host memory address map (for either a virtual function or for a second physical function, either of which is also exposed by the storage device to the host). Note that filtering at the USP/EP and at the DSP/RP may be done using different address ranges within the host memory address map, enabling the host to send instructions to either the storage device or the FPGA as needed (while still permitting the storage device to communicate with the FPGA as needed as well). 
     In embodiments of the inventive concept where a portion of the address space supports communication between the host and the FPGA, the FPGA may not be directly visible to the host. In that case, the ASM on the host may “discover” the FPGA by accessing an address written in a special register in the NVMe address space that identifies the address range used for host-FPGA communication. The ASM may discover the storage device via PCIe device tables and from there knows which register in the NVMe address space stores the pointer to the host-FPGA communication address space. 
     VF+DSP Filter Architecture 
     In this FPGA+SSD architecture, the SSD exposes one physical function (PF) and one virtual function (VF) to the host. The SSD Controller is exposed through the PF. The VF is used to expose the FPGA. The PF class code may indicate a mass storage device whereas the VF class code may be set to identify the FPGA. The SSD Controller PF may request a large system memory address block so that a subset of the memory address block may be used for communication between FPGA and the SSD through the FPGA DSP, and the SSD Controller VF may request its own memory address block for communications between the FPGA and the host through the FPGA USP. 
     The FPGA USP may be programmed with a different memory Filter Address Range and/or VF tag (FAR-USP) that may be used as PCIe transaction filter. The USP may filter all the PCIe transactions falling in the FAR window and/or all the PCIe transactions belonging to the VF and may forward them to the acceleration logic and memory on the FPGA. All the PCIe transactions that do not fall in the programmed FAR-USP window, or transactions that do not belong the VF, belong to SSD and may be passed directly to the SSD. The SSD Controller may program the appropriate FAR-USP window using a PCIe VDM mechanism or other side band bus such as I 2 C/SMBus to communicate this information. 
     This FAR address window may allow the ASM software running on the host to communicate with the APM-F. That is to say, the FPGA is directly visible to the host. The ASM software may use this PCIe address range to send acceleration orchestration instructions and data to the FPGA. The APM-F may then provide the received acceleration instructions and data to a runtime (RT) Scheduler. The RT Scheduler in turn programs the appropriate Acceleration Engines to perform data processing. The APM-F may also fetch data from the host memory or SSD storage. 
     PF+DSP Filter Architecture 
     This FPGA+SSD architecture is similar to Proposed Solution 3, except that the instead of using a VF, a second PF may be used to expose the FPGA to the host. The SSD Controller exposes two physical functions to the host. The first PF may be used for the SSD Controller, and the second PF may be used for the FPGA. The base address of the second PF may be programmed in the FAR-USP in the FPGA. Thus, the USP may filter all the transactions coming from the host that fall in the programmed address range (FAR-USP) for the second PF and may forward them to the FPGA. This mechanism may be used by the ASM running on the host to communicate with the FPGA. 
     By exposing either a virtual function or a (second) physical function to the host, an address space for host-FPGA communication may be requested from the host (either by the storage device or by the FPGA). Where a virtual function or a second physical function are exposed, the filter on the USP/EP may filter either based on the address range allocated for host-FPGA communication, or based on the exposed virtual function or exposed second physical function (for example, by filter number or some other tag). (A virtual function requires operating system support; exposing a second physical function provides an alternative solution to using a virtual function, if a second physical function is implemented/supported.) 
     PF+RP Filter Architecture 
     In this FPGA SSD architecture, the FPGA PCIe ports are endpoint (EP) and root port (RP), rather than USP and DSP. A difference between USP/DSP and EP/RP ports is that both EP/RP have their own PCIe Configuration spaces whereas USP/DSP ports do not. In an architecture according to these embodiments of the inventive concept, the FPGA may expose two PFs to the host (note that the FPGA exposes its own PF to the host, rather than the SSD offering a PF/VF that exposes the FPGA). The SSD EP may be connected to the RP on the FPGA. The first FPGA EP PF may be used to connect the host to the SSD directly, whereas the second FPGA EP PF may be used to connect the host to the FPGA. This mechanism may be used by the ASM running on the host to communicate with FPGA. SSD-FPGA communication may use part of the address space map between the FPGA RP and SSD EP. In some embodiments of the inventive concept, the first FPGA PF may request a large address space, and the BIOS-allocated address windows may be mapped/translated to the SSD Controller EP. Part of that address space may be used for local FPGA-SSD communication. In another embodiment of the inventive concept part of the address space allocated for the second FPGA EP PF may be used for communication between the FPGA and the SSD Controller. 
     PF+Dual Port SSD Architecture 
     In this FPGA-SSD architecture, a dual port SSD is used along with the FPGA. In this architecture, the FPGA (again, the FPGA exposes its own PFs, rather than the SSD offering a PF/VF that exposes the FPGA) may expose two PFs to the host. The SSD EP may be connected to an RP on the FPGA. The first FPGA EP PF may be used to connect the host to the SSD directly. All the host transactions coming for the second FPGA EP PF may be forwarded to the FPGA acceleration logic. The ASM software running on the host may use the second FPGA EP PF to communicate with the FPGA. 
     For FPGA-SSD communication (for acceleration processing), a second PCIe EP on the SSD may be used. Thus, the FPGA has two RPs connected to the SSD. The first EP port of the SSD may be used for communication with host for normal host storage accesses. The second EP on the SSD may be used to transfer any data needed in the FPGA for processing. 
     As noted, in embodiments of the inventive concept where the storage device may support two (or potentially more) ports, the FPGA may support two RPs to communicate with two EPs on the storage device. In such embodiments of the inventive concept, one RP on the FPGA (and its corresponding EP on the storage device) may be used to manage communication between the storage device and the host, and the other RP on the FPGA (and its corresponding EP on the storage device) may be used to manage communication between the storage device and the FPGA (for acceleration instructions/data). In such embodiments of the inventive concept, the RPs on the FPGA may support two address maps (one for each RP). Thus, the address map for the RP that supports communication between the host and the storage device may include space allocated for NVMe commands, and the other address map (for the RP that manages communication of acceleration instructions/data) may be entirely dedicated for such communication. Note that in such embodiments of the inventive concept, the host memory address map may omit any address space intended for the host to communicate acceleration instructions to the storage device, since all such instructions may be sent from the host to the FPGA (via the address space the FPGA requests be allocated within the host&#39;s memory address map for such communications). The FPGA may then process the instructions and forward instructions/data as needed to the storage device using the memory address map on the second RP dedicated for communication between the FPGA and the storage device. 
     Where EP/RPs are used instead of USP/DSP in the FPGA, the EP/RP may also support a PCIe configuration space, and the FPGA may expose its physical functions directly to the host (rather than leaving such function to the storage device). One physical function exposed by the FPGA may be used for directing communications from the host to the storage device; the other physical function may be used for communications between the host and the FPGA. In such embodiments of the inventive concept, the FPGA may request address space(s) be allocated from the host, rather than the storage device issuing such requests. 
     The EP/RP may also support their own memory maps. Thus, the FPGA may communicate with the host using the host&#39;s memory address map, and the FPGA may support its own memory address map which is used in communicating with the storage device. In such embodiments of the inventive concept, the FPGA may request space be allocated in the host&#39;s memory address map to support communication from the host to the storage device (with such communications occurring via the FPGA), and additional space be allocated in the host&#39;s memory address map to support communication from the host to the FPGA. The FPGA&#39;s memory address map may then include its own space allocation for communicating commands from the host to the storage device and for communicating acceleration instructions/data between the FPGA and the storage device. The FPGA may translate the address space used for communications between the host and the storage device to the address space used for communications between the FPGA and the storage device (which should be the same size). 
     Where the FPGA includes EPs/RPs, then the host sees the FPGA directly. This raises the question of what PCIe capabilities are exposed by the FPGA. The FPGA should expose the same PCIe capabilities as the storage device. So the FPGA may include a PCIe configuration monitor that sets up the EP PCIe configuration of the FPGA to match the SSD Controller EP PCIe configuration in the storage device. In addition, when the host changes the PCIe configuration of the EP of the FPGA, the PCIe configuration of the EP of the storage device may be similarly modified. 
     Embodiments of the inventive concept may support dividing components/functionality as described within the FPGA into multiple separate elements, provided the whole functionality is retained. FPGA components may be implemented using hardware, software/firmware, or a combination of the two. 
     In  FIG. 1 , machine  105  is shown. Machine  105  may include processor  110 . Processor  110  may be any variety of processor: for example, an Intel Xeon, Celeron, Itanium, or Atom processor, an AMD Opteron processor, an ARM processor, etc. While  FIG. 1  shows a single processor  110  in machine  105 , machine  105  may include any number of processors, each of which may be single core or multi-core processors, and may be mixed in any desired combination. Processor  110  may run device driver  115 , which may support access to storage device  120 , different device drivers may support access to other components of machine  105 . Throughout this document, storage device  120  will be described as Solid State Drive (SSD)  120 , but storage device  120  may be any other type of storage device that supports accelerated instructions as described in the embodiments of the inventive concept below. Processor  110  may also run application program  125 , which may be any application program that includes acceleration instructions, and Application Service Manager (ASM)  130 , which may be used to send acceleration instructions to be performed on data stored on storage device  120 . 
     Machine  105  may also include memory controller  135 , which may be used to manage access to main memory  140 . Memory  140  may be any variety of memory, such as flash memory, Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Persistent Random Access Memory, Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FRAM), or Non-Volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM), such as Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) etc. Memory  140  may also be any desired combination of different memory types. 
     Machine  105  may also include acceleration module  145 . Acceleration module  145  may assist processor  110  by performing acceleration instructions as requested by processor  110  on data stored on storage device  120 . Acceleration module  145  may be implemented using firmware alone, or a combination of hardware and firmware. Throughout this document, acceleration module  145  will be described as Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)  145 , but acceleration module  145  may be any other type of acceleration module that supports accelerated instructions as described in the embodiments of the inventive concept below. For example, acceleration module  145  may be implemented as or using an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), an In-Storage Computing (ISC) capability of an SSD, or other implementations. 
     Although  FIG. 1  depicts machine  105  as a server (which could be either a standalone or a rack server), embodiments of the inventive concept may include machine  105  of any desired type without limitation. For example, machine  105  could be replaced with a desktop or a laptop computer or any other machine that may benefit from embodiments of the inventive concept. Machine  105  may also include specialized portable computing machines, tablet computers, smartphones, and other computing machines. In addition, while  FIG. 1  shows machine  105  as including storage device  120 , application program  125 , and ASM  130 , embodiments of the inventive concept could have these components in separate machines: for example, storage device  120  might be installed on a server that is connected to machine  105  (and application program  125  and ASM  130 ) via a network connection traversing one or more networks of any types (wired, wireless, global, etc.). 
     Regardless of the specific arrangements of the components shown in  FIG. 1 , the terms “host”, “host machine”, or “host processor” may also be used to describe machine  105 . This may distinguish processor  110  from other components of the inventive concept. 
     Among the components of  FIG. 1 , there are three traffic streams of particular interest to embodiments of the inventive concept (there may be other traffic streams as well, that are not pertinent to embodiments of the inventive concept): 
     1) Host to storage device  120 . The host (processor  110 ) may send communications to storage device  120 . In embodiments of the inventive concept all such traffic passes through acceleration module  145 , and should not be prevented from reaching storage device  120  by acceleration module  145 . Examples of such traffic may include commands to read data from and/or write data to storage device  120 : other commands offered by storage device  120  may also be included such traffic. 
     2) ASM  130  to acceleration module  145 . ASM  130  may request certain acceleration instructions be performed. Somehow, regardless of the particular embodiment of the inventive concept, acceleration module  145  should receive the acceleration instructions from ASM  130 . 
     3) Acceleration module  145  to storage device  130 . In order to perform acceleration instructions, acceleration module  145  may need to fetch or receive data from storage device  130 . 
       FIG. 2  shows additional details of the machine of  FIG. 1 . In  FIG. 2 , typically, machine  105  includes one or more processors  110 , which may include memory controllers  135  and clocks  205 , which may be used to coordinate the operations of the components of device  105 . 
     Processors  110  may also be coupled to memories  140 , which may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), or other state preserving media, as examples. Processors  110  may also be coupled to storage devices  120 , and to network connector  210 , which may be, for example, an Ethernet connector or a wireless connector. Processors  110  may also be connected to buses  215 , to which may be attached user interfaces  220  and Input/Output interface ports that may be managed using Input/Output engines  225 , among other components. 
     First Example Embodiment 
       FIG. 3  shows components of FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1  and SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 , according to a first embodiment of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 3 , processor  110 , FPGA,  145 , and SSD  120  are shown communicating. In  FIG. 3 , processor  120 , FPGA  145 , and SSD  120  may communicate over a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) bus. The PCIe bus may use any number of lanes: typical examples are x4 and x8, but embodiments of the inventive concept may use any other desired number of lanes. These communications may include PCIe transactions, which may be a transaction layer packet (TLP) encoding a command using a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) protocol, but embodiments of the inventive concept may extend to include communications using a different encoding, or commands in a different protocol. 
     SSD  120  may include endpoint  305 , host interface layer (HIL)  310 , SSD Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-S)  315 , flash translation layer (FTL)  320 , and flash media  325 . Endpoint  305  may be the logical or physical connection point at which SSD  120  may receive and send PCIe communications. When SSD  120  receives a PCIe transaction at endpoint  305  from processor  110  (via FPGA  145 ), SSD  120  may deliver the PCIe transaction to HIL  310 . HIL  310  may then determine whether the PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction or not. If the PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction, HIL  310  may forward the PCIe transaction (or the acceleration instruction itself, unpacked from the PCIe transaction) to APM-S  315  for processing: APM-S  315  may be implemented using firmware alone or a combination of hardware and firmware. Otherwise, HIL  310  may deliver the PCIe transaction (or the unpacked NVMe command) to FTL  320 , where FTL  320  may translate a Logical Block Address (LBA) used by the application program  125  of  FIG. 1  to a Physical Block Address (PBA), and access the data stored on flash media  325 . 
     There are basically two different types of acceleration instructions that APM-S  315  might process. The first type of acceleration instruction is a special command from processor  110 . In the first embodiment of the inventive concept, FPGA  145  is not visible to processor  110 : processor  110  sends all its communications to SSD  120 . When processor  110  wants an acceleration instruction to be performed on application data, processor  110  may send a special command to SSD  120 . Processor  110  may use an NVMe command to tunnel the special command/acceleration instructions to SSD  120 . HIL  310  may intercept this special command, which may be delivered to APM-S  315 . APM-S  315  may then generate an acceleration instruction in response to the special command, which may be sent back to FPGA  145  to perform the acceleration instruction. This special command might, for example, encode the specific type of acceleration instruction to be executed, and the data on which the acceleration command instruction is to be performed. 
     The second type of acceleration instruction that APM-S  315  might process would involve data. For example, FPGA  145  may not have direct access to flash media  325 , and therefore might not be able perform an acceleration instruction without receiving the data on which the acceleration instruction is to be performed. Thus, APM-S  315  might receive from FPGA  145  an acceleration instruction requesting the data in question. APM-S  315  may then access the requested data and return it to FPGA  145 , to permit FPGA  145  to perform the acceleration instruction. 
     In  FIG. 3  SSD  120  is shown including FTL  320  and flash media  325 , which are appropriate for use in SSDs. If SSD  120  is replaced with an alternative storage device, these components may be replaced with alternative components appropriate to the form of the storage device. For example, if SSD  120  is replaced with a hard disk drive, flash media  325  may be replaced with hard disk platters. Additional components may also be included to support data access: continuing the example of a hard disk drive storage device, the storage device may also include read/write heads as appropriate. 
     Before FPGA  145  may intercept communications between processor  110  and SSD  120 , SSD  120  may request a block of host memory addresses from processor  110 . This request for a block of host memory system addresses is conventional when using PCIe transactions, and may be performed at start up or at a later time. In response, processor  110  (or the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) of machine  105  of  FIG. 1 ) may allocate a block of host memory system addresses for use by SSD  120 . The host machine then knows that this block of host memory system addresses is not available for use by other devices in machine  105  of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 4  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the first embodiment of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 4 , SSD  120  may request a block of host memory system addresses. Note that while the amount of memory needed to support NVMe communications between processor  110  and SSD  120  may be relatively small—for example, 64 KB—SSD  120  may request a much larger block—for example, 10 MB or more. In response, processor  110  may return block of host memory system addresses  405 . One end of block  405  may be stored in a Base Address Register (BAR), enabling SSD  120  to determine block  405  based on the BAR (and with the knowledge of SSD  120  of the size of the block requested). 
     Once SSD  120  knows what addresses are in block  405 , SSD  120  may divide block  405  into different regions for its use. One subset  410  of block  405  may be used for NVMe communications. Another subset  415  may be left unused. And a third subset—termed downstream Filter Address Range (FAR)  420  (“downstream” because any filtering is done downstream from processor  110 )—may be dedicated for communications between SSD  120  and FPGA  145 . Note that downstream FAR  420  may be used by both SSD  120  and FPGA  145 : either may use an address in downstream FAR  420  to indicate that the PCIe transaction in question includes an acceleration instruction. 
     Returning to  FIG. 3 , if SSD  120  sends a communication using an address in downstream FAR  420 , FPGA  145  may receive the communication at downstream port  330 , intercept the communication and process it locally rather than forwarding that communication to processor  110 . Any communications received by FPGA  145  at downstream port  335  from SSD  120  not involving downstream FAR  420  may be delivered to processor  110  by FPGA  145  via upstream port  330 . (Any communications FPGA  145  receives from processor  110  at upstream port  330  may be delivered to SSD  120  via downstream port  335  automatically.) 
     FPGA  145  may be positioned between processor  110  and SSD  120 , so that FPGA  145  may intercept communications between processor  110  and SSD  120 . By intercepting such communications, FPGA  145  may perform acceleration instructions requested by SSD  120 . 
     To perform acceleration instructions, FPGA  145  may include upstream port  330 , downstream port  335 , FPGA Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-F)  340 , scheduler  345 , and acceleration engines  350 - 1  and  350 - 2 . Upstream port  330  may be used to communicate with processor  110 ; downstream port  335  may be used to communicate with SSD  120 . APM-F  340  is responsible for receiving any acceleration instructions that FPGA  145  has intercepted. These acceleration instructions may be received as messages from downstream port  335  using message mailbox  355 , but embodiments of the inventive concept may extend to other mechanisms for APM-F to receive acceleration instructions. Once an acceleration instruction is received, APM-F  340  may process the acceleration instruction. For example, if FPGA  145  has enough information to be able to perform the acceleration instruction, APM-F  340  may pass the acceleration instruction to scheduler  345  (which may also be termed a “runtime scheduler”), which may then schedule the acceleration instruction with any available acceleration engine, such as acceleration engines  350 - 1  and  350 - 2 . While  FIG. 3  shows two acceleration engines  350 - 1  and  350 - 2 , embodiments of the inventive concept may include any desired number of acceleration engines: two are shown in  FIG. 3  merely for exemplary purposes. Alternatively, if FPGA  145  needs additional information to perform the acceleration instruction—for example, FPGA  145  needs the data on which the acceleration instruction is to be performed—APM-F  340  may take another action, such as sending a PCIe transaction to SSD  120 , requesting the necessary data. 
     To determine whether a particular PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction, FPGA  145  may include downstream filter  360 , associated with downstream port  335 . Downstream filter  335  may identify PCIe transactions issued from SSD  120  that may include acceleration instructions. This may be done in any desired manner. In some embodiments of the inventive concept, SSD  120  may program downstream filter  360  with downstream FAR  420  of  FIG. 4 . Then, when downstream filter  360  identifies a PCIe transaction that uses an address in downstream FAR  420  of  FIG. 4 , FPGA  145  may identify the PCIe transaction as including an acceleration instruction and intercept the PCIe transaction. SSD  120  may program downstream filter  360  in any desired manner. For example, SSD  120  may use sideband bus  365 , such as an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus or a System Management Bus (SMBus), to program downstream filter  360 . Or SSD  120  may use a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) to program downstream filter  360 . SSD  120  may also use other mechanisms to program downstream filter  360 . 
     In  FIG. 3 , FPGA  145  is shown including the parts that enable communication with processor  110  and SSD  120 : specifically, upstream port  330 , downstream port  335 , and downstream filter  360 . While FPGA  145  does need some mechanism by which it communicates with processor  110  and SSD  120 , embodiments of the inventive concept may separate the communicative elements from FPGA  145 . For example, downstream port  335  and downstream filter  360 —the latter of which is responsible for identifying which PCIe transactions received from SSD  120  involve acceleration instructions (and should be redirected to APM-F  340 ) instead of being delivered to processor  120 —might be placed in a bridging component (not shown in  FIG. 3 ) between FPGA  145  and SSD  120 . Since such a bridging component would need to communicate with FPGA  145  and SSD  120 , FPGA  145  would still include downstream port  335  (or an alternative structure enabling communication with the bridging component): but downstream filter  360  might then be removed from FPGA  145 . 
     The first embodiment of the inventive concept, as described above, represents one possible combination of processor/FPGA/SSD implementations. Other implementations are also possible, described below as other embodiments of the inventive concept. Where there are no differences between the operations of particular components (for example, the operations of APM-F  340 , scheduler  345 , and acceleration engines  350 - 1  and  350 - 2 ), repeat description of their operations is omitted in subsequent embodiments of the inventive concept. 
     Second Example Embodiment 
       FIG. 5  shows components of FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1  and SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 , according to a second embodiment of the inventive concept. The second embodiment of the inventive concept is similar to the first embodiment of the inventive concept, except that upstream port  330  also includes a filter: upstream filter  505 . Upstream filter  505  may filter PCIe transactions coming from processor  110  (received via upstream port  330 ) in a manner similar to downstream filter  360 . For example, SSD  120  may define an upstream FAR similar to downstream FAR  420  of  FIG. 4  and program upstream filter  505  with the upstream FAR using sideband bus  365 , a PCIe VDM, or any other mechanism. Then, when FPGA  145  receives a PCIe transaction from processor  110  at upstream port  330 , upstream filter  505  may check the PCIe transaction to see if it includes an address in the upstream FAR. If so, then the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction, and FPGA  145  may route the PCIe transaction to APM-F  340  for processor rather than delivering the PCIe transaction to SSD  120 . 
       FIG. 6  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the second embodiment of the inventive concept. Like in the first embodiment of the inventive concept, SSD  120  may request a block of host system memory addresses that is larger than the range of addresses SSD  120  needs to support NVMe commands, and may receive block  405  in response with its BAR. SSD  120  may then set aside one subset  410  of block  405  for NVMe communications, another subset  415  may be unused, a third subset may be set aside as downstream FAR  420 , and a fourth subset may be set aside as upstream FAR  605 . 
     Returning to  FIG. 5 , in the second embodiment of the inventive concept, processor  110  still does not directly “see” FPGA  145 , as FPGA  145  is not a discoverable device. But SSD  120  may inform processor  110  of upstream FAR  605  of  FIG. 6  by programming the base address of upstream FAR  605  of  FIG. 6  in a special register in subset  410  of  FIG. 6  for NVMe communications. Upon reading this special register from subset  410  of  FIG. 6  for NVMe communications, processor  110  may become aware of upstream FAR  605  of  FIG. 6 . Then processor  110  may send acceleration instructions to FPGA  145  (via upstream port  330 ), rather than sending a special command to APM-S  315  of SSD  120 , which then becomes responsible for issuing the acceleration instruction to FPGA  145 . 
     In  FIG. 5 , like in  FIG. 3 , FPGA  145  is shown including the parts that enable communication with processor  110  and SSD  120 : specifically, upstream port  330 , upstream filter  505 , downstream port  335 , and downstream filter  360 . As with the embodiments of the inventive concept shown in  FIG. 3 , the components relating to filtering of PCIe transactions may be removed from FPGA  145 . Thus, in the second embodiment of the inventive concept, upstream port  330  and upstream filter  335  may be placed in a first bridging component and downstream port  335  and downstream filter  360  may be placed in a second bridging component, each handling filtering of PCIe transactions different components of  FIG. 5 . Alternatively, only one of these bridging components might be used (with FPGA  145  handling its own filtering for communications from the other source), or a single bridging component may be used to handle all filtering for FPGA  145 , regardless of the source of the PCIe transaction. 
     Third Example Embodiment 
       FIG. 7  shows components of FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1  and SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 , according to a third embodiment of the inventive concept. In the third embodiment of the inventive concept, SSD  120  includes physical function (PF)  705  and virtual function (VF)  710 . (Note that the third embodiment of the inventive concept is not meant to imply that other embodiments of the inventive concept do not include PFs and/or VFs, just that they are not used in the same manner as in the third embodiment of the inventive concept.) PF  705  represents a single resource, such as a function offered by SSD  120 . VF  710  represents a function that is associated with a PF, but is “virtualized”: that is, for a given PF there may be more than one VF. But instead of representing a virtual function of SSD  120 , VF  710  may “expose” FPGA  145 : that is, VF  710  may represent the functionality of FPGA  145 . (VF  710  is still part of SSD  120  and not part of FPGA  145 ; but with VF  710  dedicated to expose FPGA  145 , any memory addresses associated with VF  710  would not conflict with other devices.) Since PFs and VFs may be discovered by processor  110  when the PCIe devices are enumerated, processor  110  may indirectly discover FPGA  145  through VF  710  even though it is not directly discoverable itself. 
       FIG. 8  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the third embodiment of the inventive concept. Like in the first embodiment of the inventive concept, SSD  120  may request a block of host system memory addresses that is larger than the range of addresses SSD  120  needs to support NVMe commands. But SSD  120  may actually request two different blocks of host system memory addresses: block  805  for PF  705 , and block  810  for VF  710 . Downstream FAR  420  may be selected as a subset of block  805  for PF  705 ; upstream FAR  605  may be the entirety of block  810  for VF  710 . (Upstream FAR  605  could be selected as just a subset of block  810 ; but since block  810  is dedicated for use by VF  710  and VF  710  may have no other purpose than to effectively expose FPGA  145 , any memory addresses in block  810  that are not used as part of upstream FAR  605  may be wasted.) Each of blocks  805  and  810  has a separate BAR, enabling SSD  120  to know the range of addresses allocated for each block. 
     Returning to  FIG. 7 , similar to the second embodiment of the inventive concept, upstream port  330  also includes a filter: VF filter  715 . VF filter  715  may filter PCIe transactions coming from processor  110  (received via upstream port  330 ) in a manner similar to downstream filter  360 . For example, SSD  120  may program VF filter  715  with upstream FAR  605  using sideband bus  365 , a PCIe VDM, or any other mechanism. Then, when FPGA  145  receives a PCIe transaction from processor  110  at upstream port  330 , VF filter  715  may check the PCIe transaction to see if it includes an address in upstream FAR  605 . If so, then the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction, and FPGA  145  may route the PCIe transaction to APM-F  340  for processor rather than delivering the PCIe transaction to SSD  120 . 
     As an alternative, SSD  120  may program VF filter  715  with an identifier of VF  710 . VF filter  715  may then examine a PCIe transaction received from processor  110  at upstream port  330  to see if it includes the identifier of VF  710 . If the PCIe transaction includes the identifier of VF  710 , then FPGA  145  may route the PCIe transaction to APM-F  340  for processor rather than delivering the PCIe transaction to SSD  120 . 
     In  FIG. 7 , as in the earlier embodiments of the inventive concept, FPGA  145  is shown including the parts that enable communication with processor  110  and SSD  120 : specifically, upstream port  330 , VF filter  715 , downstream port  335 , and downstream filter  360 . As with the embodiments of the inventive concept shown earlier, the components relating to filtering of PCIe transactions may be removed from FPGA  145 . Thus, in the third embodiment of the inventive concept, upstream port  330  and VF filter  715  may be placed in a first bridging component and downstream port  335  and downstream filter  360  may be placed in a second bridging component, each handling filtering of PCIe transactions different components of  FIG. 7 . Alternatively, only one of these bridging components might be used (with FPGA  145  handling its own filtering for communications from the other source), or a single bridging component may be used to handle all filtering for FPGA  145 , regardless of the source of the PCIe transaction. 
     Fourth Example Embodiment 
     One problem with using VF  710  to expose FPGA  145  is that using VFs may require support from the host operating system of processor  110 . While some operating systems support VFs, not all operating systems support VFs, and supporting VFs entails its own complexity for the operating system. A fourth embodiment of the inventive concept addresses the difficulties of using VFs. 
       FIG. 9  shows components of FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1  and SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 , according to a fourth embodiment of the inventive concept. In contrast with the third embodiment of the inventive concept, in the fourth embodiment of the inventive concept, SSD  120  includes two PF  705  and  905 . (Like the third embodiment of the inventive concept, the fourth embodiment of the inventive concept is not meant to imply that other embodiments of the inventive concept do not include PFs and/or VFs.) PF  705  continues to represent a single resource, such as a function offered by SSD  120 . PF  905 , on the other hand, exposes FPGA  145 . Again, since PFs may be discovered by processor  110  when the PCIe devices are enumerated, processor  110  may indirectly discover FPGA  145  through PF  905  even though it is not directly discoverable itself. 
       FIG. 10  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the fourth embodiment of the inventive concept. Like in the third embodiment of the inventive concept, SSD  120  may request two different blocks of host system memory addresses: block  1005  for PF  705 , and block  1010  for PF  905 . Downstream FAR  420  may be selected as a subset of block  1005  for PF  705 ; upstream FAR  605  may be the entirety of block  1010  for PF  905 . (Again, upstream FAR  605  could be selected as just a subset of block  1010 ; but since block  1010  is dedicated for use by PF  905  and PF  905  may have no other purpose than to effectively expose FPGA  145 , any memory addresses in block  1010  that are not used as part of upstream FAR  605  may be wasted.) Each of blocks  1005  and  1010  has a separate BAR, enabling SSD  120  to know the range of addresses allocated for each block. 
     Returning to  FIG. 9 , similar to the third embodiment of the inventive concept, upstream port  330  also includes a filter: PF filter  715  (PF filter  715  is virtually identical to VF filter  715  of  FIG. 7  in operation, and the name change is more to correlate with the type of function used to expose FPGA  145  than because PF filter  715  operates differently from VF filter  715 ). PF filter  715  may filter PCIe transactions coming from processor  110  (received via upstream port  330 ) in a manner similar to downstream filter  360 . For example, SSD  120  may program PF filter  715  with upstream FAR  605  using sideband bus  365 , a PCIe VDM, or any other mechanism. Then, when FPGA  145  receives a PCIe transaction from processor  110  at upstream port  330 , PF filter  715  may check the PCIe transaction to see if it includes an address in upstream FAR  605 . If so, then the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction, and FPGA  145  may route the PCIe transaction to APM-F  340  for processor rather than delivering the PCIe transaction to SSD  120 . 
     As an alternative, SSD  120  may program PF filter  715  with an identifier of PF  905 . PF filter  715  may then examine a PCIe transaction received from processor  110  at upstream port  330  to see if it includes the identifier of PF  905 . If the PCIe transaction includes the identifier of PF  905 , then FPGA  145  may route the PCIe transaction to APM-F  340  for processor rather than delivering the PCIe transaction to SSD  120 . 
     In  FIG. 9 , as in the earlier embodiments of the inventive concept, FPGA  145  is shown including the parts that enable communication with processor  110  and SSD  120 : specifically, upstream port  330 , PF filter  715 , downstream port  335 , and downstream filter  360 . As with the embodiments of the inventive concept shown earlier, the components relating to filtering of PCIe transactions may be removed from FPGA  145 . Thus, in the fourth embodiment of the inventive concept, upstream port  330  and PF filter  715  may be placed in a first bridging component and downstream port  335  and downstream filter  360  may be placed in a second bridging component, each handling filtering of PCIe transactions different components of  FIG. 9 . Alternatively, only one of these bridging components might be used (with FPGA  145  handling its own filtering for communications from the other source), or a single bridging component may be used to handle all filtering for FPGA  145 , regardless of the source of the PCIe transaction. 
     Fifth Example Embodiment 
     The fourth embodiment of the inventive concept addresses the difficulties of using a VF, as in the third embodiment of the inventive concept. But to use the fourth embodiment of the inventive concept, SSD  120  needs to offer PF  905  dedicated for the use of FPGA  145 . Not every SSD (or more generally, storage device) has an available PF that may be dedicated for the use of FPGA  145 . A fifth embodiment of the inventive concept provides a solution whereby SSD  120  does not need to offer multiple PFs. 
       FIG. 11  shows components of FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1  and SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 , according to a fifth embodiment of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 11 , SSD  120  returns to the structure shown in  FIGS. 3 and 5 , not needing to offer PFs and/or VFs. (Again, this is not to say that SSD  120  may not offer PFs and/or VFs, just that SSD  120  is not required to offer additional PFs and/or VFs.) 
     In comparison with the first through fourth embodiments of the inventive concept, in the fifth embodiment of the inventive concept FPGA  145  is somewhat different. Instead of including upstream port  330  and downstream port  335  as in  FIGS. 3, 5, 7, and 9 , FPGA  145  may include endpoint  1105  and root port  1110  (the term “port” may be used interchangeably with “root port”). Whereas upstream port  330  and downstream port  335  of  FIGS. 3, 5, 7, and 9  may be thought of as switches—they are effectively pass-through devices—endpoint  1105  and root port  1110  are termination points for communications, discoverable through PCIe enumeration. This fact means that endpoint  1105  and root port  1110  include their own PCIe configuration spaces, discussed below with reference to  FIG. 12 . But since endpoint  1105  and root port  1110  are termination points for communications, processor  110  and SSD  120  direct their communications to endpoint  1105  and root port  1110 , respectively, rather than directing communications to each other. 
     Endpoint  1105  may include two PFs  1115  and  1120  (or alternatively, one PF and one VF: all that matters is that endpoint  1105  includes two functions that may be distinguished from each other). When processor  110  sends a PCIe transaction to endpoint  1105 , processor  110  may specify which PFs is being addressed. Similar to the third and fourth embodiments of the inventive concept described above, endpoint  1105  may identify which PF is being addressed by a tag included in the PCIe transaction that identifies the PF, or by an address associated with the PCIe transaction (again, discussed below with reference to  FIG. 12 ). PCIe transactions that identify PF  1115  may be considered destined for SSD  120  and may be sent by FPGA  145  to SSD  120  via root port  1110 . PCIe transaction that identify PF  1120  may be considered to include acceleration instructions, and may be routed to APM-F  340 . 
     Root port  1110  may include downstream filter  360 . Downstream filter  360  operates similarly to downstream filter  360  of  FIGS. 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 : the only significant difference is that downstream filter does not filter based on host system memory addresses, but rather based on FPGA memory addresses, as discussed below with reference to  FIG. 12 . Downstream filter  360  may be programmed with downstream FAR  410  by SSD  120  using sideband bus  365 , a PCIe VDM, or any other desired mechanism. 
     FPGA  145  may also include configuration monitor  1125 . Because FPGA  145  is not replacing SSD  120  but merely offering an additional functionality, and because FPGA  145  is interposed between processor  110  and SSD  120 , it is important for processor  110  to be able to see the functionality offered by SSD  120 . More particularly, FPGA  145  should advertise the capabilities that match the PCIe configuration space of SSD  120 . To that end, configuration monitor  1125  may replicate the PCIe configuration space of SSD  120 , thereby offering processor  110  the same PCIe configuration as SSD  120  would present. 
       FIG. 12  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the fifth embodiment of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 12 , SSD  120  does not request a block of host system memory addresses, since SSD  120  is not communicating directly with processor  110  anymore. Instead, SSD  120  requests block  1205  of FPGA memory addresses from address map  1210 , which includes the configuration space for root port  1110 . Block  1205  may include subset  410  for NVMe communications with processor  110 , and downstream FAR  420 . Block  1205  may be identified by a BAR. 
     To provide a mechanism by which processor  110  may communicate with SSD  120  as would be expected without FPGA  145 , FPGA  145  may request host system memory addresses from processor  110 . To parallel block  1205  as requested by SSD  120  of FPGA  145 , FPGA  145  may request block  1215  for PF  1115 , which should be at least as large as block  1205  (thereby appearing as though SSD  120  had requested block  1215  from processor  110 ). Block  1215  is labeled “Host-FPGA-SSD” in  FIG. 12  to reflect that PCIe transactions using addresses in block  1215  are for communication between the host and SSD  120 , but pass through FPGA  145 . FPGA  145  may also request block  1220  for PF  1120 , providing a mechanism for processor  110  to communicate with APM-F  340  about acceleration instructions. Blocks  1215  and  1220  may each be identified by two separate BARs. In yet another embodiment of the inventive concept it is possible to use part of block  1220  as downstream FAR  420  to facilitate communication between FPGA  145  and SSD  120 . 
     In  FIG. 11 , as in the earlier embodiments of the inventive concept, FPGA  145  is shown including the parts that enable communication with processor  110  and SSD  120 : specifically, endpoint  1105 , PFs  1115  and  1120 , root port  1110 , and downstream filter  360 . As with the embodiments of the inventive concept shown earlier, the components relating to filtering of PCIe transactions may be removed from FPGA  145 . Thus, in the fifth embodiment of the inventive concept, endpoint  1105  and PFs  1115  and  1120  may be placed in a first bridging component and root port  1110  and downstream filter  360  may be placed in a second bridging component, each handling filtering of PCIe transactions different components of  FIG. 11 . Alternatively, only one of these bridging components might be used (with FPGA  145  handling its own filtering for communications from the other source), or a single bridging component may be used to handle all filtering for FPGA  145 , regardless of the source of the PCIe transaction. 
     Sixth Example Embodiment 
     The fifth embodiment of the inventive concept still relies on downstream filter  360  to separate acceleration instructions (between SSD  120  and FPGA  145 ) from conventional PCIe transactions (between processor  110  and SSD  120 ). Downstream filter  360  may be eliminated where SSD  120  includes a second endpoint, as in a sixth embodiment of the inventive concept. 
       FIG. 13  shows components of FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1  and SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 , according to a sixth embodiment of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 13 , FPGA includes two root ports  1110  and  1305 , rather than just the one root port  1110  shown in the embodiment of  FIG. 11 . Root port  1110  may be used for conventional PCIe transactions originating from processor  110 ; root port  1305  may be used for acceleration instructions and data exchanged between SSD  120  and FPGA  145 . 
     Since acceleration instructions are naturally separated from conventional PCIe transactions originating from processor  110  using different root ports  1110  and  1305 , there is no need for downstream filter  360  of  FIGS. 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 . This fact means that SSD  120  is relieved of the burden to program downstream filter  360  in FPGA  360 , just like SSD  120  was relieved of the burden to program upstream filters  505  and  715  of  FIGS. 5, 7, and 9  (as FPGA  145  in  FIGS. 11 and 13  may distinguish between conventional PCIe transactions and acceleration instructions based on the associated PF). The offset for this benefit is that SSD  120  includes two endpoints  305  and  1310 , to communicate with root ports  1110  and  1305  of FPGA  145 , respectively. 
     Because SSD  120  includes two endpoints  305  and  1310  in the sixth embodiment of the inventive concept, each of endpoints  305  and  1310  may request its own block of memory addresses from FPGA  145 . Furthermore, since each of root ports  1110  and  1305  includes its own configuration space, endpoints  305  and  1310  of SSD  120  may request a block of memory addresses from different configuration spaces.  FIG. 14  illustrates this scenario. 
       FIG. 14  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the sixth embodiment of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 14 , endpoint  305  of SSD  120  may request block  1405  from address map  1210 , which includes the configuration space for root port  1110 . But since conventional PCIe transactions (between processor  110  and SSD  120 ) and acceleration instructions (between FPGA  145  and SSD  120 ) are naturally separated by the use of different root ports on FPGA  145  and different endpoints on SSD  120 , SSD  120  does not need to request block  1405  to be large enough to include a downstream FAR. Thus, block  1405  only needs to be as large as it might be without FPGA  145 : that is, large enough to support NVMe communications between processor  110  and SSD  120 . Block  1405  may be identified by a BAR. 
     Endpoint  1310  of SSD  120  may request its own block of memory addresses from address map  1410 . But since root port  1305  and endpoint  1310  are used just to exchange acceleration instructions in the sixth embodiment of the inventive concept, the entirety of address map  1410  may be used for such PCIe transactions: there is no need for endpoint  1310  to request merely a small block of address map  1410 . 
     As in the fifth embodiment of the inventive concept, PF  1115  may request block  1215  of host system memory addresses, to manage PCIe transactions exchanged between processor  110  and SSD  120 ; block  1215  may be at least as large as block  1405 . Similarly, PF  1120  may request block  1220  of host system memory addresses, to manage acceleration instructions exchanged between processor  110  and FPGA  145 . Blocks  1215  and  1220  may each be identified by a BAR. 
     In  FIG. 13 , as in the earlier embodiments of the inventive concept, FPGA  145  is shown including the parts that enable communication with processor  110  and SSD  120 : specifically, endpoint  1105 , PFs  1115  and  1120 , and root ports  1110   1305 . As with the embodiments of the inventive concept shown earlier, the components relating to filtering of PCIe transactions may be removed from FPGA  145 . Thus, in the sixth embodiment of the inventive concept, endpoint  1105  and PFs  1115  and  1120  may be placed in a first bridging component and root ports  1110  and  1305  may be placed in a second bridging component, each handling filtering of PCIe transactions different components of  FIG. 13 . Alternatively, only one of these bridging components might be used (with FPGA  145  handling its own filtering for communications from the other source), or a single bridging component may be used to handle all filtering for FPGA  145 , regardless of the source of the PCIe transaction. 
     Seventh Example Embodiment 
     In the first six embodiments of the inventive concept, FPGA  145  is shown using a single upstream port  330  (in  FIGS. 5, 7, and 9 ) or a single endpoint  1105  (in  FIGS. 11 and 13 ). But there is no reason FPGA  145  may not include multiple endpoints just like SSD  120  in the sixth embodiment of the inventive concept. The seventh and eighth embodiments of the inventive concept illustrate how FPGA  145  may operate using multiple endpoints. 
       FIG. 15  shows components of FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1  and SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 , according to a seventh embodiment of the inventive concept. The seventh embodiment of the inventive concept is similar to the sixth embodiment of the inventive concept, except that FPGA  145  includes two endpoints  1105  and  1505 . Much like endpoints  305  and  1310  of SSD  120  may be used to distinguish between conventional host-to-SSD PCIe transactions and FPGA-to-SSD acceleration instructions, endpoints  1105  and  1505  of FPGA  145  may be used to distinguish between conventional host-SSD PCIe transactions and host-to-FPGA acceleration instructions. PCIe transactions received at endpoint  1105  may be considered conventional PCIe transactions and forwarded to SSD  120  (via root port  1110 ), whereas PCIe transactions received at endpoint  1505  may be considered acceleration instructions and forwarded to APM-F  340  for processing. 
       FIG. 16  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the seventh embodiment of the inventive concept. For all intents and purposes, memory usage according to the seventh embodiment of the inventive concept is identical to memory usage according to the sixth embodiment. Root ports  1110  and  1305  of FPGA  145  each offer their own configuration space, and endpoint  305  of SSD  120  may request block  1405  from address map  1210  (as with the sixth embodiment of the inventive concept, endpoint  1310  of SSD  120  may request a block from address map  1410 , or endpoint  1310  of SSD  120  may use the entirety of address map  1410  for SSD-FPGA communications), identified by a BAR. Endpoints  1105  and  1505  may request blocks  1215  and  1220  of host system memory addresses, to manage PCIe transactions exchanged between processor  110  and SSD  120 ; block  1215  may be at least as large as block  1405 . Blocks  1215  and  1220  may each be identified by a BAR. 
     In  FIG. 15 , as in the earlier embodiments of the inventive concept, FPGA  145  is shown including the parts that enable communication with processor  110  and SSD  120 : specifically, endpoints  1105  and  1505 , and root ports  1110   1305 . As with the embodiments of the inventive concept shown earlier, the components relating to filtering of PCIe transactions may be removed from FPGA  145 . Thus, in the seventh embodiment of the inventive concept, endpoints  1105  and  1505  may be placed in a first bridging component and root ports  1110  and  1305  may be placed in a second bridging component, each handling filtering of PCIe transactions different components of  FIG. 15 . Alternatively, only one of these bridging components might be used (with FPGA  145  handling its own filtering for communications from the other source), or a single bridging component may be used to handle all filtering for FPGA  145 , regardless of the source of the PCIe transaction. 
     Eighth Example Embodiment 
       FIG. 17  shows components of FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1  and SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 , according to an eighth embodiment of the inventive concept. The eighth embodiment of the inventive concept is similar to the fifth embodiment of the inventive concept, except that FPGA  145  includes two endpoints  1105  and  1505 . Again, endpoints  1105  and  1505  of FPGA  145  may be used to distinguish between conventional host-SSD PCIe transactions and host-to-FPGA acceleration instructions. PCIe transactions received at endpoint  1105  of FPGA  145  may be considered conventional PCIe transactions and forwarded to SSD  120  (via root port  1110 ), whereas PCIe transactions received at endpoint  1505  of FPGA  145  may be considered acceleration instructions and forwarded to APM-F  340  for processing. 
       FIG. 18  shows memory usage for accelerating instructions in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to the eighth embodiment of the inventive concept. Memory usage according to the eighth embodiment of the inventive concept is similar to memory usage according to the fifth embodiment of the inventive concept. With root port  1110  being the sole root port of FPGA  145 , endpoint  305  of SSD  120  may request block  1205  from address map  1210 , which may include downstream FAR  420 . Endpoints  1105  and  1505  of FPGA  145  may then request blocks  1215  and  1220  from the host system memory addresses, with endpoint  1105  requesting block  1215  to be at least as large as block  1205 , identified by a BAR. Endpoints  1105  and  1505  may request blocks  1215  and  1220  of host system memory addresses, to manage PCIe transactions exchanged between processor  110  and SSD  120 ; block  1215  may be at least as large as block  1405 . Blocks  1215  and  1220  may each be identified by two separate BARs. In yet another embodiment of the inventive concept it is possible to use part of block  1220  as downstream FAR  420  to facilitate communication between FPGA  145  and SSD  120 . 
     In  FIG. 17 , as in the earlier embodiments of the inventive concept, FPGA  145  is shown including the parts that enable communication with processor  110  and SSD  120 : specifically, endpoints  1105  and  1505 , root port  1110 , and downstream filter  360 . As with the embodiments of the inventive concept shown earlier, the components relating to filtering of PCIe transactions may be removed from FPGA  145 . Thus, in the eighth embodiment of the inventive concept, endpoints  1105  and  1505  may be placed in a first bridging component and root port  1110  and downstream filter  360  may be placed in a second bridging component, each handling filtering of PCIe transactions different components of  FIG. 17 . Alternatively, only one of these bridging components might be used (with FPGA  145  handling its own filtering for communications from the other source), or a single bridging component may be used to handle all filtering for FPGA  145 , regardless of the source of the PCIe transaction. 
     As discussed above with reference to the various embodiments of the inventive concept, the filtering functionality described as being part of the upstream interface and/or downstream interface of FPGA  145  may be separated from FPGA  145  and handled by another component.  FIG. 19  shows bridging components that may handle the filtering functionality on behalf of acceleration module  145  of  FIG. 1 , according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
     In  FIG. 19 , two bridging components  1905  and  1910  are shown. Bridging component  1905  may handle filtering of PCIe transactions received from processor  110 , whereas bridging component  1910  may handle filtering of PCIe transactions received from SSD  120 . Bridging component  1905  may send a PCIe transaction to either FPGA  145  or SSD  120 , depending on whether the PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction. Similarly, bridging component  1910  may send a PCIe transaction to either FPGA  145  or processor  110 , depending on whether the PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction. The specific implementations of bridging components  1905  and  1910  are not shown in  FIG. 19 , as the implementations are similar to those shown as part of the upstream and downstream interfaces of FPGA  145  above. 
     In some embodiments of the inventive concept, both bridging concepts  1905  and  1910  may be used. In other embodiments of the inventive concept, only one bridging component  1905  or  1910  is used, with the functionality of the other bridging component potentially remaining with FPGA  145 . In yet other embodiments, both bridging components  1905  and  1910  may be included in a single component rather than as separate components. 
     Now that various embodiments of the inventive concept have been described, data flows between processor  110 , FPGA  145 , and SSD  120  may be described. In the remainder of this document, all filtering functionality is attributed to FPGA  145 , but it should be apparent when and how filtering may be shifted to bridging components  1905  and/or  1910  of  FIG. 19 .  FIGS. 20A-20B  show communications between the processor of  FIG. 1 , FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1 , and SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 , according to embodiments of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 20A , data flows according to the first embodiment of the inventive concept (and possibly other embodiments of the inventive concept) are shown. Processor  110  may send PCIe transaction  2005  to SSD  120 . PCIe transaction  2005  may include special command  2010 . PCIe transactions  2005  may be delivered to SSD  120  (via FPGA  145 ). APM-S  315  may then generate acceleration instruction  2015 , which may be included in PCIe transaction  2020 , which SSD  120  may then send to FPGA  145 . FPGA  145  and SSD  120  may also exchange acceleration data, as shown in communication  2025 . 
     Upon completion of acceleration instruction  2015 , FPGA  145  may send result  2030  back to SSD  120 , which in turn may forward result  2030  to processor  110  (shown as result  2035 ). Alternatively, FPGA  145  may send result  2040  directly to processor  110 , simulating result  2035  coming from SSD  120 . 
     In contrast, in  FIG. 20B  (applicable to the second through eighth embodiments of the inventive concept), processor  110  may send acceleration instruction  2045  directly to FPGA  145  as PCIe transaction  2005 . FPGA  145  and SSD  120  may exchange acceleration data, as shown in communication  2025 . Finally, FPGA  145  may send result  2040  back to processor  110 . 
       FIG. 21  shows a flowchart of an example procedure for FPGA  145  to process a PCIe transaction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept.  FIG. 21  provides a high-level view; later figures provide more detailed example flowcharts of the operations of FPGA  145 . In  FIG. 21 , at block  2105 , FPGA  145  may receive a PCIe transaction from a device. This PCIe transaction may be either of PCIe transactions  2015  or  2045  of  FIGS. 20A-20B , and the device may be either processor  110  or SSD  120 . At block  2110 , FPGA  145  may determine whether the PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction. At block  2115 , FPGA  145  may test to see the PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction. If so, then at block  2120  the acceleration instruction may be processed by APM-F  340 ; otherwise, at block  2125 , the PCIe transaction may be delivered to another device (if the PCIe transaction was received from processor  110 , then the PCIe transaction may be delivered to SSD  120 , and vice versa). Note that processing the acceleration instruction by APM-F  340  may involve communicating with SSD  120  to receive the application data to be processed by the acceleration instruction. 
       FIGS. 22A-22C  show a flowchart of a more detailed example procedure for FPGA  145  to process PCIe transactions, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 22A , at block  2203 , FPGA  145  may receive downstream FAR  420  from SSD  120 . At block  2206 , FPGA  145  may associate downstream FAR  420  with downstream filter  360 . Note that this association may happen automatically if SSD  120  programs downstream FAR  420  into downstream filter  360  via sideband bus  365 , or it may require an active step by FPGA  145  (for example, if SSD  120  sends a PCIe VDM to FPGA  145  including downstream FAR  420 ). Note further that in some embodiments of the inventive concept blocks  2203  and  2206  may be skipped, as shown by dashed line  2209 . In some embodiments of the inventive concept, downstream FAR  420  may be provided by FPGA  145  itself. 
     At block  2212 , FPGA  145  may receive from SSD  120  upstream FAR  605 , and at block  2215  FPGA  145  may associate upstream FAR  605  with upstream port  330 . Note that this association may happen automatically if SSD  120  programs upstream FAR  605  into upstream filter  505  via sideband bus  365 , or it may require an active step by FPGA  145  (for example, if SSD  120  sends a PCIe VDM to FPGA  145  including upstream FAR  605 ). In some embodiments of the inventive concept, upstream FAR  605  may be provided by FPGA  145  itself. 
     Alternatively, at block  2218 , FPGA  145  may receive from SSD  120  an identifier of a PF or VF used to expose FPGA  145 , and at block  2221  FPGA  145  may associate the PF/VF identifier with upstream filter  330 . Again, this association may happen automatically if SSD  120  programs the PF/VF identifier into upstream filter  505  via sideband bus  365 , or it may require an active step by FPGA  145  (for example, if SSD  120  sends a PCIe VDM to FPGA  145  including the PF/VF identifier). 
     Note that in some embodiments of the inventive concept blocks  2212 ,  2215 ,  2218 , and  2221  may be skipped, as shown by dashed line  2224 . 
     At block  2227 , configuration monitor  1125  may determine a configuration of endpoint  305  of SSD  120 , and at block  2230  configuration module  1125  may replicate that configuration at endpoint  1105  of FPGA  145 , thereby presenting the same functionality as SSD  120  to processor  110 . In some embodiments of the inventive concept blocks  2212 ,  2215 ,  2218 , and  2221  may be skipped, as shown by dashed line  2233 . 
     Once FPGA  145  has been properly configured, at block  2236  ( FIG. 22B ) FPGA  145  may receive PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B  from processor  110  (via upstream port  330  or endpoint  1105 , depending on the embodiment of the inventive concept). At block  2239 , FPGA  145  may determine whether PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B  includes acceleration instruction  2045  of  FIG. 20B . If so, then at block  2242  APM-F  340  may process acceleration instruction  2045  of  FIG. 20B , and at block  2245  APM-F  340  may send result  2040  of  FIG. 20B  to processor  110 . Otherwise, if PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B  does not include acceleration instruction  2045  of  FIG. 20B , at block  2248  FPGA  145  may deliver PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B  to SSD  120  (via downstream port  335  or root port  1110 , depending on the embodiment of the inventive concept). 
     At block  2251  ( FIG. 22C ), FPGA  145  may receive PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  (via downstream port  335  or root port  1110 , depending on the embodiment of the inventive concept). At block  2254 , FPGA  145  may determine if PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  includes acceleration instruction  2015  of  FIG. 20A . If PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  includes acceleration instruction  2015  of  FIG. 20A , then at block  2257  APM-F  340  may process acceleration instruction  2015  of  FIG. 20A , and at block  2260  APM-F  340  may send result  2040  of  FIG. 20A  to SSD  120 . Otherwise, if PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  does not include acceleration instruction  2015 , then at block  2263  FPGA  145  may forward PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  to processor  110  (via upstream port  330  or endpoint  1105 , depending on the embodiment of the inventive concept). 
       FIGS. 23A-23B  show a flowchart of an example procedure for FPGA  145  to determine whether PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B , coming from processor  110  includes acceleration instruction  2045  of  FIG. 20B , according to embodiments of the inventive concept.  FIGS. 23A-23B  show three possible tests that may be used, individually or collectively, depending on the embodiment of the inventive concept. In embodiments of the inventive concept that use more than one test, PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B  may be determined to include acceleration instruction  2045  of  FIG. 20B  if any individual test is satisfied. In  FIG. 23A , at block  2305 , FPGA  145  may determine whether an address associated with PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B  includes an address in upstream FAR  605 . At block  2310 , FPGA  145  may determine if PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B  includes an identifier of a PF or VF that is associated with upstream filter  715 . At block  2315 , FPGA  145  may determine if PCIe transaction  2005  of FIG.  20 B is received at a port dedicated for acceleration instructions, such as endpoint  1505 . If any of these tests results indicates that PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B  includes acceleration instruction  2045  of  FIG. 20B , then at block  2320  ( FIG. 23B ) FPGA  145  knows that PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B  includes acceleration instruction  2045  of  FIG. 20B ; otherwise, at block  2325  FPGA  145  knows that PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20B  does not include acceleration instruction  2045  of  FIG. 20B . 
       FIG. 24  shows a flowchart of an example procedure for FPGA  145  to determine whether PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  coming from SSD  120  includes acceleration instruction  2015  of  FIG. 20A , according to embodiments of the inventive concept.  FIG. 24  shows two possible tests that may be used, individually or collectively, depending on the embodiment of the inventive concept. In embodiments of the inventive concept that use more than one test, PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  may be determined to include acceleration instruction  2015  of  FIG. 20A  if any individual test is satisfied. In  FIG. 24 , at block  2405 , FPGA  145  may determine whether an address associated with PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  includes an address in downstream FAR  420 . At block  2410 , FPGA  145  may determine if PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  is received at a port dedicated for acceleration instructions, such as root port  1305 . If any of these tests results indicates that PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  includes acceleration instruction  2015  of  FIG. 20A , then at block  2415  FPGA  145  knows that PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  includes acceleration instruction  2015  of  FIG. 20A ; otherwise, at block  2420  FPGA  145  knows that PCIe transaction  2020  of  FIG. 20A  does not include acceleration instruction  2015  of  FIG. 20A . 
       FIG. 25  shows a flowchart of an example procedure for first bridging component  1905  of  FIG. 19  to determine whether a PCIe transaction coming from processor  110  of  FIG. 1  includes an acceleration instruction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 25 , at block  2505 , first bridging component  1905  may receive a PCIe transaction from processor  110  of  FIG. 1 . At block  2510 , first bridging component  1905  may determine if the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction. If so, then at block  2515  first bridging component  1905  may forward the PCIe transaction/acceleration instruction to FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1 ; otherwise, at block  2520  first bridging component  1905  may forward the PCIe transaction to SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 26  shows a flowchart of an example procedure for the second bridging component  1910  of  FIG. 19  to determine whether a PCIe transaction coming from the storage device  120  of  FIG. 1  includes an acceleration instruction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 26 , at block  2605 , second bridging component  1905  may receive a PCIe transaction from SSD  120  of  FIG. 1 . At block  2610 , second bridging component  1905  may determine if the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction. If so, then at block  2615  second bridging component  1905  may forward the PCIe transaction/acceleration instruction to FPGA  145  of  FIG. 1 ; otherwise, at block  2620  second bridging component  1905  may forward the PCIe transaction to processor  110  of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIGS. 27A-27C  show a flowchart of an example procedure for SSD  120  to process PCIe transaction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. In  FIG. 27A , at block  2705 , SSD  120  may request a block of memory addresses. Note that SSD  120  may request the block of memory addresses from host system memory, as in the first through fourth embodiments of the inventive concept, or from a configuration space of a root port of FPGA  145 , as in the fifth through eighth embodiments of the inventive concept. At block  2710 , SSD  120  may select a subset of the block of memory addresses for use as downstream FAR  420 , and at block  2715  SSD  120  may program downstream filter  360  with downstream FAR  420 , using sideband bus  365 , a PCIe VDM, or any other desired mechanism. Note that in some embodiments of the inventive concept blocks  2705 - 2715  may be skipped, as shown by dashed line  2720  (dashed line  2720  also skips some blocks shown in  FIG. 27B ). 
     At block  2725  ( FIG. 27B ), SSD  120  may select a subset of the block of memory addresses for use as upstream FAR  605 , and at block  2730  SSD  120  may program downstream filter  360  with downstream FAR  420 , using sideband bus  365 , a PCIe VDM, or any other desired mechanism. Alternatively, at block  2735 , SSD  120  may use PF  705  to expose its own capabilities. Then, at block  2740  SSD  120  may use PF  905  or VF  710  to expose FPGA  145 , and at block  2745  SSD  120  may program downstream filter  360  with an identifier of PF  905  or VF  710 , using sideband bus  365 , a PCIe VDM, or any other desired mechanism. Note that in some embodiments of the inventive concept blocks  2725 - 2745  may be skipped, as shown by dashed line  2750 . 
     At block  2755 , SSD  120  may receive a PCIe transaction from FPGA  145 . This PCIe transaction might be PCIe transaction  2005  of  FIG. 20A  (forwarded by FPGA  145  from processor  110 ), or it might PCIe transaction  2025  of  FIGS. 20A-20B . Regardless of the source of the PCIe transaction, at block  2760  ( FIG. 27C ), HIL  310  may determine if the PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction. If so, then at block  2765 , HIL  310  may forward the PCIe transaction (or the unpacked acceleration instruction) to APM-S  315  for processing. APM-S  315  may generate a response to the acceleration instruction, which might be acceleration instruction  2015  of  FIG. 20A  (if the PCIe transaction originated from processor  110 ), or it might be acceleration data  2025  (if the PCIe transaction originated from APM-F  340  of FPGA  145 ). Either way, at block  2770 , APM-S  315  may send the response to FPGA  145 . 
     On the other hand, if the PCIe transaction was not an acceleration instruction, at block  2775  SSD  120  may determine if the PCIe transaction is result  2030  of  FIG. 20A . If so, then at block  2780 , SSD  120  may forward result  2035  of  FIG. 20A  to processor  110  (via endpoint  305  of SSD  120  and FPGA  145 ). If the PCIe transaction was not result  2030  of  FIG. 20A , then at block  2785  SSD  120  may process the PCIe transaction on data stored on SSD  120  as normal. 
       FIGS. 28A-28B  show a flowchart of an example procedure for SSD  120  to determine whether a PCIe transaction coming from FPGA  145  includes an acceleration instruction, according to embodiments of the inventive concept. 
       FIGS. 28A-28B  show three possible tests that may be used, individually or collectively, depending on the embodiment of the inventive concept. In embodiments of the inventive concept that use more than one test, the PCIe transaction may be determined to include an acceleration instruction if any individual test is satisfied. In  FIG. 28A , at block  2805 , SSD  120  may determine whether the PCIe transaction includes a special command from processor  110  (which indicates SSD  120  should initiate an acceleration instruction to FPGA  145 ). At block  2810 , SSD  120  may determine if the PCIe transaction originates from APM-F  340 , which may occur if APM-F  340  is requesting acceleration data  2025  of  FIGS. 20A-20B , or if APM-F  340  is sending result  2030  of  FIG. 20A  to SSD  120 . The test of block  2810  may be performed in any desired manner: for example, the PCIe transaction might include a tag to indicate the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction, or the PCIe transaction may be associated with an address in downstream FAR  420 . At block  2815 , SSD  120  may determine if the PCIe transaction is received at a port dedicated for acceleration instructions, such as endpoint  1310 . If any of these tests results indicates that the PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction, then at block  2820  ( FIG. 28B ) SSD  120  knows that The PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction; otherwise, at block  2825  SSD  120  knows that the PCIe transaction does not include an acceleration instruction. 
     In  FIGS. 21-28B , some embodiments of the inventive concept are shown. But a person skilled in the art will recognize that other embodiments of the inventive concept are also possible, by changing the order of the blocks, by omitting blocks, or by including links not shown in the drawings. In addition, while certain operations are described as being performed by certain components, embodiments of the inventive concept may support other components performing the described operations. All such variations of the flowcharts are considered to be embodiments of the inventive concept, whether expressly described or not. 
     Embodiments of the inventive concept offer technical advantages over the prior art. By introducing acceleration module  145  of  FIG. 1  to machine  105  of  FIG. 1 , processor  110  of  FIG. 1  may offload work that may be performed by acceleration module  145  of  FIG. 1 . Since such commands typically involve processing large amounts of data that may then be discarded, offloading the work to acceleration module  145  of  FIG. 1  avoids the delay required to load the data from storage device  120  of  FIG. 1  into memory  140  of  FIG. 1 , as well as avoiding the likely need to free up some space in memory  140  of  FIG. 1 . 
     The various embodiments of the inventive concept also support using different varieties of storage device  120  of  FIG. 1 . Both single port and dual port storage devices may be used, as well as storage devices that support an additional PF and/or VF to expose acceleration module  145  of  FIG. 1 . 
     The various embodiments of the inventive concept further support using processors that offer different capabilities. If the operating system of machine  105  of  FIG. 1  supports VFs, then a VF may be used to expose acceleration module  145  of  FIG. 1 ; otherwise, a PF may be used. If processor  110  of  FIG. 1  is capable of communicating directly with acceleration module  145  of  FIG. 1 , then an embodiment of the inventive concept that supports such communication may be used; otherwise, processor  110  of  FIG. 1  may send all acceleration instructions to storage device  120  of  FIG. 1 , leaving it to storage device  120  of  FIG. 1  to request that acceleration module  145  of  FIG. 1  perform the acceleration instruction. 
     The following discussion is intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable machine or machines in which certain aspects of the inventive concept may be implemented. The machine or machines may be controlled, at least in part, by input from conventional input devices, such as keyboards, mice, etc., as well as by directives received from another machine, interaction with a virtual reality (VR) environment, biometric feedback, or other input signal. As used herein, the term “machine” is intended to broadly encompass a single machine, a virtual machine, or a system of communicatively coupled machines, virtual machines, or devices operating together. Exemplary machines include computing devices such as personal computers, workstations, servers, portable computers, handheld devices, telephones, tablets, etc., as well as transportation devices, such as private or public transportation, e.g., automobiles, trains, cabs, etc. 
     The machine or machines may include embedded controllers, such as programmable or non-programmable logic devices or arrays, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), embedded computers, smart cards, and the like. The machine or machines may utilize one or more connections to one or more remote machines, such as through a network interface, modem, or other communicative coupling. Machines may be interconnected by way of a physical and/or logical network, such as an intranet, the Internet, local area networks, wide area networks, etc. One skilled in the art will appreciate that network communication may utilize various wired and/or wireless short range or long range carriers and protocols, including radio frequency (RF), satellite, microwave, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, Bluetooth®, optical, infrared, cable, laser, etc. 
     Embodiments of the present inventive concept may be described by reference to or in conjunction with associated data including functions, procedures, data structures, application programs, etc. which when accessed by a machine results in the machine performing tasks or defining abstract data types or low-level hardware contexts. Associated data may be stored in, for example, the volatile and/or non-volatile memory, e.g., RAM, ROM, etc., or in other storage devices and their associated storage media, including hard-drives, floppy-disks, optical storage, tapes, flash memory, memory sticks, digital video disks, biological storage, etc. Associated data may be delivered over transmission environments, including the physical and/or logical network, in the form of packets, serial data, parallel data, propagated signals, etc., and may be used in a compressed or encrypted format. Associated data may be used in a distributed environment, and stored locally and/or remotely for machine access. 
     Embodiments of the inventive concept may include a tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions executable by one or more processors, the instructions comprising instructions to perform the elements of the inventive concepts as described herein. 
     The various operations of methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the operations, such as various hardware and/or software component(s), circuits, and/or module(s). The software may comprise an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions, and may be embodied in any “processor-readable medium” for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a single or multiple-core processor or processor-containing system. 
     The blocks or steps of a method or algorithm and functions described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium. A software module may reside in Random Access Memory (RAM), flash memory, Read Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. 
     Having described and illustrated the principles of the inventive concept with reference to illustrated embodiments, it will be recognized that the illustrated embodiments may be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from such principles, and may be combined in any desired manner. And, although the foregoing discussion has focused on particular embodiments, other configurations are contemplated. In particular, even though expressions such as “according to an embodiment of the inventive concept” or the like are used herein, these phrases are meant to generally reference embodiment possibilities, and are not intended to limit the inventive concept to particular embodiment configurations. As used herein, these terms may reference the same or different embodiments that are combinable into other embodiments. 
     The foregoing illustrative embodiments are not to be construed as limiting the inventive concept thereof. Although a few embodiments have been described, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible to those embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the present disclosure. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this inventive concept as defined in the claims. 
     Embodiments of the inventive concept may extend to the following statements, without limitation: 
     Statement 1. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes a system, comprising:
         a processor, the processor running an application program;   a memory, the memory storing data being used by the application program running on the processor;   an upstream interface for communicating with the processor;   a downstream interface for communicating with a storage device;   an acceleration module, the acceleration module implemented using hardware and including an Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-F) to execute an acceleration instruction; and   the storage device, including:
           an endpoint of the storage device for communicating with the acceleration module;   a controller to manage operations of the storage device;   storage to store application data for the application program; and   a storage device Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-S) to assist the APM-F in executing the acceleration instruction,   
           wherein the processor, the acceleration module, and the storage device communicate via a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) bus, and   wherein the acceleration module supports performing the acceleration instruction on the application data on the storage device for the application program without loading the application data into the memory.       

     Statement 2. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 1, further comprising:
         a first bridging component including the upstream interface, the first bridging component bridging communications between the processor and the acceleration module; and   a second bridging component including the downstream interface, the second bridging component bridging communications between the acceleration module and storage device.       

     Statement 3. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 1, wherein:
         the acceleration module is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA);   the acceleration module includes the upstream interface and the downstream interface; and   the storage device includes a Solid State Drive (SSD).       

     Statement 4. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 3, wherein the APM-F and APM-S communicate using the downstream interface and the endpoint of the SSD regarding the application data to be used with the acceleration instruction. 
     Statement 5. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 3, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 6. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 3, wherein the processor may send a PCIe transaction to the SSD, the PCIe transaction including a transaction layer packet (TLP) encoding a command using a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) protocol. 
     Statement 7. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 3, wherein the FPGA further includes:
         an acceleration engine; and   a run-time scheduler to schedule the acceleration instruction with the acceleration engine.       

     Statement 8. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 3, wherein the SSD includes the FPGA. 
     Statement 9. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 3, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes an upstream port;   the downstream interface includes a downstream port;   the FPGA is operative to forward a first PCIe transaction received from the processor at the upstream port to the SSD;   the FPGA includes a downstream filter associated with the downstream port, the downstream filter operative to intercept an acceleration instruction received from the SSD and deliver the acceleration instruction to the APM-F, the acceleration instruction being associated with a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR); and   the FPGA is operative to forward a second PCIe transaction not associated with the downstream FAR received from the SSD at the downstream port to the processor.       

     Statement 10. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 9, wherein the acceleration instruction is generated by the APM-S. 
     Statement 11. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 10, wherein the SSD further includes a host interface logic (HIL) to intercept a special command received from the processor, the special command including the acceleration instruction, and to forward the special command to the APM-S to trigger the APM-S to generate the acceleration instruction. 
     Statement 12. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 11, wherein the special command originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 13. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 9, wherein:
         the SSD is operative to request a block of host system addresses from the processor; and   the controller is operative to select a subset of the block of host system addresses as the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 14. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 13, wherein the controller is operative to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 15. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 14, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 16. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 15, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 17. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 14, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 18. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 9, wherein:
         the APM-F is operative to send a result to the APM-S via the downstream port and the endpoint of the SSD; and   the controller is operative to forward the result to the processor via the endpoint of the SSD.       

     Statement 19. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 9, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the upstream port. 
     Statement 20. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 9, wherein:
         the FPGA further includes an upstream filter associated with the upstream port, the upstream filter operative to intercept a second acceleration instruction received from the processor and deliver the second acceleration instruction to the APM-F, the second acceleration instruction being associated with an upstream FAR; and   the FPGA is operative to forward a third PCIe transaction not associated with the upstream FAR received from the processor at the upstream port to the SSD.       

     Statement 21. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 20, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an ASM running on the processor. 
     Statement 22. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 20, wherein:
         the SSD is operative to request a block of host system addresses from the processor; and   the controller is operative to select a first subset of the block of host system addresses as the downstream FAR and a second subset of the block of host system addresses as the upstream FAR.       

     Statement 23. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 22, wherein the block of host system addresses includes a special register accessible by an ASM running on the processor, the special register identifying the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 24. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 22, wherein the controller is operative to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR and the upstream filter with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 25. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 24, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR and the upstream filter with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 26. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 25, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 27. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 24, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR and the upstream filter with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 28. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 20, wherein:
         the APM-F is operative to send a result to the APM-S via the downstream port and the endpoint of the SSD; and   the controller is operative to forward the result to the processor via the endpoint of the SSD.       

     Statement 29. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 20, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the upstream port. 
     Statement 30. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 9, wherein:
         the SSD includes a physical function (PF) and a virtual function (VF), the PF operative to expose the SSD and the VF operative to expose the FPGA;   the FPGA further includes an upstream filter associated with the upstream port, the upstream filter operative to intercept a second acceleration instruction received from the processor and deliver the second acceleration instruction to the APM-F; and   the FPGA is operative to forward a third PCIe transaction not intercepted by the upstream filter received from the processor at the upstream port to the SSD.       

     Statement 31. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 30, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an ASM running on the processor. 
     Statement 32. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 30, wherein:
         the PF is operative to request a first block of host system addresses from the processor;   the controller is operative to select a first subset of the block of host system addresses as the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 33. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 32, wherein the controller is operative to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 34. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 33, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 35. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 34, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 36. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 33, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 37. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 30, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction is associated with the upstream FAR; and   the upstream filter is operative to intercept the second acceleration instruction associated with an upstream FAR.       

     Statement 38. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 37, wherein the VF is operative to request a second block of host system addresses from the processor as the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 39. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 38, wherein the controller is operative to program the upstream filter with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 40. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 39, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the upstream filter with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 41. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 40, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 42. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 39, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the upstream filter with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 43. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 30, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction includes an identifier of the VF; and   the upstream filter is operative to intercept the second acceleration instruction associated with the identifier of the VF.       

     Statement 44. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 43, wherein the controller is operative to program the upstream filter with the identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 45. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 44, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the upstream filter with the identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 46. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 45, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 47. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 44, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the upstream filter with the identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 48. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 30, wherein:
         the APM-F is operative to send a result to the APM-S via the downstream port and the endpoint of the SSD; and   the controller is operative to forward the result to the processor via the endpoint of the SSD.       

     Statement 49. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 30, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the upstream port. 
     Statement 50. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 9, wherein:
         the SSD includes a first PF and a second PF, the first PF operative to expose the SSD and the second PF operative to expose the FPGA;   the FPGA further includes an upstream filter associated with the upstream port, the upstream filter operative to intercept a second acceleration instruction received from the processor and deliver the second acceleration instruction to the APM-F; and   the FPGA is operative to forward a third PCIe transaction not intercepted by the upstream filter received from the processor at the upstream port to the SSD.       

     Statement 51. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 50, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an ASM running on the processor. 
     Statement 52. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 50, wherein:
         the first PF is operative to request a first block of host system addresses from the processor;   the controller is operative to select a first subset of the block of host system addresses as the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 53. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 52, wherein the controller is operative to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 54. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 53, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 55. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 54, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 56. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 53, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 57. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 50, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction is associated with the upstream FAR; and   the upstream filter is operative to intercept the second acceleration instruction associated with an upstream FAR.       

     Statement 58. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 57, wherein the second PF is operative to request a second block of host system addresses from the processor as the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 59. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 58, wherein the controller is operative to program the upstream filter with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 60. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 59, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the upstream filter with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 61. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 60, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 62. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 59, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the upstream filter with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 63. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 50, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction includes an identifier of the second PF; and   the upstream filter is operative to intercept the second acceleration instruction associated with an identifier of the second PF.       

     Statement 64. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 63, wherein the controller is operative to program the upstream filter with the identifier of the second PF. 
     Statement 65. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 64, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the upstream filter with the identifier of the second PF. 
     Statement 66. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 65, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 67. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 64, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the upstream filter with the identifier of the second PF. 
     Statement 68. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 50, wherein:
         the APM-F is operative to send a result to the APM-S via the downstream port and the endpoint of the SSD; and   the controller is operative to forward the result to the processor via the endpoint of the SSD.       

     Statement 69. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 50, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the upstream port. 
     Statement 70. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 3, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes an FPGA endpoint;   the downstream interface includes a FPGA root port, the FPGA root port supporting a configuration space;   the FPGA includes a first PF, a second PF, and a downstream filter associated with the FPGA root port, the downstream filter operative to intercept a first acceleration instruction received from the SSD and deliver the first acceleration instruction to the APM-F, the first acceleration instruction being associated with a downstream FAR;   the FPGA is operative to request a first block of host system addresses from the processor for the first PF and to request a second block of host system addresses from the processor for the second PF; and   the FPGA is operative to forward a first PCIe transaction received from the processor to the SSD and to forward a second acceleration instruction received from the processor to the APM-F, the first PCIe transaction being associated with a first identifier of the first PF and the second acceleration instruction being associated with a second identifier of the second PF.       

     Statement 71. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 70, wherein:
         the SSD is operative to request a block of FPGA addresses from the FPGA, the block of FPGA addresses including the downstream FAR;   the second block of host system addresses is at least as large as the block of FPGA addresses; and   the controller is operative to select a subset of the block of FPGA addresses as the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 72. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 71, wherein the controller is operative to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 73. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 72, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 74. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 73, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 75. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 72, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 76. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 70, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 77. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 70, wherein the FPGA further includes a configuration monitor to copy a capability of the endpoint of the SSD to the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 78. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 3, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes an FPGA endpoint;   the downstream interface includes a first FPGA root port and a second FPGA root port, the first FPGA root port supporting a first configuration space, the second FPGA root port supporting a second configuration space;   the endpoint of the SSD is associated with the first FPGA root port;   the SSD further includes a second endpoint of the SSD associated with the second FPGA root port;   the FPGA includes a first PF and a second PF;   the FPGA is operative to request a first block of host system addresses from the processor for the first PF and to request a second block of host system addresses from the processor for the second PF; and   the FPGA is operative to:
           forward a first PCIe transaction received from the processor to the SSD via the first FPGA root port and the endpoint of the SSD, the first PCIe transaction being associated with a first identifier of the first PF;   forward a second acceleration instruction received from the processor to the APM-F, the second acceleration instruction being associated with a second identifier of the second PF;   forward a second PCIe transaction received from the SSD at the first FPGA root port to the processor; and   forward a first acceleration instruction received from the SSD at the second FPGA root port to the APM-F.   
               

     Statement 79. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 78, wherein the second acceleration instruction is generated by the APM-S. 
     Statement 80. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 78, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 81. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 78, wherein the FPGA further includes a configuration monitor to copy a capability of the endpoint of the SSD to the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 82. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 78, wherein:
         the upstream interface further includes a second FPGA endpoint; and   the FPGA is further operative to:
           forward a first PCIe transaction received from the processor at the FPGA endpoint to the SSD via the first FPGA root port and the endpoint of the SSD; and   forward a second acceleration instruction received from the processor at the second FPGA endpoint to the APM-F.   
               

     Statement 83. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 82, wherein the second acceleration instruction is generated by the APM-S. 
     Statement 84. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 82, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 85. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 82, wherein the FPGA further includes a configuration monitor to copy a capability of the endpoint of the SSD to the first FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 86. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 3, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes a first FPGA endpoint and a second FPGA endpoint;   the downstream interface includes a FPGA root port, the FPGA root port supporting a configuration space;   the FPGA includes a downstream filter associated with the FPGA root port, the downstream filter operative to intercept a first acceleration instruction received from the SSD and deliver the first acceleration instruction to the APM-F, the first acceleration instruction being associated with a downstream FAR; and   the FPGA is operative to:
           forward a first PCIe transaction received from the processor at the FPGA endpoint to the SSD via the first FPGA root port and the endpoint of the SSD;   forward a second acceleration instruction received from the processor at the second FPGA endpoint to the APM-F;   forward a second PCIe transaction not associated with the downstream FAR received from the SSD at the first FPGA root port to the processor via the FPGA endpoint; and   forward a first acceleration instruction received from the SSD at the second FPGA root port to the APM-F.   
               

     Statement 87. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 86, wherein the second acceleration instruction is generated by the APM-S. 
     Statement 88. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 86, wherein:
         the SSD is operative to request a block of FPGA addresses from the FPGA, the block of FPGA addresses including the downstream FAR;   the FPGA is operative to request a block of host system addresses from the processor for the first FPGA endpoint, the block of host system addresses at least as large as the block of FPGA addresses; and   the controller is operative to select a subset of the block of PGA addresses as the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 89. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 88, wherein the controller is operative to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 90. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 89, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 91. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 90, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 92. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 89, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the downstream filter with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 93. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 86, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 94. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the system according to statement 86, wherein the FPGA further includes a configuration monitor to copy a capability of the endpoint of the SSD to the first FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 95. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes an acceleration module implemented using hardware, comprising:
         an Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-F) to execute an acceleration instruction;   an upstream interface for communicating with a processor, an application program running on the processor; and   a downstream interface for communicating with a storage device, the storage device including a storage device Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-S) to assist the APM-F in executing the acceleration instruction,   wherein the acceleration module communicates with the processor and the storage device using a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) bus, and   wherein the acceleration module supports performing the acceleration instruction on application data on the storage device for the application program without loading the application data into a memory associated with the processor.       

     Statement 96. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 95, wherein:
         the acceleration module is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).       

     Statement 97. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 96, wherein the APM-F and APM-S communicate using the downstream interface regarding the application data to be used with the acceleration instruction. 
     Statement 98. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 96, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 99. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 96, wherein the FPGA further includes:
         an acceleration engine; and   a run-time scheduler to schedule the acceleration instruction with the acceleration engine.       

     Statement 100. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 96, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes an upstream port;   the downstream interface includes a downstream port;   the FPGA is operative to forward a first PCIe transaction received from the processor at the upstream port to the storage device;   the FPGA includes a downstream filter associated with the downstream port, the downstream filter operative to intercept an acceleration instruction received from the storage device and deliver the acceleration instruction to the APM-F, the acceleration instruction being associated with a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR); and   the FPGA is operative to forward a second PCIe transaction not associated with the downstream FAR received from the storage device at the downstream port to the processor.       

     Statement 101. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 100, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 102. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 101, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device over a sideband bus. 
     Statement 103. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 102, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 104. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 101, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM). 
     Statement 105. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 100, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the APM-S of the storage device via the downstream port. 
     Statement 106. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 100, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the upstream port. 
     Statement 107. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 100, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 108. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 100, wherein:
         the FPGA further includes an upstream filter associated with the upstream port, the upstream filter operative to intercept a second acceleration instruction received from the processor and deliver the second acceleration instruction to the APM-F, the second acceleration instruction being associated with an upstream FAR; and   the FPGA is operative to forward a third PCIe transaction not associated with the upstream FAR received from the processor at the upstream port to the storage device.       

     Statement 109. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 108, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 110. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 109, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 111. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 110, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 112. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 109, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 113. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 108, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the APM-S of the storage device via the downstream port. 
     Statement 114. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 108, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the upstream port. 
     Statement 115. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 108, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 116. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 108, wherein the FPGA is indirectly exposed to the processor through a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) register assigned to the storage device. 
     Statement 117. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 100, wherein:
         the FPGA is exposed by a virtual function (VF) of the storage device;   the FPGA further includes an upstream filter associated with the upstream port, the upstream filter operative to intercept a second acceleration instruction received from the processor and deliver the second acceleration instruction to the APM-F; and   the FPGA is operative to forward a third PCIe transaction not intercepted by the upstream filter received from the processor at the upstream port to the storage device.       

     Statement 118. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 117, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction is associated with an upstream FAR; and   the upstream filter is operative to intercept the second acceleration instruction associated with an upstream FAR.       

     Statement 119. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 118, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 120. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 119, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 121. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 120, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 122. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 119, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 123. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 117, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction includes an identifier of the VF; and   the upstream filter is operative to intercept the second acceleration instruction associated with the identifier of the VF.       

     Statement 124. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 123, wherein the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed with the identifier of the VF by the storage device. 
     Statement 125. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 124, wherein the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed with the identifier of the VF by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 126. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 125, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 127. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 124, wherein the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed with the identifier of the VF by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 128. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 117, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the APM-S of the storage device via the downstream port. 
     Statement 129. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 117, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the upstream port. 
     Statement 130. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 117, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 131. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 100, wherein:
         the FPGA is exposed by a physical function (PF) of the storage device;   the FPGA further includes an upstream filter associated with the upstream port, the upstream filter operative to intercept a second acceleration instruction received from the processor and deliver the second acceleration instruction to the APM-F; and   the FPGA is operative to forward a third PCIe transaction not intercepted by the upstream filter received from the processor at the upstream port to the storage device.       

     Statement 132. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 131, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction is associated with the upstream FAR; and   the upstream filter is operative to intercept the second acceleration instruction associated with an upstream FAR.       

     Statement 133. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 132, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 134. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 133, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 135. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 134, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 136. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 133, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 137. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 131, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction includes an identifier of the PF; and   the upstream filter is operative to intercept the second acceleration instruction associated with the identifier of the PF.       

     Statement 138. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 137, wherein the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed with the identifier of the PF by the storage device. 
     Statement 139. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 138, wherein the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed with the identifier of the PF by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 140. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 139, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 141. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 138, wherein the upstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed with the identifier of the PF by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 142. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 131, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the APM-S of the storage device via the downstream port. 
     Statement 143. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 131, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the upstream port. 
     Statement 144. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 131, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 145. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 96, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes an FPGA endpoint;   the downstream interface includes a FPGA root port, the FPGA root port supporting a configuration space;   the FPGA includes a first PF, a second PF, and a downstream filter associated with the FPGA root port, the downstream filter operative to intercept a first acceleration instruction received from the storage device and deliver the first acceleration instruction to the APM-F, the first acceleration instruction being associated with a downstream FAR;   the FPGA is operative to request a first block of host system addresses from the processor for the first PF and to request a second block of host system addresses from the processor for the second PF; and   the FPGA is operative to forward a PCIe transaction received from the processor to the storage device and to forward a second acceleration instruction received from the processor to the APM-F, the PCIe transaction being associated with a first identifier of the first PF the second acceleration instruction being associated with a second identifier of the second PF.       

     Statement 146. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 145, wherein:
         the FPGA is operative to receive from the storage device a request for a block of FPGA addresses from the FPGA, the block of FPGA addresses including the downstream FAR;   the FPGA is operative to allocate the block of FPGA addresses from the configuration space; and   the first block of host system addresses is at least as large as the block of FPGA addresses.       

     Statement 147. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 146, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 148. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 147, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 149. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 148, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 150. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 147, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 151. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 145, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 152. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 145, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 153. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 145, wherein the FPGA further includes a configuration monitor to copy a capability of the storage device endpoint to the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 154. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 96, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes an FPGA endpoint;   the downstream interface includes a first FPGA root port and a second FPGA root port, the first FPGA root port supporting a first configuration space, the second FPGA root port supporting a second configuration space;   the FPGA includes a first PF and a second PF;   the FPGA is operative to request a first block of host system addresses from the processor for the first PF and to request a second block of host system addresses from the processor for the second PF; and   the FPGA is operative to:
           forward a first PCIe transaction received from the processor to the storage device via the first FPGA root port, the first PCIe transaction being associated with a first identifier of the first PF;   forward a second acceleration instruction received from the processor to the APM-F, the second acceleration instruction being associated with a second identifier of the second PF;   forward a second PCIe transaction received from the storage device at the first FPGA root port to the processor; and   forward a first acceleration instruction received from the storage device at the second FPGA root port to the APM-F.   
               

     Statement 155. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 154, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 156. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 154, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 157. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 154, wherein the FPGA further includes a configuration monitor to copy a capability of the storage device endpoint to the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 158. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 154, wherein:
         the upstream interface further includes a second FPGA endpoint; and   the FPGA is further operative to:
           forward a first PCIe transaction received from the processor at the FPGA endpoint to the storage device via the first FPGA root port; and   forward a second acceleration instruction received from the processor at the second FPGA endpoint to the APM-F.   
               

     Statement 159. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 158, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 160. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 158, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 161. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 158, wherein the FPGA further includes a configuration monitor to copy a capability of the storage device endpoint to the first FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 162. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 96, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes a first FPGA endpoint and a second FPGA endpoint;   the downstream interface includes a FPGA root port, the FPGA root port supporting a configuration space;   the FPGA includes a downstream filter associated with the FPGA root port, the downstream filter operative to intercept a first acceleration instruction received from the storage device and deliver the first acceleration instruction to the APM-F, the first acceleration instruction being associated with a downstream FAR; and   the FPGA is operative to:
           forward a first PCIe transaction received from the processor at the FPGA endpoint to the storage device via the first FPGA root port and the storage device endpoint;   forward a second acceleration instruction received from the processor at the second FPGA endpoint to the APM-F;   forward a second PCIe transaction not associated with the downstream FAR received from the storage device at the first FPGA root port to the processor via the FPGA endpoint; and   forward a first acceleration instruction received from the storage device at the second FPGA root port to the APM-F.   
               

     Statement 163. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 162, wherein:
         the FPGA is operative to receive from the storage device a request for a block of FPGA addresses from the FPGA, the block of FPGA addresses including the downstream FAR;   the FPGA is operative to allocate the block of FPGA addresses from the configuration space; and   the FPGA is operative to request a block of host system addresses from the processor for the first FPGA endpoint, the block of host system addresses at least as large as the block of FPGA addresses; and       

     Statement 164. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 163, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 165. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 164, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 166. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 165, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 167. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 164, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the FPGA may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 168. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 162, wherein the APM-F is operative to send a result to the processor via the FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 169. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 162, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 170. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the acceleration module according to statement 162, wherein the FPGA further includes a configuration monitor to copy a capability of the storage device endpoint to the first FPGA endpoint. 
     Statement 171. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes a first bridging component implemented using hardware, comprising:
         an upstream interface for communicating with a processor, an application program running on the processor; and   a downstream interface for communicating with an acceleration module and a storage device,   wherein the first bridging component communicates with the processor, the acceleration module, and the storage device using a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) bus, and   the downstream interface is operative to deliver a PCIe transaction from the processor to either the acceleration module or the storage device, depending on whether the PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction.       

     Statement 172. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 171, wherein:
         the acceleration module is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA); and   the storage device includes a Solid State Drive (SSD).       

     Statement 173. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 171, further comprising a second bridging component, the second bridging component including:
         a second upstream interface for communicating with the processor and the acceleration module; and   a second downstream interface for communicating with the storage device,   wherein the second bridging component communicates with the processor, the acceleration module, and the storage device using a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) bus, and   the second upstream interface is operative to deliver a second PCIe transaction from the storage device to either the processor or the acceleration module, depending on whether the second PCIe transaction includes a second acceleration instruction.       

     Statement 174. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 171, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes:
           an upstream port; and   an upstream filter associated with the upstream port, the upstream filter operative to identify a second acceleration instruction associated with an upstream FAR received from the processor; and   
           the downstream interface is operative to forward the second acceleration instruction to the acceleration module and to forward a third PCIe transaction not associated with the upstream FAR received from the processor at the upstream port to the storage device.       

     Statement 175. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 174, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 176. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 175, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 177. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 176, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 178. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 175, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM). 
     Statement 179. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 174, wherein the FPGA is indirectly exposed to the processor through a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) register assigned to the storage device. 
     Statement 180. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 171, wherein:
         the upstream interface is exposed by a virtual function (VF) of the storage device;   the upstream interface includes:
           an upstream port; and   an upstream filter associated with the upstream port, the upstream filter operative to identify a second acceleration instruction to the acceleration module; and   
           the downstream interface is operative to forward the second acceleration instruction to the acceleration module and to forward a third PCIe transaction not intercepted by the upstream filter received from the processor at the upstream port to the storage device.       

     Statement 181. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 180, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction is associated with an upstream FAR; and   the upstream filter is operative to identify the second acceleration instruction associated with an upstream FAR.       

     Statement 182. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 181, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 183. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 182, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 184. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 183, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 185. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 182, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 186. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 180, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction includes an identifier of the VF; and   the upstream filter is operative to identify the second acceleration instruction associated with the identifier of the VF.       

     Statement 187. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 186, wherein the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed with the identifier of the VF by the storage device. 
     Statement 188. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 187, wherein the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed with the identifier of the VF by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 189. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 188, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 190. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 187, wherein the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed with the identifier of the VF by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 191. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 171, wherein:
         the upstream interface is exposed by a physical function (PF) of the storage device;   the upstream interface includes:
           an upstream port; and   an upstream filter associated with the upstream port, the upstream filter operative to identify a second acceleration instruction to the acceleration module; and   
           the downstream interface is operative to forward the second acceleration instruction to the acceleration module and to forward a third PCIe transaction not intercepted by the upstream filter received from the processor at the upstream port to the storage device.       

     Statement 192. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 191, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction is associated with an upstream FAR; and   the upstream filter is operative to identify the second acceleration instruction associated with an upstream FAR.       

     Statement 193. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 192, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 194. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 193, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 195. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 194, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 196. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 193, wherein the upstream FAR in the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 197. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 191, wherein:
         the second acceleration instruction includes an identifier of the PF; and   the upstream filter is operative to identify the second acceleration instruction associated with the identifier of the PF.       

     Statement 198. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 197, wherein the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed with the identifier of the PF by the storage device. 
     Statement 199. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 198, wherein the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed with the identifier of the PF by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 200. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 199, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 201. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 198, wherein the upstream filter of the first bridging component may be programmed with the identifier of the PF by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 202. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 171, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes:
           an endpoint;   a first PF; and   a second PF; and   
           the downstream interface is operative to forward a PCIe transaction received from the processor to the storage device and to forward a second acceleration instruction received from the processor to the acceleration module, the PCIe transaction being associated with a first identifier of the first PF, the second acceleration instruction being associated with a second identifier of the second PF.       

     Statement 203. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 202, wherein the first bridging component further includes a configuration monitor to copy a capability of the endpoint of the storage device to the endpoint. 
     Statement 204. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 171, wherein:
         the upstream interface includes:   a first endpoint; and   a second endpoint; and   the downstream interface is operative to forward a PCIe transaction associated with the first endpoint received from the processor to the storage device and to forward a second acceleration instruction received from the processor to the acceleration module, the second acceleration instruction being associated with the second endpoint.       

     Statement 205. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the first bridging component according to statement 204, wherein the first bridging component further includes a configuration monitor to copy a capability of the endpoint of the storage device to the first endpoint. 
     Statement 206. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes a second bridging component implemented using hardware, comprising:
         an upstream interface for communicating with a processor and an acceleration module; and   a downstream interface for communicating with a storage device,   wherein the first bridging component communicates with the processor, the acceleration module, and the storage device using a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) bus, and   the upstream interface is operative to deliver a PCIe transaction from the storage device to either the processor or the acceleration module, depending on whether the PCIe transaction includes an acceleration instruction.       

     Statement 207. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 206, wherein:
         the acceleration module is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA); and   the storage device includes a Solid State Drive (SSD).       

     Statement 208. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 206, wherein:
         the downstream interface includes:
           a downstream port; and   a downstream filter associated with the downstream port, the downstream filter operative to identify an acceleration instruction associated with a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR) received from the storage device;   
           the downstream interface is operative to forward the acceleration instruction to the acceleration module and to forward a second PCIe transaction not associated with the downstream FAR received from the storage device at the downstream port to the processor.       

     Statement 209. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 208, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the second bridging component may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 210. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 209, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the second bridging component may be programmed by the storage device over a sideband bus. 
     Statement 211. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 210, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 212. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 209, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the second bridging component may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM). 
     Statement 213. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 206, wherein:
         the downstream interface includes:
           a root port; and   a downstream filter associated with the root port, the downstream filter operative to identify an acceleration instruction associated with a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR) received from the storage device;   
           the downstream interface is operative to forward the acceleration instruction to the acceleration module and to forward a second PCIe transaction not associated with the downstream FAR received from the storage device at the downstream port to the processor.       

     Statement 214. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 213, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the second bridging component may be programmed by the storage device. 
     Statement 215. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 214, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the second bridging component may be programmed by the storage device using a sideband bus. 
     Statement 216. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 215, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 217. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 214, wherein the downstream FAR in the downstream filter of the second bridging component may be programmed by the storage device using a PCIe VDM. 
     Statement 218. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the second bridging component according to statement 206, wherein:
         the downstream interface includes:
           a first root port; and   a second root port,   
           wherein the downstream interface is operative to forward a second PCIe transaction received from the storage device at the first root port to the processor and to forward an acceleration instruction received from the storage device at the second root port to the acceleration module.       

     Statement 219. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes a storage device, comprising:
         an endpoint of the storage device for communicating with an acceleration module, the acceleration module including an Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-F);   a controller to manage operations of the storage device;   storage to store application data for the application program; and   a storage device Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-S) to assist the APM-F in executing the acceleration instruction,   wherein the storage device and the acceleration module communicate using a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) bus, and   wherein the acceleration module supports performing the acceleration instruction on the application data on the storage device for the application program without loading the application data into a memory associated with a processor.       

     Statement 220. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 219, wherein the storage device includes a Solid State Drive (SSD). 
     Statement 221. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 220, wherein the APM-F and APM-S communicate using the endpoint of the SSD regarding the application data to be used with the acceleration instruction. 
     Statement 222. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 220, wherein the APM-F and the APM-S communicate using messages. 
     Statement 223. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 220, wherein the storage device may receive from the processor a PCIe transaction to the SSD, the PCI transaction including a transaction layer packet (TLP) encoding a command using a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) protocol. 
     Statement 224. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 220, wherein the SSD includes the acceleration module. 
     Statement 225. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 220, wherein:
         the SSD is operative to send an acceleration instruction associated with a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR) to the acceleration module, the first PCIe transaction intended for the APM-F; and   the SSD is operative to send a first PCIe transaction not associated with the downstream FAR to the acceleration module, the first PCIe transaction intended for the processor.       

     Statement 226. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 225, wherein the acceleration instruction is generated by the APM-S. 
     Statement 227. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 226, wherein the SSD further includes a host interface logic (HIL) to intercept a special command, the special command including the acceleration instruction, and to forward the special command to the APM-S to trigger the APM-S to generate the acceleration instruction. 
     Statement 228. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 227, wherein the special command originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 229. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 225, wherein:
         the SSD is operative to request a block of host system addresses from the processor; and   the controller is operative to select a subset of the block of host system addresses as the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 230. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 229, wherein the controller is operative to program a downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 231. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 230, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 232. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 231, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 233. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 230, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) to program the downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 234. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 229, wherein the controller is further operative to select a second subset of the block of host system addresses as an upstream FAR. 
     Statement 235. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 234, wherein the controller is operative to store information regarding the upstream FAR in a special register accessible by an ASM running on the processor. 
     Statement 236. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 235, wherein the special register is within the block of host system addresses. 
     Statement 237. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 229, wherein the controller is operative to program an upstream filter of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 238. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 237, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the upstream filter of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 239. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 238, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 240. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 237, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) to program the upstream filter of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 241. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 225, wherein the SSD is operative to receive a result from the APM-F via the endpoint of the SSD and to forward the result to the processor via the endpoint of the SSD. 
     Statement 242. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 225, wherein the SSD includes a physical function (PF) and a virtual function (VF), the PF operative to expose the SSD and the VF operative to expose the acceleration module. 
     Statement 243. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 242, wherein:
         the PF is operative to request a first block of host system addresses from the processor;   the controller is operative to select a first subset of the block of host system addresses as the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 244. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 243, wherein the controller is operative to program a downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 245. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 244, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 246. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 245, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 247. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 244, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 248. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 242, wherein the VF is operative to request a second block of host system addresses from the processor as an upstream FAR. 
     Statement 249. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 248, wherein the controller is operative to program an upstream filter of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 250. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 249, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the upstream filter of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 251. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 250, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 252. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 249, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the upstream filter of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 253. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 242, wherein the controller is operative to program an upstream filter of the acceleration module with an identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 254. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 253, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the upstream filter of the acceleration module with the identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 255. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 254, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 256. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 253, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the upstream filter of the acceleration module with the identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 257. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 242, wherein the controller is operative to receive a result from the APM-F via the endpoint of the SSD and to forward the result to the processor via the endpoint of the SSD. 
     Statement 258. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 225, wherein the SSD includes a first PF and a second PF, the first PF operative to expose the SSD and the second PF operative to expose the acceleration module. 
     Statement 259. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 258, wherein:
         the first PF is operative to request a first block of host system addresses from the processor;   the controller is operative to select a first subset of the block of host system addresses as the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 260. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 259, wherein the controller is operative to program a downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 261. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 260, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 262. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 261, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 263. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 260, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 264. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 258, wherein the second PF is operative to request a second block of host system addresses from the processor as an upstream FAR. 
     Statement 265. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 264, wherein the controller is operative to program an upstream filter of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 266. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 265, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the upstream filter of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 267. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 266, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 268. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 265, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the upstream filter of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 269. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 258, wherein the controller is operative to program an upstream filter of the acceleration module with an identifier of the second PF. 
     Statement 270. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 269, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the upstream filter of the acceleration module with the identifier of the second PF. 
     Statement 271. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 270, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 272. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 269, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe VDM to program the upstream filter of the acceleration module with the identifier of the second PF. 
     Statement 273. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 258, wherein the controller is operative to receive a result from the APM-F via the endpoint of the SSD and to forward the result to the processor via the endpoint of the SSD. 
     Statement 274. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 225, wherein:
         the SSD is operative to request a block of acceleration module addresses from the acceleration module; and   the controller is operative to select a subset of the block of acceleration module addresses as the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 275. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 274, wherein the controller is operative to program a downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 276. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 275, wherein the controller is operative to use a sideband bus to program the downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 277. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 276, wherein the sideband bus is drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 278. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 275, wherein the controller is operative to use a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) to program the downstream filter of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 279. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the storage device according to statement 220, further comprising a second endpoint of the SSD for communicating with the acceleration module, wherein the endpoint of the SSD is used for exchanging communications with the processor and the second endpoint of the SSD is used for exchanging communications with the APM-F. 
     Statement 280. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes a method, comprising:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an acceleration module;   determining at the acceleration module whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction;   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction, processing the PCIe transaction at an acceleration platform manager (APM-F) of the acceleration module; and   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is not the acceleration instruction, delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device,   wherein the acceleration module supports performing the acceleration instruction on application data on a storage device for an application program without loading the application data into a memory associated with a processor, and   wherein the processor, the acceleration module, and the storage device communicate using a PCIe bus.       

     Statement 281. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 280, wherein the acceleration module is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array. 
     Statement 282. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 281, wherein:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an FPGA includes receiving a second PCIe transaction from the storage device at a downstream port of the FPGA;   determining at the acceleration module whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining at the FPGA whether the second PCIe transaction is associated with an address in a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR) associated with the downstream port of the FPGA; and   delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device includes delivering the second PCIe transaction to the processor using an upstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 283. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 282, further comprising:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the upstream port of the FPGA; and   delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream processor of the FPGA.       

     Statement 284. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 282, further comprising:
         receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the downstream FAR with the downstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 285. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 284, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 286. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 284, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 287. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 282, further comprising sending a result of the second PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 288. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 282, further comprising sending a result of the second PCIe transaction to the processor using the upstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 289. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 282, further comprising:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the upstream port of the FPGA;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining whether the first PCIe transaction is associated with a second address in an upstream FAR associated with the upstream port of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is the second acceleration instruction, processing the first PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is not the second acceleration instruction, delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 290. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 289, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 291. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 289, further comprising:
         receiving the upstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the upstream FAR with the upstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 292. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 291, wherein receiving the upstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the upstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 293. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 291, wherein receiving the upstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 294. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 289, further comprising sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the upstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 295. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 289, further comprising sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the upstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 296. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 282, further comprising:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the upstream port of the FPGA;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining whether the first PCIe transaction is associated with a virtual function (VF) exposed by the storage device; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is the second acceleration instruction, processing the first PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is not the second acceleration instruction, delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 297. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 296, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 298. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 296, wherein determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 299. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 298, further comprising:
         receiving the identifier of the VF at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the identifier of the VF with the upstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 300. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 299, wherein receiving the identifier of the VF at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the identifier of the VF at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 301. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 299, wherein receiving the identifier of the VF at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 302. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 296, further comprising sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the upstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 303. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 282, further comprising:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the upstream port of the FPGA;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining whether the first PCIe transaction is associated with a physical function (PF) exposed by the storage device; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is the second acceleration instruction, processing the first PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is not the second acceleration instruction, delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 304. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 303, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 305. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 303, wherein determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of the PF. 
     Statement 306. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 305, further comprising:
         receiving the identifier of the PF at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the identifier of the PF with the upstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 307. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 306, wherein receiving the identifier of the PF at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the identifier of the PF at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 308. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 306, wherein receiving the identifier of the PF at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the identifier of the PF. 
     Statement 309. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 303, further comprising sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 310. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 303, further comprising sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the upstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 311. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 281, wherein:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an FPGA includes receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at an endpoint of the FPGA;   determining at the acceleration module whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a tag with a first identifier of a first PF of the FPGA or a second identifier of a second PF of the FPGA; and   delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device includes delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using a root port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 312. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 311, further comprising:
         receiving a second PCIe transaction from the storage device at the root port of the FPGA;   determining whether the second PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining at the FPGA whether the second PCIe transaction is associated with an address in a downstream FAR associated with the root port of the FPGA;   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction is the second acceleration instruction, processing the first PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction is not the second acceleration instruction, delivering the second PCIe transaction to the processor using the endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 313. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 312, further comprising:
         receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the downstream FAR with the root port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 314. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 313, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 315. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 313, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 316. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 311, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 317. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 311, further comprising sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the endpoint of the FPGA. 
     Statement 318. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 311, further comprising:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the FPGA, the endpoint of the storage device in communication with the root port of the FPGA; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using the endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 319. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 281, wherein:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an FPGA includes receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at an endpoint of the FPGA;   determining at the acceleration module whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of a first PF of the FPGA or a second identifier of a second PF of the FPGA; and   delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device includes delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using a first root port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 320. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 319, further comprising:
         receiving a second PCIe transaction from the storage device at the FPGA;   determining whether the second PCIe transaction was received at a first root port of the FPGA or a second root port of the FPGA;   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction was received at the first root port of the FPGA, delivering the second PCIe transaction to the processor using the endpoint; and   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction was received at the second root port of the FPGA, processing the second PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA.       

     Statement 321. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 319, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 322. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 319, further comprising sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the endpoint of the FPGA. 
     Statement 323. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 319, further comprising:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the FPGA, the endpoint of the storage device in communication with the first root port of the FPGA; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using the endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 324. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 281, wherein:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an FPGA includes receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the FPGA;   determining at the FPGA whether the first PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining whether the first PCIe transaction was received from the processor at a first endpoint of the FPGA, the FPGA including the first endpoint and a second endpoint; and   delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device includes delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using a first root port of the FPGA, the FPGA including the first root port and a second root port.       

     Statement 325. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 324, further comprising:
         receiving a second PCIe transaction from the storage device at the FPGA;   determining whether the second PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction by determining whether the second PCIe transaction was received at the first root port of the FPGA or the second root port of the FPGA;   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction was received at the first root port of the FPGA, delivering the second PCIe transaction to the processor using the first endpoint; and   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction was received at the second root port of the FPGA, processing the second PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA.       

     Statement 326. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 324, wherein the second PCIe transaction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 327. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 324, further comprising sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the second endpoint of the FPGA. 
     Statement 328. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 324, further comprising:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the FPGA, the endpoint of the storage device in communication with the first root port of the FPGA; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using the first endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 329. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 281, wherein:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an FPGA includes receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the FPGA;   determining at the acceleration module whether the first PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining whether the first PCIe transaction was received from the processor at a first endpoint of the FPGA, the FPGA including the first endpoint and a second endpoint; and   delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device includes delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using a root port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 330. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 329, further comprising:
         receiving a second PCIe transaction from the storage device at the root port of the FPGA;   determining whether the second PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction by determining at the FPGA whether the second PCIe transaction is associated with an address in a downstream FAR associated with the root port of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction, processing the second PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction is not the acceleration instruction, delivering the second PCIe transaction to the processor using the first endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 331. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 330, further comprising:
         receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the downstream FAR with the root port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 332. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 331, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 333. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 331, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 334. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 329, wherein the first PCIe transaction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 335. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 329, further comprising sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the second endpoint of the FPGA. 
     Statement 336. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 329, further comprising:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the FPGA, the endpoint of the storage device in communication with the root port of the FPGA; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using the first endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 337. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes a method, comprising:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a processor at a first bridging component;   determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction;   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction, forwarding the PCIe transaction to an acceleration module; and   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is not the acceleration instruction, forwarding the PCIe transaction to a storage device,   wherein the processor, the first bridging component, the acceleration module, and the storage device communicate using a PCIe bus.       

     Statement 338. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 337, wherein:
         the acceleration module is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array; and   the storage device includes a Solid State Drive (SSD).       

     Statement 339. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 337, wherein determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction is associated with an address in an upstream FAR associated with an upstream port of the first bridging component. 
     Statement 340. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 339, further comprising:
         receiving the upstream FAR at the first bridging component from the storage device; and   associating the upstream FAR with the upstream port of the first bridging component.       

     Statement 341. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 340, wherein receiving the upstream FAR at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving the upstream FAR at the first bridging component from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 342. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 340, wherein receiving the upstream FAR at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 343. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 337, wherein determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction is associated with a virtual function (VF) exposed by the storage device. 
     Statement 344. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 343, wherein determining whether the PCIe transaction is associated with a virtual function (VF) exposed by the storage device includes determining whether the PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 345. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 344, further comprising:
         receiving the identifier of the VF at the first bridging component from the storage device; and   associating the identifier of the VF with the upstream port of the first bridging component.       

     Statement 346. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 345, wherein receiving the identifier of the VF at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving the identifier of the VF at the first bridging component from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 347. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 345, wherein receiving the identifier of the VF at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 348. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 337, wherein determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction is associated with a physical function (PF) exposed by the storage device. 
     Statement 349. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 348, wherein determining whether the PCIe transaction is associated with a physical function (PF) exposed by the storage device includes determining whether the PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of the PF. 
     Statement 350. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 349, further comprising:
         receiving the identifier of the PF at the first bridging component from the storage device; and   associating the identifier of the PF with the upstream port of the first bridging component.       

     Statement 351. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 350, wherein receiving the identifier of the PF at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving the identifier of the PF at the first bridging component from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 352. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 350, wherein receiving the identifier of the PF at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the identifier of the PF. 
     Statement 353. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 337, wherein determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of a first PF of the first bridging component or a second identifier of a second PF of the first bridging component. 
     Statement 354. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 353, further comprising:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the first bridging component; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using an endpoint of the first bridging component.       

     Statement 355. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 337, wherein determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction was received from the processor at a first endpoint of the first bridging component, the first bridging component including the first endpoint and a second endpoint. 
     Statement 356. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 355, further comprising:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the first bridging component; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using the first endpoint of the first bridging component.       

     Statement 357. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes a method, comprising:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a storage device at a second bridging component;   determining at the second bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction;   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction, forwarding the PCIe transaction to an acceleration module; and   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is not the acceleration instruction, forwarding the PCIe transaction to a processor,   wherein the processor, the second bridging component, the acceleration module, and the storage device communicate using a PCIe bus.       

     Statement 358. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 357, wherein:
         the acceleration module is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array; and   the storage device includes a Solid State Drive (SSD).       

     Statement 359. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 357, wherein determining at the second bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining at the second bridging component whether the second PCIe transaction is associated with an address in a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR) associated with a downstream port of the second bridging component. 
     Statement 360. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 359, further comprising:
         receiving the downstream FAR at the second bridging component from the storage device; and   associating the downstream FAR with the downstream port of the second bridging component.       

     Statement 361. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 360, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the second bridging component from the storage device includes receiving the downstream FAR at the second bridging component from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 362. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 360, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the second bridging component from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 363. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 357, wherein determining at the second bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction was received at a second root port of the second bridging component, the second bridging component including a first root port and the second root port. 
     Statement 364. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes a method, comprising:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from an acceleration module at a storage device;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction;   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction:
           generating a second PCIe transaction using a storage device Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-S) of the storage device; and   sending the second PCIe transaction from the storage device to the acceleration module; and   
           based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is not the acceleration instruction, executing the first PCIe transaction on data stored on the storage device,   wherein a processor, the acceleration module, and the storage device communicate using a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) bus, and   wherein the acceleration module supports performing the acceleration instruction on the application data on the storage device for an application program running on the processor without loading the application data into a memory associated with the processor.       

     Statement 365. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 364, wherein the storage device is a Solid State Drive (SSD). 
     Statement 366. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 365, wherein:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from an acceleration module of a storage device includes receiving the first PCIe transaction from the acceleration module at an endpoint of the SSD;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a special command from the processor or originates from the APM-F of the acceleration module;   generating a second PCIe transaction using a storage device Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-S) of the storage device includes generating the second PCIe transaction by the APM-S of the SSD responsive to the first PCIe transaction; and   sending the second PCIe transaction from the storage device to the acceleration module includes sending the second PCIe transaction from the endpoint of the SSD to the acceleration module.       

     Statement 367. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 366, wherein the first PCIe transaction originates from the processor and includes a special command. 
     Statement 368. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 366, wherein determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a special command from the processor includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a special command from the processor by a host interface logic (HIL) of the SSD. 
     Statement 369. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 368, wherein the special command originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 370. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 366, further comprising:
         requesting a block of host system addresses from the processor;   selecting a subset of the block of host system addresses as a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR); and   programming a downstream port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 371. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 370, wherein programming a downstream port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR includes programming the downstream port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 372. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 370, wherein programming a downstream port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR includes programming the downstream port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR using a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM), the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 373. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 370, further comprising:
         selecting a second subset of the block of host system addresses as a upstream FAR; and   programming an upstream port of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR.       

     Statement 374. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 373, wherein programming an upstream port of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR includes programming the upstream port of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 375. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 373, wherein programming an upstream port of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR includes programming the upstream port of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR using a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM), the PCIe VDM including the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 376. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 366, further comprising:
         requesting a block of host system addresses from the processor;   selecting a subset of the block of host system addresses as a downstream FAR; and   programming a root port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 377. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 376, wherein programming a root port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR includes programming the root port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 378. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 376, wherein programming a root port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR includes programming the root port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR using a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM), the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 379. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 366, further comprising:
         receiving a result of the first PCIe transaction from the acceleration module at the endpoint of the SSD; and   forwarding the result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the endpoint of the SSD.       

     Statement 380. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 366, further comprising:
         offering a physical function (PF) exposing the SSD; and   offering a virtual function (VF) exposing the acceleration module.       

     Statement 381. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 380, further comprising programming an upstream port of the acceleration module with an identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 382. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 366, further comprising:
         offering a first PF exposing the SSD; and   offering a second PF exposing the acceleration module.       

     Statement 383. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 382, further comprising programming an upstream port of the acceleration module with an identifier of the second PF. 
     Statement 384. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the method according to statement 365, wherein:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from an acceleration module of a storage device includes receiving the first PCIe transaction from the acceleration module at an endpoint of the SSD;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction was received by the SSD at a second endpoint, the SSD including the second endpoint and a first endpoint;   generating a second PCIe transaction using a storage device Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-S) of the storage device includes generating the second PCIe transaction by the APM-S of the SSD responsive to the first PCIe transaction; and   sending the second PCIe transaction from the storage device to the acceleration module includes sending the second PCIe transaction from the second endpoint of the SSD to the acceleration module.       

     Statement 385. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes an article, comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a machine, result in:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an acceleration module;   determining at the acceleration module whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction;   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction, processing the PCIe transaction at an acceleration platform manager (APM-F) of the acceleration module; and   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is not the acceleration instruction, delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device,   wherein the acceleration module supports performing the acceleration instruction on application data on a storage device for an application program without loading the application data into a memory associated with a processor, and   wherein the processor, the acceleration module, and the storage device communicate using a PCIe bus.       

     Statement 386. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 385, wherein the acceleration module is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array. 
     Statement 387. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 386, wherein:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an FPGA includes receiving a second PCIe transaction from the storage device at a downstream port of the FPGA;   determining at the acceleration module whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining at the FPGA whether the second PCIe transaction is associated with an address in a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR) associated with the downstream port of the FPGA; and   delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device includes delivering the second PCIe transaction to the processor using an upstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 388. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 387, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the upstream port of the FPGA; and   delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream processor of the FPGA.       

     Statement 389. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 387, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the downstream FAR with the downstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 390. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 389, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 391. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 389, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 392. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 387, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in sending a result of the second PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 393. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 387, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in sending a result of the second PCIe transaction to the processor using the upstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 394. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 387, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the upstream port of the FPGA;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining whether the first PCIe transaction is associated with a second address in an upstream FAR associated with the upstream port of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is the second acceleration instruction, processing the first PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is not the second acceleration instruction, delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 395. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 394, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 396. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 394, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving the upstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the upstream FAR with the upstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 397. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 396, wherein receiving the upstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the upstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 398. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 396, wherein receiving the upstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 399. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 394, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the upstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 400. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 394, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the upstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 401. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 387, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the upstream port of the FPGA;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining whether the first PCIe transaction is associated with a virtual function (VF) exposed by the storage device; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is the second acceleration instruction, processing the first PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is not the second acceleration instruction, delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 402. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 401, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 403. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 401, wherein determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 404. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 403, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving the identifier of the VF at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the identifier of the VF with the upstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 405. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 404, wherein receiving the identifier of the VF at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the identifier of the VF at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 406. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 404, wherein receiving the identifier of the VF at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 407. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 401, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the upstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 408. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 387, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the upstream port of the FPGA;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining whether the first PCIe transaction is associated with a physical function (PF) exposed by the storage device; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is the second acceleration instruction, processing the first PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is not the second acceleration instruction, delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using the downstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 409. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 408, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 410. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 408, wherein determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of the PF. 
     Statement 411. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 410, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving the identifier of the PF at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the identifier of the PF with the upstream port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 412. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 411, wherein receiving the identifier of the PF at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the identifier of the PF at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 413. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 411, wherein receiving the identifier of the PF at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the identifier of the PF. 
     Statement 414. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 408, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the upstream port of the FPGA. 
     Statement 415. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 386, wherein:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an FPGA includes receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at an endpoint of the FPGA;   determining at the acceleration module whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of a first PF of the FPGA or a second identifier of a second PF of the FPGA; and   delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device includes delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using a root port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 416. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 415, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving a second PCIe transaction from the storage device at the root port of the FPGA;   determining whether the second PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining at the FPGA whether the second PCIe transaction is associated with an address in a downstream FAR associated with the root port of the FPGA;   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction is the second acceleration instruction, processing the first PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction is not the second acceleration instruction, delivering the second PCIe transaction to the processor using the endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 417. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 416, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the downstream FAR with the root port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 418. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 417, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 419. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 417, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 420. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 415, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 421. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 415, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the endpoint of the FPGA. 
     Statement 422. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 415, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the FPGA, the endpoint of the storage device in communication with the root port of the FPGA; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using the endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 423. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 386, wherein:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an FPGA includes receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at an endpoint of the FPGA;   determining at the acceleration module whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of a first PF of the FPGA or a second identifier of a second PF of the FPGA; and   delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device includes delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using a first root port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 424. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 423, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving a second PCIe transaction from the storage device at the FPGA;   determining whether the second PCIe transaction was received at a first root port of the FPGA or a second root port of the FPGA;   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction was received at the first root port of the FPGA, delivering the second PCIe transaction to the processor using the endpoint; and   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction was received at the second root port of the FPGA, processing the second PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA.       

     Statement 425. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 423, wherein the second acceleration instruction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 426. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 423, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the endpoint of the FPGA. 
     Statement 427. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 423, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the FPGA, the endpoint of the storage device in communication with the first root port of the FPGA; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using the endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 428. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 386, wherein:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an FPGA includes receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the FPGA;   determining at the FPGA whether the first PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining whether the first PCIe transaction was received from the processor at a first endpoint of the FPGA, the FPGA including the first endpoint and a second endpoint; and   delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device includes delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using a first root port of the FPGA, the FPGA including the first root port and a second root port.       

     Statement 429. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 428, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving a second PCIe transaction from the storage device at the FPGA;   determining whether the second PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction by determining whether the second PCIe transaction was received at the first root port of the FPGA or the second root port of the FPGA;   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction was received at the first root port of the FPGA, delivering the second PCIe transaction to the processor using the first endpoint; and   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction was received at the second root port of the FPGA, processing the second PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA.       

     Statement 430. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 428, wherein the second PCIe transaction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 431. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 428, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the second endpoint of the FPGA. 
     Statement 432. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 428, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the FPGA, the endpoint of the storage device in communication with the first root port of the FPGA; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using the first endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 433. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 386, wherein:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a first device at an FPGA includes receiving a first PCIe transaction from the processor at the FPGA;   determining at the acceleration module whether the first PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction is a second acceleration instruction by determining whether the first PCIe transaction was received from the processor at a first endpoint of the FPGA, the FPGA including the first endpoint and a second endpoint; and   delivering the PCIe transaction to a second device includes delivering the first PCIe transaction to the storage device using a root port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 434. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 433, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving a second PCIe transaction from the storage device at the root port of the FPGA;   determining whether the second PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction by determining at the FPGA whether the second PCIe transaction is associated with an address in a downstream FAR associated with the root port of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction, processing the second PCIe transaction at the APM-F of the FPGA; and   based at least in part on determining that the second PCIe transaction is not the acceleration instruction, delivering the second PCIe transaction to the processor using the first endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 435. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 434, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device; and   associating the downstream FAR with the root port of the FPGA.       

     Statement 436. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 435, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 437. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 435, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the FPGA from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 438. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 433, wherein the first PCIe transaction originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 439. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 433, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in sending a result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the second endpoint of the FPGA. 
     Statement 440. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 433, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the FPGA, the endpoint of the storage device in communication with the root port of the FPGA; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using the first endpoint of the FPGA.       

     Statement 441. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes an article, comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a machine, result in:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from an acceleration module at a storage device;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction;   based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction:
           generating a second PCIe transaction using a storage device Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-S) of the storage device; and   sending the second PCIe transaction from the storage device to the acceleration module; and   
           based at least in part on determining that the first PCIe transaction is not the acceleration instruction, executing the first PCIe transaction on data stored on the storage device,   wherein a processor, the acceleration module, and the storage device communicate using a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) bus, and   wherein the acceleration module supports performing the acceleration instruction on the application data on the storage device for an application program running on the processor without loading the application data into a memory associated with the processor.       

     Statement 442. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 441, wherein the storage device is a Solid State Drive (SSD). 
     Statement 443. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 442, wherein:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from an acceleration module of a storage device includes receiving the first PCIe transaction from the acceleration module at an endpoint of the SSD;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a special command from the processor or originates from the APM-F of the acceleration module;   generating a second PCIe transaction using a storage device Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-S) of the storage device includes generating the second PCIe transaction by the APM-S of the SSD responsive to the first PCIe transaction; and   sending the second PCIe transaction from the storage device to the acceleration module includes sending the second PCIe transaction from the endpoint of the SSD to the acceleration module.       

     Statement 444. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 443, wherein the first PCIe transaction originates from the processor and includes a special command. 
     Statement 445. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 443, wherein determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a special command from the processor includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction includes a special command from the processor by a host interface logic (HIL) of the SSD. 
     Statement 446. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 445, wherein the special command originates from an Acceleration Service Manager (ASM) running on the processor. 
     Statement 447. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 443, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         requesting a block of host system addresses from the processor;   selecting a subset of the block of host system addresses as a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR); and   programming a downstream port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 448. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 447, wherein programming a downstream port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR includes programming the downstream port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 449. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 447, wherein programming a downstream port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR includes programming the downstream port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR using a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM), the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 450. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 447, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         selecting a second subset of the block of host system addresses as a upstream FAR; and   programming an upstream port of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR.       

     Statement 451. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 450, wherein programming an upstream port of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR includes programming the upstream port of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 452. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 450, wherein programming an upstream port of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR includes programming the upstream port of the acceleration module with the upstream FAR using a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM), the PCIe VDM including the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 453. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 443, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         requesting a block of host system addresses from the processor;   selecting a subset of the block of host system addresses as a downstream FAR; and   programming a root port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR.       

     Statement 454. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 453, wherein programming a root port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR includes programming the root port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 455. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 453, wherein programming a root port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR includes programming the root port of the acceleration module with the downstream FAR using a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM), the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 456. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 443, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving a result of the first PCIe transaction from the acceleration module at the endpoint of the SSD; and   forwarding the result of the first PCIe transaction to the processor using the endpoint of the SSD.       

     Statement 457. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 443, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         offering a physical function (PF) exposing the SSD; and   offering a virtual function (VF) exposing the acceleration module.       

     Statement 458. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 457, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in programming an upstream port of the acceleration module with an identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 459. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 443, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         offering a first PF exposing the SSD; and   offering a second PF exposing the acceleration module.       

     Statement 460. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 459, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in programming an upstream port of the acceleration module with an identifier of the second PF. 
     Statement 461. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 442, wherein:
         receiving a first PCIe transaction from an acceleration module of a storage device includes receiving the first PCIe transaction from the acceleration module at an endpoint of the SSD;   determining whether the first PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the first PCIe transaction was received by the SSD at a second endpoint, the SSD including the second endpoint and a first endpoint;   generating a second PCIe transaction using a storage device Acceleration Platform Manager (APM-S) of the storage device includes generating the second PCIe transaction by the APM-S of the SSD responsive to the first PCIe transaction; and   sending the second PCIe transaction from the storage device to the acceleration module includes sending the second PCIe transaction from the second endpoint of the SSD to the acceleration module.       

     Statement 462. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes an article, comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a machine, result in:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a processor at a first bridging component;   determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction;   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction, forwarding the PCIe transaction to an acceleration module; and   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is not the acceleration instruction, forwarding the PCIe transaction to a storage device,   wherein the processor, the first bridging component, the acceleration module, and the storage device communicate using a PCIe bus.       

     Statement 463. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 462, wherein:
         the acceleration module is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array; and the storage device includes a Solid State Drive (SSD).       

     Statement 464. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 462, wherein determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction is associated with an address in an upstream FAR associated with an upstream port of the first bridging component. 
     Statement 465. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 464, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving the upstream FAR at the first bridging component from the storage device; and   associating the upstream FAR with the upstream port of the first bridging component.       

     Statement 466. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 465, wherein receiving the upstream FAR at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving the upstream FAR at the first bridging component from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 467. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 465, wherein receiving the upstream FAR at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the upstream FAR. 
     Statement 468. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 462, wherein determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction is associated with a virtual function (VF) exposed by the storage device. 
     Statement 469. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 468, wherein determining whether the PCIe transaction is associated with a virtual function (VF) exposed by the storage device includes determining whether the PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 470. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 469, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving the identifier of the VF at the first bridging component from the storage device; and   associating the identifier of the VF with the upstream port of the first bridging component.       

     Statement 471. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 470, wherein receiving the identifier of the VF at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving the identifier of the VF at the first bridging component from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 472. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 470, wherein receiving the identifier of the VF at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the identifier of the VF. 
     Statement 473. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 462, wherein determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction is associated with a physical function (PF) exposed by the storage device. 
     Statement 474. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 473, wherein determining whether the PCIe transaction is associated with a physical function (PF) exposed by the storage device includes determining whether the PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of the PF. 
     Statement 475. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 474, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving the identifier of the PF at the first bridging component from the storage device; and   associating the identifier of the PF with the upstream port of the first bridging component.       

     Statement 476. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 475, wherein receiving the identifier of the PF at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving the identifier of the PF at the first bridging component from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an I 2 C bus and an SMBus. 
     Statement 477. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 475, wherein receiving the identifier of the PF at the first bridging component from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the identifier of the PF. 
     Statement 478. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 462, wherein determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction includes a tag with an identifier of a first PF of the first bridging component or a second identifier of a second PF of the first bridging component. 
     Statement 479. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 478, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the first bridging component; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using an endpoint of the first bridging component.       

     Statement 480. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 462, wherein determining at the first bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction was received from the processor at a first endpoint of the first bridging component, the first bridging component including the first endpoint and a second endpoint. 
     Statement 481. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 480, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         determining a configuration of an endpoint of the storage device using a configuration monitor of the first bridging component; and   replicating the configuration of the endpoint on the storage device using the first endpoint of the first bridging component.       

     Statement 482. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes an article, comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a machine, result in:
         receiving a Peripheral Component Interconnect Exchange (PCIe) transaction from a storage device at a second bridging component;   determining at the second bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction;   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is the acceleration instruction, forwarding the PCIe transaction to an acceleration module; and   based at least in part on determining that the PCIe transaction is not the acceleration instruction, forwarding the PCIe transaction to a processor,   wherein the processor, the second bridging component, the acceleration module, and the storage device communicate using a PCIe bus.       

     Statement 483. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 482, wherein:
         the acceleration module is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array; and   the storage device includes a Solid State Drive (SSD).       

     Statement 484. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 482, wherein determining at the second bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining at the second bridging component whether the second PCIe transaction is associated with an address in a downstream Filter Address Range (FAR) associated with a downstream port of the second bridging component. 
     Statement 485. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 484, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon further instructions that, when executed by the machine, result in:
         receiving the downstream FAR at the second bridging component from the storage device; and   associating the downstream FAR with the downstream port of the second bridging component.       

     Statement 486. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 485, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the second bridging component from the storage device includes receiving the downstream FAR at the second bridging component from the storage device over a sideband bus, the sideband bus drawn from a set including an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C) bus and a System Management Bus (SMBus). 
     Statement 487. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 485, wherein receiving the downstream FAR at the second bridging component from the storage device includes receiving a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM) from the storage device, the PCIe VDM including the downstream FAR. 
     Statement 488. An embodiment of the inventive concept includes the article according to statement 482, wherein determining at the second bridging component whether the PCIe transaction is an acceleration instruction includes determining whether the PCIe transaction was received at a second root port of the second bridging component, the second bridging component including a first root port and the second root port. 
     Consequently, in view of the wide variety of permutations to the embodiments described herein, this detailed description and accompanying material is intended to be illustrative only, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the inventive concept. What is claimed as the inventive concept, therefore, is all such modifications as may come within the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalents thereto.