Patent Description:
Compute Express Link (CXL) is an interconnect technology that allows attachment of CXL-compliant devices to host processor systems. CXL links are implemented according to a given CXL specification such as the <NPL>). A device may couple to such CXL links via a FlexBus (FxB) port. There may be single or multiple devices attached on the same FxB port concurrently using link subdivision. However currently there are restrictions as to types of devices allowed to be connected to specific lanes of the link, which unduly limits flexibility. <CIT> relates to a processor including one or more cores to execute instructions, at least one cache memory, and a coherence circuit coupled to the at least one cache memory. The coherence circuit may have a direct memory access circuit to receive a write request, and based at least in part on an address of the write request, to directly send the write request to a device coupled to the processor via a first bus, to cause the device to store data of the write request to a device-attached memory.

In an example not forming part of the literal wording of the claims granted, an apparatus includes: a transaction layer circuit to output transaction layer information; and a link layer circuit coupled to the transaction layer circuit, the link layer circuit to receive and process the transaction layer information and to output link layer information to a physical circuit. The link layer circuit may include a first selection circuit to receive and direct cache memory protocol traffic to a selected one of a first logical port and a second logical port.

In an example, the apparatus further comprises a control circuit coupled to the first selection circuit, the control circuit to control the first selection circuit to direct the cache memory protocol traffic to the second logical port, the second logical port mapped to a second physical port of the physical circuit.

In an example, the control circuit comprises: a first buffer to store the cache memory protocol traffic; and a second buffer to store memory protocol traffic.

In an example, the first selection circuit is coupled to the first buffer, the first selection circuit to direct the cache memory protocol traffic to a selected one of the first logical port or the second logical port according to control information from the control circuit.

In an example, the apparatus further comprises an address decoder coupled to the second buffer, the address decoder to direct the memory protocol traffic to at least one of the first logical port, the second logical port, a third logical port, and a fourth logical port.

In an example, the apparatus further comprises: a second selection circuit coupled to the first logical port and a third logical port and to direct the cache memory protocol traffic and memory protocol traffic to another selection circuit; and a third selection circuit coupled to the second logical port and a fourth logical port and to direct the cache memory protocol traffic and the memory protocol traffic to the another selection circuit.

In an example, the apparatus further comprises the another selection circuit coupled to the second selection circuit and the third selection circuit.

In an example, the apparatus further comprises at least one configuration register having a first field to store a first indicator, which when a first value is to cause the first selection circuit to direct the cache memory protocol traffic to the second logical port and a second field to store a second indicator which, when set, is to prevent an update to the first indicator.

In an example, the control circuit is to receive a configuration message based on a protocol encoding received from the physical circuit, the protocol encoding based on detection of a type of device coupled to the second physical port of the physical circuit.

In an example, the control circuit is to cause the first selection circuit to direct the cache memory protocol traffic to the second logical port when a CXL Type <NUM> device is coupled to the second physical port of the physical circuit.

In another example, a computer readable medium including data is to be used by at least one machine to fabricate at least one integrated circuit to perform the method of any one of the above examples.

In another example, an apparatus comprises means for performing the method of any one of the above examples.

In yet another example not forming part of the literal wording of the claims granted, a system includes: a host processor comprising one or more cores and a CXL interface circuit; a cache-capable device coupled to the host processor via a CXL link, the cache-capable device coupled to a second physical port, the second physical port mapped to a second logical port; and a memory device coupled to the host processor via the CXL link, the memory device coupled to a first physical port, the first physical port mapped to a first logical port.

In an example, the CXL interface circuit may include: a transaction layer circuit to output transaction layer information; a link layer circuit coupled to the transaction layer circuit, the link layer circuit to receive and process the transaction layer information and to output link layer information to a physical circuit. The link layer circuit may include: a first selection circuit to receive and direct CXL cache protocol traffic to a selected one of a first logical port and a second logical port; and a plurality of logical ports comprising the first logical port, the second logical port, a third logical port and a fourth logical port, where the first selection circuit is coupled to the first logical port and the second logical port. The CXL interface circuit further may include a physical layer circuit coupled to the link layer circuit, the physical layer circuit comprising a logical circuit and a physical circuit, the physical circuit comprising a plurality of physical ports comprising a first physical port, a second physical port, a third physical port and a fourth physical port.

In an example, the link layer circuit comprises a control circuit coupled to the first selection circuit, the control circuit to control the first selection circuit to direct the CXL cache protocol traffic to the second logical port.

In an example, the control circuit comprises: a first buffer to store the CXL cache protocol traffic; and a second buffer to store CXL memory protocol traffic.

In an example, the first selection circuit is coupled to the first buffer, the first selection circuit to direct the CXL cache protocol traffic to the second logical port according to control information from the control circuit.

In an example, the control circuit is to generate the control information in response to a protocol encoding from the physical layer circuit, the protocol encoding to indicate detection of the cache-capable device coupled to the second physical port.

In an example, the control circuit is to further disable cache functionality of the cache-capable device when another cache-capable device is coupled to the first physical port, the first physical port advertised as Port <NUM>.

In various embodiments, a data link layer (also "link layer" or "link layer circuit" herein) is provided that can support multi-protocol message transmission and further allow flexibility as to device types that may be attached on specific lanes of an interconnect. As a result, richer feature sets can be realized without an added cost in terms of silicon area and power.

This data link layer may be part of a protocol stack through which communications flow, where the protocol stack further includes a transaction layer and a physical layer. While flexible device attachment and link layer circuitry are described in connection with a CXL-based system, embodiments are not limited in this regard.

Further while one example use case is for a cloud-based architecture that may communicate using interconnects and switches in accordance with a CXL specification such as the CXL <NUM> Specification or any future versions, modifications, variations or alternatives, other implementations are possible. For example embodiments may be used in other coherent interconnect technologies such as an IBM XBus protocol, an Nvidia NVLink protocol, an AMD Infinity Fabric protocol, cache coherent interconnect for accelerators (CCIX) protocol or coherent accelerator processor interface (OpenCAPI).

In a CXL implementation, traffic flows of different communication protocols are sent along CXL interconnects. For example, there may be separate traffic flows including so-called CXL. cache, CXL. io and CXL. mem communication protocols via which traffic of different communication protocols is communicated. More generally, the interconnect may support various interconnect protocols, including a non-coherent interconnect protocol, a coherent interconnect protocol, and a memory interconnect protocol. Non-limiting examples of supported interconnect protocols may include PCI, PCIe, USB, IDI, IOSF, SMI, SMI3, SATA, CXL. cache, and CXL. mem, and/or the like.

With embodiments a microarchitecture for a data link layer may include circuitry to flexibly support multiple protocols (such as both CXL. cache and CXL. mem (collectively here "CXL. cache-mem") through a single pipeline, where protocol traffic is routed to apropos bifurcated physical lanes without adding extra performance overheads and hardware penalties.

In different implementations, configuration of a link layer to provide flexible port mappings can be realized using hardware autonomous techniques that may ameliorate any system software overhead, or using a software-based technique via system level software. With embodiments herein, platform architects and users can realize flexible attach points for CXL Type <NUM> and <NUM> (cache-capable) devices without additional hardware cost. That is, link layer and other circuitry may be reused across ports instead of duplicating data main-band modules for packing communications. As such, embodiments provide flexibility with negligible power, performance, and area impact.

With embodiments, common design resources are used to realize link subdivision without logic replication, thus providing flexibility with negligible power and area impact, and no performance impact. For instance, embodiments use shared buffer resources for CXL. cache protocol traffic across ports and use multiplexing and demultiplexing schemes to route traffic to apropos device/port, realizing significant reduction of bit-cells for storage.

Embodiments also operate with zero performance degradation both in terms of latency and bandwidth, by simplifying selection circuitry to be a single logic level scheme and restricting bus routing requirements for CXL. cache channel only. Other link specific peripheral functions built into the controller such as RAS, power management may continue to operate on per-port granularity, seamlessly. Other unique host specific implementation functions built into the controller such as bus lock and interrupt handling may also operate seamlessly and need not be made aware of Flexbus topology.

In embodiments a link layer may include a personality agnostic data link layer (CXLCM) module as a controller instance (referred to herein as a "CXLCM controller") capable of transporting CXL. cache and CXL. mem protocol messages over a FxB link without any restrictions on where a cache-capable device is attached. In some cases any port may be selected as an attach point for a cache-capable device. According to current CXL architectural requirements, a cache-capable Type <NUM> or Type <NUM> device warrants support for x8 link width. To reduce routing requirements, an embodiment may enable selection of a limited number of ports as a choice of attach point for connecting an accelerator to CPU host. Of course embodiments are not limited in this regard, and other embodiments may extend support to all ports where support for x4 cache-capable devices is warranted.

In an embodiment, the CXLCM controller may interface with a logical physical unit (PHY) module according to a data bus in accordance with a Logical PHY Interface (LPIF) Specification, such as the LPIF Specification version <NUM> (March <NUM>) or any future versions, modifications or variations. To enable CXCLM controller configuration, embodiments may use LPIF-based information/encodings to identify detected devices. In an embodiment, a LPIF data bus interface is <NUM> lanes wide [<NUM>:<NUM>] and is shared across subdivided ports based on how a FxB link is natively subdivided. For example, for 2x8 attachments, lower <NUM> lanes [<NUM>:<NUM>] map to Port <NUM> and upper <NUM> lanes [<NUM>:<NUM>] map to Port <NUM> respectively. Similarly, for <NUM> x4 devices, lanes [<NUM>:<NUM>], [<NUM>:<NUM>], [<NUM>:<NUM>], and [<NUM>:<NUM>] map to Port <NUM>, Port <NUM>, Port <NUM>, and Port <NUM>, respectively.

With this in perspective, <FIG> and <FIG> outline a high level block diagram of link layer circuitry for both transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) directions, where a link is subdivided in 4x4 port configuration, and Ports <NUM> and <NUM> are annotated to support both cache and memory traffic. Of course other variations of ports and links widths are possible in other embodiments.

Referring now to <FIG>, shown is a block diagram of a control circuit that may be present in a link layer in accordance with an embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, a transmit pipe of a control circuit <NUM> such as a CXLCM controller is shown. This control circuit may be present in link layer circuitry of a CXL protocol stack. While this control circuit is for an embodiment according to a CXL implementation, understand that other implementations are possible.

As illustrated, incoming information, e.g., from a transaction layer, may be received in a given buffer <NUM>, <NUM>. More specifically, incoming cache memory protocol traffic may be stored in cache transmit buffers <NUM>. In turn incoming memory protocol traffic may be stored in memory transmit buffers <NUM>. Note that buffers <NUM>, <NUM> may include or be associated with control circuitry to handle buffer management, e.g., using a credit-based mechanism. With dedicated protocol-based buffers, multi-protocol design may be simplified and various forward progress rules are enforced.

When a given cache memory data unit, such as a packet, flit or so forth is selected for output from buffer <NUM>, it is provided to a first selection circuit <NUM>, which may be implemented as a swizzle multiplexer. Note that communication of protocol traffic throughout the link layer may be on the basis of CXL network flits. As shown, first selection circuit <NUM> may direct this cache memory protocol traffic to a selected one of multiple logical ports <NUM>.

Specifically as shown, in this example there are four logical ports <NUM><NUM>-<NUM><NUM>. Each logical port may be mapped to a corresponding physical port present in a physical circuit (not shown for ease of illustration in <FIG>). With embodiments herein, cache memory protocol traffic may be directed to a selected one of logical port <NUM><NUM> and logical port <NUM><NUM>. Of course in other implementations, this traffic may be directed to any of the other logical ports.

Also, depending upon particular configuration each of these ports also may be configured to receive memory protocol traffic. Address decoder <NUM> in turn may direct a given memory protocol traffic unit to a given one of logical ports <NUM>. Address decoder <NUM> routes CXL. mem protocol messages to any of ports <NUM><NUM>-<NUM>, depending on which CXL device a memory request message is destined. In this way address decoder <NUM> routes a memory request transaction in one-master-to-many-subordinates fashion.

Ports <NUM> may be defined as logical (and potentially structural) entities that provide one-to-one mapping to a subdivided FxB link (and thus to corresponding physical ports of a physical layer). Annotation of (CM) in ports <NUM><NUM> and <NUM><NUM> specifies that a given port is capable of packing cache and memory transactions, whereas (M) specifies that a given port is capable of packing memory transactions only (e.g., ports <NUM><NUM> and <NUM><NUM>). In this way, embodiments implement a silicon area optimized design where a 'superset' capable port is not required for all port [i] instances.

In an example each port <NUM> may output N bytes of data information (e.g., <NUM> bytes in one example). As further illustrated, the output of pairs of ports <NUM> may be provided to an additional level of selection circuits, namely subdivision multiplexers <NUM>, <NUM>. In turn, up to 2N bytes may be output from these multiplexers to another level selection circuit, namely another subdivision multiplexer <NUM>, which may pass given traffic on particular lanes of a data bus <NUM>. Note that in another embodiment, the various selection circuits may be implemented below port [i] hierarchies. Data bus <NUM> may be implemented as a LPIF data bus to couple a link layer to a physical layer circuit, that in turn couples to one or more devices via a CXL link. Understand while shown at this high level in the embodiment of <FIG>, many variations and alternatives are possible.

Referring now to <FIG>, shown is a block diagram of a control circuit that may be present in a link layer in accordance with another embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, a receive pipe of a control circuit <NUM> such as a CXLCM controller is shown. This control circuit may be present in link layer circuitry of a CXL protocol stack (and may be included as part of the same circuitry as control circuit of <FIG>).

As illustrated, incoming information, e.g., from a data bus <NUM> is received via physical layer circuitry and provided via selection circuitry implemented as a subdivision demultiplexer <NUM> and to an additional level of selection circuits, namely subdivision demultiplexers <NUM>, <NUM>. In turn, up to 2N bytes that are received may be output in N byte chunks to corresponding logical ports <NUM><NUM>-<NUM><NUM>, each of which may be mapped to a corresponding physical port present in a physical circuit. In this receive direction, logical port <NUM><NUM> and logical port <NUM><NUM> may communicate via a selection circuit <NUM>, which may be implemented as a swizzle demultiplexer, to a cache receive buffer <NUM>. In turn memory protocol traffic may be directed from any of ports <NUM><NUM>-<NUM>n to a memory receive buffer <NUM>. Understand while shown at this high level in the embodiment of <FIG>, many variations and alternatives are possible.

Selection circuitry present in control circuits <NUM> and <NUM> (e.g.,) may be used to route concurrent cache and memory traffic to various sub-divided ports through a controller stack. Depending on implementation, selection control for this circuitry may be performed on a hardware autonomous or software basis.

In a hardware autonomous implementation, a link layer may use information presented on a LPIF control interface bus to determine whether to activate particular select lines. To this effect, physical layer (pl_protocol) encodings according to a LPIF definition provide clues about device types that are detected during training. Details about such <NUM>-bit encodings are available in the LPIF specification and attached devices advertise protocol encodings during boot-time that it intends to be operational during run-time. This hardware autonomous approach may enable a CXLCM controller to sample and latch pl_protocol encodings and implement a phased priority approach to activate selection circuitry.

Table <NUM> illustrates a possible approach; however an alternate implementation may choose not to follow this behavior.

Protocol encodings may be only be forwarded to a CXLCM controller once a concrete personality of device attached has been established. This means that protocol encodings on per-port basis may show up in different timestamps. A hardware implementation may choose to gate virtual link state training for all ports until protocol encodings associated with all ports are received. Alternatively, hardware may choose to train ports that have received pertinent protocol encodings and rely on logging user-defined severity errors if more than one cache-capable device shows up. It is generally expected that in a CXL implementation according to a CXL specification version <NUM> or <NUM>, only one cache-capable Type <NUM>/Type <NUM> device is present behind a link, and a CXL. cache capability in all but one of these devices is disabled if there are plurality of such devices attached. However, handling of such cases either through software intervention or through error reporting mechanisms can be implementation specific, and may vary in future CXL specification versions.

Referring now to <FIG>, shown is a flow diagram of a method in accordance with an embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, method <NUM> is a method for booting up a system having a CXL link to which devices may couple. Method <NUM> may be performed on boot up and may be implemented within a logical portion of a physical circuit, e.g., executed as part of link training. As such method <NUM> may be performed by hardware circuitry alone, or combination with firmware and/or software. As illustrated, method <NUM> begins by performing link training between link partners, which may include discovery of devices coupled to the link (block <NUM>). By way of this link training, devices coupled to the CXL link can be identified as well as their communication capabilities.

As part of this information, it may be determined, on a per port basis, what type of communication protocol is detected with regard to a device coupled to such port (block <NUM>). For example, in an implementation in which a physical circuit includes <NUM> physical ports, up to <NUM> devices may be coupled, each to one of these ports. Different manners of detecting the device types can occur in different implementations. In some cases, devices may communicate, on boot up, certain initialization information that includes an identification of the type of device. Of course this information can be discovered in other manners, such as via boot time information, e.g., provided by a basic input output system (BIOS) or other system software.

Still with reference to <FIG>, control next passes to block <NUM> where the detected protocol may be encoded, on a per core basis, into a physical layer protocol message. In a CXL implementation where physical layer and link layer couple via a LPIF data bus, this message may be implemented as pl_protocol message. Finally, at block <NUM> this message may be sent, on a per port basis, to a controller of a link layer to which the physical circuit is coupled. Understand that with this information regarding the detected protocols, the link layer in turn may configure its internal circuitry to pass data of the appropriate protocol type via its internal logical ports.

Referring now to <FIG>, shown is a flow diagram of a method in accordance with another embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, method <NUM> is a method for booting up a system having a CXL link, and more particularly to operations performed within a link layer circuit. As such method <NUM> may be performed by hardware circuitry alone, or combination with firmware and/or software.

As shown, method <NUM> begins by receiving a physical layer protocol message from physical layer (block <NUM>). As discussed above, this message, which in a CXL implementation having a LPIF data bus to interconnect link layer and physical layer, can be a pl_protocol message, may be received on a per port basis. Next at block <NUM>, at least one selection circuit may be configured based on this message information. For example, with reference back to <FIG>, first selection circuit <NUM> may be configured based on such physical layer protocol messages.

Still with reference to <FIG>, next at block <NUM> link training may be performed based on the configuration of the link layer. More specifically, this training may be used to ensure that communication between devices occurs with appropriate parameters to ensure a low error rate. As part of this training, a virtual link state machine training may occur to thus place the link into active state. When it is determined at diamond <NUM> that training has completed, at block <NUM> messages may be communicated from the link layer and through the physical layer to a given device. Here in the context of providing configurable subdivision of a bus, CXL. cache and CXL. memory protocol traffic may be directed on a selected one of multiple ports, thus providing greater flexibility within a system. Understand while shown at this high level in the embodiment of <FIG>, many variations and alternatives are possible.

In another embodiment, system software such as BIOS, which is used to enumerate, setup, and configure CXL stacks to operate under various topological and platform constraints, can be used to control selection lines once during boot, to scatter CXL. cache traffic to a selected port to perform flit packing. Similarly, this technique can be used to control selection lines once during boot to gather CXL. cache traffic from a selected port after flit unpacking. In order to save power when a given link may not be trained, hardware can explicitly be programmed to enter link-active state once selection lines are appropriately configured in tandem.

Referring now to <FIG> shown is a flow diagram of a method in accordance with a still further embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, method <NUM> is another method for booting up a system having a CXL link, and more particularly to operations performed within a link layer circuit. As such method <NUM> may be performed by hardware circuitry alone, or combination with firmware and/or software.

As shown, method <NUM> begins by receiving configuration message, on a per port basis, from system software (block <NUM>). As discussed above, this message may be from BIOS and may include flexible topology control information including configuration bits that can be used to set fields in one or more configuration registers. Next at block <NUM>, at least one selection circuit (e.g., , first selection circuit <NUM> of <FIG>) may be configured based on this configuration information.

Still with reference to <FIG>, next at block <NUM> link training may be performed based on the configuration of the link layer, including virtual link state machine training to place the link into active state. When it is determined at diamond <NUM> that training has completed, at block <NUM> messages may be communicated from the link layer and through the physical layer to a given device. Here in the context of providing configurable subdivision of a bus, CXL. cache and CXL. memory protocol traffic may be directed on a selected one of multiple ports, thus providing greater flexibility within a system.

In an embodiment this software control can be according to BIOS controllable register bits, which may be stored in a configuration register that may be present within a CXLCM controller. In one implementation, a first configuration bit may be implemented as a first indicator, referred to as swizzle_active, which can be used to control swizzling CXL. cache traffic to/from Port <NUM>. This indicator may be set when CXL. cache traffic is to be routed to/from a logical Port <NUM> hierarchy when BIOS discovers that a cache-capable Type <NUM> or Type <NUM> device is attached to Port <NUM>. This indicator may not be written if a cache-capable Type <NUM> or Type <NUM> device is attached to Port <NUM>. In an embodiment, this bit-field may be implemented using a 'lock' attribute such that its contents are not allowed to be accidentally modified once a go_train indicator (defined next) is programmed.

In one implementation, a second configuration bit may be implemented as a second indicator, referred to as go_train, which can be used to control a CXLCM controller requesting to enter into a link active state and provide a guarantee that the swizzle_active bit is programmed with the desired value. In an embodiment, this bit-field is implemented using a 'write-to-set' attribute such that its contents can only be written to a value of 0x1 and not allowed to be accidentally overwritten (cleared) once set. Once this bit-field is written into, it may be used to lock the swizzle_active bit indication to preserve intended hardware behavior.

These indicators for a particular embodiment, are further described in Table <NUM>.

Referring now to <FIG>, shown is a block diagram of an interface circuit in accordance with an embodiment. More specifically as shown in <FIG>, interface circuit <NUM> is for interfacing a given device such as a transmitter and/or receiver to a link. In the embodiment shown in <FIG>, interface circuit <NUM> is a CXL interface circuit. As shown, CXL interface circuit <NUM> includes a transaction layer <NUM>, a link layer <NUM>, and a physical layer <NUM>. With reference to CXL transaction layer <NUM>, various components are included to enable transaction layer processing for PCIe/CXL. io communications and CXL. cache and CXL. memory transactions. More particularly, a PCIe/CXL. io transaction layer <NUM> includes a control circuit <NUM>, which may perform various transaction layer control operations. In addition, transaction layer <NUM> further includes a PCIe transaction layer <NUM> and additional circuitry <NUM> for handling enhancements to PCIe transaction layer <NUM> for handling CXL. io transactions. In turn, CXL. cache and CXL. memory transaction layer <NUM> may perform transaction layer processing for these protocols.

With reference to CXL link layer <NUM>, various components are included to enable link layer processing for PCIe/CXL. io communications and CXL. cache and CXL. memory transactions. More particularly, a PCIe/CXL. io link layer <NUM> includes a PCIe data link layer <NUM> and additional circuitry <NUM> for handling enhancements to PCIe data link layer <NUM> for handling CXL. io transactions.

In turn, CXL. cache and CXL. memory link layer <NUM> may perform link layer processing for these protocols using a single logic stack without logic duplication. As described herein, such processing includes flexibly routing CXL. cache and CXL. mem protocol traffic on selected logical ports. To this end, a control circuit <NUM> may configure selection circuitry within link layer <NUM> to direct given protocol traffic to particular logical ports. In an embodiment, control circuit <NUM> may include or be coupled to one or more configuration registers <NUM>. Such configuration registers may include one or more fields to control the selection circuitry as described herein.

With further reference to <FIG>, link layer <NUM> is coupled to an arbiter/multiplexer <NUM> that is to receive incoming data streams from link layer <NUM> and select a data stream (or portion thereof) for communication to a physical layer <NUM>.

In an embodiment, physical layer <NUM> may be a physical layer to further process incoming data packets for communication on a physical link, which in an embodiment may be a flex bus. As illustrated, physical layer <NUM> includes a PCIe/CXL logical circuit <NUM> and a PCIe/CXL electrical circuit <NUM>. As seen, these circuits include respective control circuits <NUM>, <NUM> to control processing within physical layer <NUM>. With embodiments herein, control circuit <NUM> may send pl_protocol messages to link layer <NUM> to indicate detection of particular device types on a CXL link. After all such processing is completed, outgoing transaction layer data packets may be communicated on the link. Similarly, incoming transaction layer data packets may be received within physical layer <NUM> and processed within the communication stack of interface circuit <NUM>. Understand while shown at this high level in the embodiment of <FIG>, many variations and alternatives are possible.

<FIG> is a block diagram of a system in accordance with an embodiment. As shown in <FIG> a device <NUM> may be an accelerator or processor device coupled to a host processor <NUM> via an interconnect <NUM>, which may be single interconnect, bus, trace, and so forth. Device <NUM> and host processor <NUM> may communicate over link <NUM> to enable data and messages to pass therebetween. In some embodiments, link <NUM> may be operable to support multiple protocols and communication of data and messages via the multiple interconnect protocols, including a CXL protocol as described herein. For example, link <NUM> may support various interconnect protocols, including a non-coherent interconnect protocol, a coherent interconnect protocol, and a memory interconnect protocol. Non-limiting examples of supported interconnect protocols may include PCI, PCIe, USB, IDI, IOSF, SMI, SMI3, SATA, CXL. cache, and CXL. mem, and/or the like.

In embodiments, device <NUM> may include accelerator logic <NUM> including circuitry <NUM>. In some instances, accelerator logic <NUM> and circuitry <NUM> may provide processing and memory capabilities. Examples of device <NUM> may include producer-consumer devices such as a graphics or other specialized accelerator, producer-consumer plus devices, software-assisted device memory devices, autonomous device memory devices, and giant cache devices. In some cases, accelerator logic <NUM> may couple to an optional accelerator memory <NUM>. Accelerator logic <NUM> and circuitry <NUM> may provide the processing and memory capabilities based on the device. For example, accelerator logic <NUM> and circuitry <NUM> may communicate using, for example, a coherent interconnect protocol for various functions, such as coherent requests and memory flows with host processor <NUM> via interface logic <NUM> and circuitry <NUM>.

Interface logic <NUM> and circuitry <NUM> may determine an interconnect protocol based on the messages and data for communication. Understand that with embodiments herein, circuitry <NUM> may include selection circuitry to direct, e.g., CXL. cache and CXL. memory protocol traffic, via a selected one of multiple logical ports as described herein. In some embodiments, interface logic <NUM> may be coupled to a multi-protocol multiplexer <NUM> having one or more protocol queues <NUM> to send and receive messages and data with host processor <NUM>. Protocol queue <NUM> may be protocol specific such that each interconnect protocol may be associated with a particular protocol queue. Multiplexer <NUM> may also implement arbitration circuitry to arbitrate between communications of different protocols and provide selected communications to a physical layer <NUM>.

In various embodiments, host processor <NUM> may be a main processor such as a CPU. Host processor <NUM> may be coupled to a host memory <NUM> and may include coherence logic (or coherence and cache logic) <NUM>, which may include a cache hierarchy. Coherence logic <NUM> may communicate using various interconnects with interface logic <NUM> including circuitry <NUM> and one or more cores 765a-n. In some embodiments, coherence logic <NUM> may enable communication via one or more of a coherent interconnect protocol and a memory interconnect protocol.

In various embodiments, host processor <NUM> may include a device <NUM> to communicate with a bus logic <NUM> over an interconnect. In some embodiments, device <NUM> may be an I/O device, such as a PCIe I/O device. In other cases, one or more external devices such as PCIe devices may couple to bus logic <NUM>.

In embodiments, host processor <NUM> may include interface logic <NUM> and circuitry <NUM> to enable multi-protocol communication between the components of host processor <NUM> and device <NUM>. Interface logic <NUM> and circuitry <NUM> may process and enable communication of messages and data between host processor <NUM> and device <NUM> in accordance with one or more interconnect protocols, e.g., a non-coherent interconnect protocol, a coherent interconnect, protocol, and a memory interconnect protocol, dynamically. For example, interface logic <NUM> and circuitry <NUM> may determine a message type for each message and determine which interconnect protocol of a plurality of interconnect protocols to process each of the messages. Different interconnect protocols may be utilized to process the messages. In addition, circuitry <NUM> may include selection circuitry to direct, e.g., CXL. cache and CXL. memory protocol traffic via a selected one of multiple logical ports as described herein.

In some embodiments, interface logic <NUM> may be coupled to a multi-protocol multiplexer <NUM> having one or more protocol queues <NUM> to send and receive messages and data with device <NUM>. Protocol queue <NUM> may be protocol specific such that each interconnect protocol may be associated with a particular protocol queue. Multiplexer <NUM> may also implement arbitration circuitry to arbitrate between communications of different protocols and provide selected communications to a physical layer <NUM>.

Referring now to <FIG>, shown is a block diagram of a system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, a system <NUM> may be any type of computing device, and in one embodiment may be a server system such as an edge platform. In the embodiment of <FIG>, system <NUM> includes multiple CPUs 810a,b that in turn couple to respective system memories 820a,b which in embodiments may be implemented as double data rate (DDR) memory. Note that CPUs <NUM> may couple together via an interconnect system <NUM> such as an Intel® Ultra Path Interconnect or other processor interconnect technology.

To enable coherent accelerator devices and/or smart adapter devices to couple to CPUs <NUM> by way of potentially multiple communication protocols, a plurality of interconnects 830a1-b2 may be present. In an embodiment, each interconnect <NUM> may be a given instance of a CXL.

In the embodiment shown, respective CPUs <NUM> couple to corresponding field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)/accelerator devices 850a,b (which may include graphics processing units (GPUs), in one embodiment. In addition CPUs <NUM> also couple to smart network interface circuit (NIC) devices 860a,b. In turn, smart NIC devices 860a,b couple to switches 880a,b (e.g., CXL switches in accordance with an embodiment) that in turn couple to a pooled memory 890a,b such as a persistent memory. With an arrangement as in <FIG>, CPUs <NUM> may direct information of multiple communication protocols (e.g., CXL. cache and CXL. memory protocol traffic) via a selected one of multiple logical ports as described herein to devices <NUM> on a flexibly allocated port of a CXL link. As shown information can be stored in a pooled memory <NUM>. In turn, CPUs <NUM> or other entities may access and further process this information from pooled memory <NUM>.

Turning next to <FIG>, an embodiment of a SoC design in accordance with an embodiment is depicted. As a specific illustrative example, SoC <NUM> may be configured for insertion in any type of computing device, ranging from portable device to server system. Here, SoC <NUM> includes <NUM> cores <NUM> and <NUM>. Cores <NUM> and <NUM> may conform to an Instruction Set Architecture, such as an Intel® Architecture Core™-based processor, an Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) processor, a MIPS-based processor, an ARM-based processor design, or a customer thereof, as well as their licensees or adopters. Cores <NUM> and <NUM> are coupled to cache controller <NUM> that is associated with bus interface unit <NUM> and L2 cache <NUM> to communicate with other parts of system <NUM> via an interconnect <NUM>, which in an embodiment may provide for communication according to multiple protocols including CXL. cache and CXL. memory protocol traffic via a selected one of multiple logical ports as described herein. As seen, bus interface unit <NUM> includes a DMA circuit <NUM> configured to send write requests.

Interconnect <NUM> provides communication channels to the other components, such as a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) <NUM> to interface with a SIM card, a boot ROM <NUM> to hold boot code for execution by cores <NUM> and <NUM> to initialize and boot SoC <NUM>, a SDRAM controller <NUM> to interface with external memory (e.g., DRAM <NUM>), a flash controller <NUM> to interface with non-volatile memory (e.g., flash <NUM>), a peripheral controller <NUM> (e.g., an eSPI interface) to interface with peripherals, video codec <NUM> and video interface <NUM> to display and receive input (e.g., touch enabled input), GPU <NUM> to perform graphics related computations, etc. In addition, the system illustrates peripherals for communication, such as a Bluetooth module <NUM>, <NUM> modem <NUM>, GPS <NUM>, and WiFi <NUM>. Also included in the system is a power controller <NUM>. Further illustrated in <FIG>, system <NUM> may additionally include interfaces including a MIPI interface <NUM>, e.g., to a display and/or an HDMI interface <NUM> also which may couple to the same or a different display.

Referring now to <FIG>, shown is a block diagram of a system in accordance with another embodiment such as an edge platform. As shown in <FIG>, multiprocessor system <NUM> includes a first processor <NUM> and a second processor <NUM> coupled via a point-to-point interconnect <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, each of processors <NUM> and <NUM> may be many core processors including representative first and second processor cores (i.e., processor cores 1074a and 1074b and processor cores 1084a and 1084b).

In the embodiment of <FIG>, processors <NUM> and <NUM> further include point-to point interconnects <NUM> and <NUM>, which couple via interconnects <NUM> and <NUM> (which may be CXL buses) to switches <NUM> and <NUM>. Such traffic may be according to multiple protocols, including CXL. cache and CXL. memory protocol traffic via a selected one of multiple logical ports as described herein. In turn, switches <NUM>, <NUM> couple to pooled memories <NUM> and <NUM>.

Still referring to <FIG>, first processor <NUM> further includes a memory controller hub (MCH) <NUM> and point-to-point (P-P) interfaces <NUM> and <NUM>. Similarly, second processor <NUM> includes a MCH <NUM> and P-P interfaces <NUM> and <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, MCH's <NUM> and <NUM> couple the processors to respective memories, namely a memory <NUM> and a memory <NUM>, which may be portions of system memory (e.g., DRAM) locally attached to the respective processors. First processor <NUM> and second processor <NUM> may be coupled to a chipset <NUM> via P-P interconnects <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively. As shown in <FIG>, chipset <NUM> includes P-P interfaces <NUM> and <NUM>.

Furthermore, chipset <NUM> includes an interface <NUM> to couple chipset <NUM> with a high performance graphics engine <NUM>, by a P-P interconnect <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, various input/output (I/O) devices <NUM> may be coupled to first bus <NUM>, along with a bus bridge <NUM> which couples first bus <NUM> to a second bus <NUM>. Various devices may be coupled to second bus <NUM> including, for example, a keyboard/mouse <NUM>, communication devices <NUM> and a data storage unit <NUM> such as a disk drive or other mass storage device which may include code <NUM>, in one embodiment. Further, an audio I/O <NUM> may be coupled to second bus <NUM>.

Embodiments as described herein can be used in a wide variety of network architectures. To this end, many different types of computing platforms in a networked architecture that couples between a given edge device and a datacenter can perform the fine-grained monitoring and tracing described herein. Referring now to <FIG>, shown is a block diagram of a network architecture in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, network architecture <NUM> includes various computing platforms that may be located in a very wide area, and which have different latencies in communicating with different devices.

In the high level view of <FIG>, network architecture <NUM> includes a representative device <NUM>, such as a smartphone. This device may communicate via different radio access networks (RANs), including a RAN <NUM> and a RAN <NUM>. RAN <NUM> in turn may couple to a platform <NUM>, which may be an edge platform such as a fog/far/near edge platform, and which may leverage embodiments herein. Other requests may be handled by a far edge platform <NUM> coupled to RAN <NUM>, which also may leverage embodiments.

As further illustrated in <FIG>, another near edge platform <NUM> may couple to RANs <NUM>, <NUM>. Note that this near edge platform may be located closer to a data center <NUM>, which may have a large amount of computing resources. By pushing messages to these more remote platforms, greater latency is incurred in handling requests on behalf of edge device <NUM>. Understand that all platforms shown in <FIG> may incorporate embodiments as described herein to communication, e.g., CXL. cache and CXL. memory protocol traffic via a selected one of multiple logical ports as described herein.

Note that the terms "circuit" and "circuitry" are used interchangeably herein. As used herein, these terms and the term "logic" are used to refer to alone or in any combination, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, hard wired circuitry, programmable circuitry, processor circuitry, microcontroller circuitry, hardware logic circuitry, state machine circuitry and/or any other type of physical hardware component. Embodiments may be used in many different types of systems. For example, in one embodiment a communication device can be arranged to perform the various methods and techniques described herein. Of course, the scope of the present invention is not limited to a communication device, and instead other embodiments can be directed to other types of apparatus for processing instructions, or one or more machine readable media including instructions that in response to being executed on a computing device, cause the device to carry out one or more of the methods and techniques described herein.

Claim 1:
A method (<NUM>) for configuring a personality agnostic data link layer, CXLCM, module as controller instance, CXLCM controller (<NUM>, <NUM>), wherein
the CXLCM controller (<NUM>, <NUM>) is adapted to interface with a logical physical unit, PHY, module according to a data bus in accordance with a Logical PHY Interface, LPIF, specification, wherein a Compute Express Link, CXL, FlexBus, FxB, link is divided into a plurality of physical ports and lanes of the LPIF data bus interface are subdivided to each of the physical ports of the FxB link, the CXLCM Controller (<NUM>, <NUM>) is part of a protocol stack through which communications flow, where the protocol stack further includes a transaction layer and a physical layer, and the CXLCM Controller (<NUM>, <NUM>) comprises a plurality of logical ports (<NUM>), wherein the plurality of logical ports are defined as logical entities that provide a one-to-one mapping to the subdivided FxB link and thus to the corresponding physical ports, a given port of the plurality of logical ports (<NUM>) is capable of packing cache and memory transactions, and another port of the plurality of ports is capable of packing memory transactions only, the method comprising:
receiving (<NUM>) configuration information comprising one or more protocol encodings messages according to the LPIF definition providing clues about device types of one or more CXL, Type <NUM> or Type <NUM> devices coupled to the plurality of the physical ports;
in response to the configuration information, configuring (<NUM>) a first selection (<NUM>) circuit of the CXLCM controller (<NUM>, <NUM>) to cause cache memory protocol traffic to be directed to the given logical port; and
receiving, from the transaction layer, information in a buffer (<NUM>,<NUM>) wherein when a given cache memory data unit is selected for output from the buffer (<NUM>), it is provided to the first selection circuit (<NUM>) then directing (<NUM>) the cache memory data unit, via the first selection circuit, to the given logical port and thereafter to the first corresponding physical port for transfer to the corresponding CXL Type <NUM> or Type <NUM> device.