Patent ID: 7360010

Claim:
An interconnecting unit for coupling a plurality of hosts to a plurality of storage devices, the coupling involving exchange of a plurality of serial I/O structures between the plurality of hosts and the plurality of storage devices, the interconnecting unit comprising: a. a plurality of device control units enabling distribution of a plurality of commands to the plurality of storage devices, each of the plurality of commands being an element of a serial I/O structure; b. a plurality of host interface units, each of the plurality of host interface units synchronizing data between a host and the interconnecting unit; c. a plurality of device interface units, each of the plurality of device interface units synchronizing data between a storage device and the interconnecting unit; and d. an interconnect routing unit to connect a device control unit to a device interface unit, wherein each of the plurality of device control units comprises: a. a target transmit and receive block monitoring the host for the element of the serial I/O structure; b. a device selector unit selecting the storage device to which the element of the serial I/O structure is to be directed; and c. an initiator transmit and receive block delivering the element of the serial I/O structure to the selected storage device and monitoring the plurality of storage devices for a response subsequent to the delivering of the element of the serial I/O to the selected storage device, the response being sent as an element of the serial I/O structure; wherein the target transmit and receive block is capable of monitoring the host for the next serial I/O structure while the initiator transmit and receive block is monitoring the plurality of storage devices for the response.