Patent ID: 7743178

Claim:
In a multi-protocol Input/Output Controller (IOC) couplable to a host processor over a custom interface and couplable to Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) devices and Fibre Channel (FC) devices over a FC link, one or more IOC processors programmed for assisting in enabling the SATA devices to be utilized in a FC Storage Area Network (SAN) by performing the steps of: receiving Small Computer System Interconnect (SCSI) commands from the custom interface when the SCSI commands are to be sent out over the FC link; translating the SCSI commands into SATA command sets including SATA Frame Information Structures (FISs); encapsulating the SATA Frame Information Structures (FISs) into FC frames to be sent out over the FC link to the SATA devices, wherein the SATA FISs are de-encapsulated from the FC frames at a switch associated with the SATA devices; and for all FC frames received from the FC link, distinguishing the FC frames that contain SCSI commands from the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs, performing low-level FC protocol handling for the FC frames detected to be encapsulating SCSI commands, and performing dual-exchange connection management and frame processing for the FC frames detected to be encapsulating SATA FISs, wherein the SATA FISs are de-encapsulated from the FC frames with SATA FISs encapsulated therein.