Patent ID: 7836211

Claim:
An apparatus for sharing input/output endpoints, the apparatus comprising: sharing logic, coupled to a plurality of operating system domains through a load-store fabric, for routing transactions between said plurality of operating system domains and said sharing logic; and a first shared input/output endpoint, coupled to said sharing logic, configured to request/complete said transactions for said each of said plurality of operating system domains according to a variant of a protocol, wherein said variant comprises encapsulating an OS domain header within a transaction layer packet that otherwise comports with said protocol, and wherein a particular OS domain header associates a particular transaction layer packet with a particular one of said plurality of operating system domains; wherein said sharing logic maps said each of said plurality of operating system domains to a corresponding root complex; wherein said corresponding root complex is associated with one or more processing complexes, each comprising: a processing core, configured to process data, wherein said processing core accesses a memory that is configured to store said data; wherein said data is transferred from said corresponding root complex to said sharing logic and from said sharing logic to said corresponding root complex according to said protocol, and wherein said protocol provides for routing of said transactions only for a single operating system domain.