Patent ID: 7788420

Claim:
A storage controller that communicates with a host system, said storage controller comprising: a bus interface, coupled to a bus, on which commands from said host system are received; a command processor, communicatively coupled to said bus interface, that processes said commands from said host system; a communication mode initialization module, coupled to receive a communication mode initialization command from said host system, that sets a first communication address buffer length mode of said storage controller from a plurality of available communication address buffer length modes; a runtime communication mode switching module, coupled to said communication mode initialization module, that switches from said first communication address buffer length mode to a second communication address buffer length mode during runtime based on an address length of a memory address command such that said second communication address buffer length mode aligns an address buffer length of said storage controller with said address length of said memory address command, and does not manipulate individual bits to accommodate said changes in address length of said memory address command, said address length of said memory address command being a number of bits within said memory address command.