Patent ID: 7669000

Claim:
A multi-host device, through which data is transferred between a host device and a network device, configured to convert the data between a host device protocol and a network device protocol, comprising: a plurality of host device ports, each for interfacing to one host device; at least one external interface port for interfacing to the network device; at least one memory controller configured to receive the data from the host device and send an acknowledgement to the host device via at least one of the plurality of host device ports; a plurality of queues configured to schedule a command interpreted from the data received from the host device; at least one processor configured to execute the commands in the plurality of queues, comprising: a plurality of registers, including a register corresponding to each host device; command logic configured to pass commands to and from the registers; and execution logic configured to execute the commands in the registers; a transmit buffer configured to temporarily store the data before it is transferred to the network device via the at least one external interface port; and a receive buffer configured to temporarily store the acknowledgement before it is transferred to the host device, wherein to each host device connected to the multi-host device, the multi-host device appears connected to no other host device, and wherein to the multi-host device, each host device connected to the multi-host device appears distinct from other host devices connected to the multi-host device.