Patent ID: 7552289

Claim:
An adapter unit operative to support access of a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) storage device by a plurality of hosts associated with separate host adapters, comprising: a multiplexer configured to receive a plurality of sets of communication signals, one signal set for each of a plurality of host adapters, to select one of the plurality of signal sets based on a control signal, and to couple the selected signal set to a multiplexer output; and an arbiter operatively coupled to the multiplexer and configured to receive requests from the plurality of hosts to access the SATA storage device, to select a host to grant access to the SATA storage device from among all hosts sending requests based on an arbitration scheme if multiple hosts send requests, to provide the control signal indicative of the host granted access to the SATA storage device, and to inform the host granted access of a status of a request sent by the host, and wherein the arbiter communicates with the plurality of host adapters via control signals used for arbitrating access to the SATA storage device, the control signals being different from the plurality of sets of communication signals between the SATA storage device and the plurality of host adapters.