Patent ID: 7796624

Claim:
A method for operating a target port for a functional module in an integrated circuit system, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of request packets from a packet router of the integrated circuit system at a single input buffer wherein each request packet is uniquely identified by a transaction number and wherein the plurality of request packets are received in a first order; selecting one or more request packets from amongst the plurality of request packets in the input buffer for supply to the functional module to implement an operation defined in the request packet in a second order, the second order being independent of the first order when the request packets were received by the single input buffer; determining whether each selected request packet forms part of a simple transaction involving a single request packet or a compound transaction involving at least two of the plurality of request packets including a first request packet and a last request packet; and generating and retrieving a response packet for each of the selected one or more request packets in a third order independent of the second order in which the request packets were selected, wherein in the case of a compound transaction, causing a lock signal to be supplied for all request packets involved in the compound transaction save the last packet, and wherein a response lock signal is set with responses generated responsive to said request packets forming part of said compound transaction.