APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INTERFACING GPIO TO SMI, AND HOME SERVER USING THE SAME

摘要

A device and a method for interfacing a GPIO(General Purpose Input/Output) signal and an SMI signal, and a home server using the same are provided to implement a traffic distribution function and a QoS function for multimedia data in the home server by enabling an x86 series microprocessor to control an SMI-based Ethernet switch. A CPU(100) controls whole operation of the home server and controls the network distribution/QoS function by inputting/outputting an Ethernet switch control signal through GPIO. A GPIO-SMI interface(140) outputs data of the CPU to the SMI-based Ethernet switch(150) and transfers the data to the CPU from the SMI-based Ethernet switch by interfacing the Ethernet switch GPIO signal and the SMI signal of the CPU. The SMI-based Ethernet switch performs the network distribution/QoS function by exchanging the control signal with the CPU through the GPIO-SMI interface. The CPU includes the microprocessor(110) and an I/O controller hub(130). The I/O controller hub interfaces the microprocessor and peripherals, and outputs or reads the Ethernet switch GPIO signal from the GPIO-SMI interface by a request of the microprocessor.