摘要 |
A parallel host adapter that interfaces two I/O buses includes at least two independent data channels, a receive data channel and a send data channel. The receive data channel supports at least two data contexts. The parallel host adapter also includes an administrative information channel that couples one of the I/O buses to a memory where administrative information for the parallel host adapter is stored. The send data channel includes a send buffer memory, and a data transfer engine. The data transfer engine is coupled to a first port of the send buffer memory and to a first I/O bus coupled to the parallel host adapter. The send buffer memory is a single data context buffer memory. The receive data channel includes a receive buffer memory, and another data transfer engine. The another data transfer engine is coupled to the first I/O bus and to a first port of the receive buffer memory. Data for a first data context is transferred from the second I/O bus to the receive buffer memory through a second port of the receive buffer memory. The data in the first data context is transferred from the receive buffer memory to the first I/O bus by the another data transfer engine. As this is happening, data from a second data context can be transferred from the second I/O bus to the receive buffer memory. Also, as the receive buffer memory is emptying, the send buffer memory may be receiving data.
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