Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for handling a request received in an agent designed in accordance with a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) specification using PCI Express™ semantics. More specifically, responsive to determining that the agent does not support the request, an unsupported request detection register of the agent can be updated, and a response sent from the agent to indicate that the agent does not support the request. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In an embodiment, a memory interface may send an indication that a request is being sent. The indication may be sent to a non-volatile memory via a point-to-point bus between a memory interface and the non-volatile memory. The memory interface may send the request to the non-volatile memory via the bus. The request may include an address that may be used to identify a location for storing or reading data. The non-volatile memory may acquire the request from the bus and process the request. After processing the request, the non-volatile memory may send an indication to the memory interface that indicates the non-volatile memory has a response to send to the memory interface. The memory interface may grant access to the bus to the non-volatile memory. After being granted access to the bus, the non-volatile memory may send the response to the memory interface.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a system on a chip includes multiple agents each corresponding to an intellectual property (IP) logic and a fabric to couple the agents. The fabric can include a primary message interface and a sideband message interface. The fabric further includes one or more routers to provide out-of-band communications between the agents via this sideband message interface. To effect such communication, the router can perform a subset of ordering rules of a personal computer (PC)-based specification for sideband messages. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes method for entering a credit initialization state of an agent state machine of an agent coupled to a fabric to initialize credits in a transaction credit tracker of the fabric. This tracker tracks credits for transaction queues of a first channel of the agent for a given transaction type. The agent may then assert a credit initialization signal to cause credits to be stored in the transaction credit tracker corresponding to the number of the transaction queues of the first channel of the agent for the first transaction type. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to method for receiving a packet in a first agent, where the packet includes a first packet header with an expanded header indicator. Based on this indicator, the agent can determine if the packet includes one or more additional packet headers. If so, the agent can next determining if it supports information in the additional packet header based on a header identifier of the additional header. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: Hybrid multi-level memory architecture technologies are described. A System on Chip (SOC) includes multiple functional units and a multi-level memory controller (MLMC) coupled to the functional units. The MLMC is coupled to a hybrid multi-level memory architecture including a first-level dynamic random access memory (DRAM) (near memory) that is located on-package of the SOC and a second-level DRAM (far memory) that is located off-package of the SOC. The MLMC presents the first-level DRAM and the second-level DRAM as a contiguous addressable memory space and provides the first-level DRAM to software as additional memory capacity to a memory capacity of the second-level DRAM. The first-level DRAM does not store a copy of contents of the second-level DRAM.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for handling a request received in an agent designed in accordance with a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) specification using PCI Express semantics. More specifically, responsive to determining that the agent does not support the request, an unsupported request detection register of the agent can be updated, and a response sent from the agent to indicate that the agent does not support the request. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus related to management and/or support of metadata for PCMS (Phase Change Memory with Switch) devices are described. In one embodiment, a PCMS controller allows access to a PCMS device based on metadata. The metadata may be used to provide efficiency, endurance, error correction, etc. as discussed in the disclosure. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.

Abstract: An enhanced general input/output communication architecture, protocol and related methods are presented.

Abstract: A non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) is used in a computer system to perform multiple roles in a platform storage hierarchy, specifically, to replace traditional mass storage that is accessible by an I/O. The computer system includes a processor to execute software and a memory coupled to the processor. At least a portion of the memory comprises a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) that is byte-rewritable and byte-erasable by the processor. The system further comprises a memory controller coupled to the NVRAM to perform a memory access operation to access the NVRAM in response to a request from the software for access to a mass storage.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes determining whether producer-consumer ordering rules have been met for a first transaction to be sent from a source agent to a target agent via a fabric, and if so a first request for the first transaction is sent from the source agent to the fabric in a first clock cycle. Then a second request can be sent from the source agent to the fabric for a second transaction in a pipelined manner. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving a request for a transaction from a first agent in a fabric and obtaining an address, a requester identifier, a tag, and a traffic class of the transaction, and determining a channel of a target agent to receive the transaction based on at least two of the address, the requester identifier, the tag, and the traffic class. Based on this channel determination, the transaction can be sent to the channel of the target agent. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a system-on-chip (SoC) can be configured to receive a request from a master agent in a fabric coupled to the master agent, send a show command grant to the master agent responsive to selection of the request by the fabric, receive a command portion of a transaction corresponding to the request in the fabric and determine a target agent to receive the transaction based on the command portion, and thereafter send a transaction grant to the master agent for the transaction. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving a request in a router from a first endpoint coupled to the router, where the request is for an aggregated completion. In turn, the router can forward the request to multiple target agents, receive a response from each of the target agents, and consolidate the responses into an aggregated completion. Then, the router can send the aggregated completion to the first endpoint. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In an embodiment, a shared memory fabric is configured to receive memory requests from multiple agents, where at least some of the requests have an associated order identifier and a deadline value to indicate a maximum latency prior to completion of the memory request. Responsive to the requests, the fabric is to arbitrate between the requests based at least in part on the deadline values. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: An enhanced general input/output communication architecture, protocol and related methods are presented.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes method for entering a credit initialization state of an agent state machine of an agent coupled to a fabric to initialize credits in a transaction credit tracker of the fabric. This tracker tracks credits for transaction queues of a first channel of the agent for a given transaction type. The agent may then assert a credit initialization signal to cause credits to be stored in the transaction credit tracker corresponding to the number of the transaction queues of the first channel of the agent for the first transaction type. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In an embodiment, a shared memory fabric is configured to receive memory requests from multiple agents, where at least some of the requests have an associated deadline value to indicate a maximum latency prior to completion of the memory request. Responsive to the requests, the fabric is to arbitrate between the requests based at least in part on the deadline values. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes determining whether producer-consumer ordering rules have been met for a first transaction to be sent from a source agent to a target agent via a fabric, and if so a first request for the first transaction is sent from the source agent to the fabric in a first clock cycle. Then a second request can be sent from the source agent to the fabric for a second transaction in a pipelined manner. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: An enhanced general input/output communication architecture, protocol and related methods are presented.