United States Patent
US Patent 7380115: Transferring data using direct memory access
US 7380115 · granted 2008-05-27
Abstract
A direct memory access (DMA) engine has virtually all control in connection with data transfers that can involve one or both of primary and secondary controllers. The DMA engine receives a command related to a data transfer from a processor associated with the primary controller. This command causes the DMA engine to access processor memory to obtain metadata therefrom. In performing a DMA operation, the metadata enables the DMA engine to conduct data transfers between local memory and remote memory. In performing exclusive OR operations, the DMA engine is involved with conducting data transfers using local memory.
| Patent Number | 7380115 |
|---|---|
| Title | Transferring data using direct memory access |
| Filed | 2002-11-07 |
| Granted | 2008-05-27 |
| Inventor(s) | Maine; Gene |
| Assignee | Dot Hill Systems Corp. |
| CPC Classification | G06F 12/08 |
| Number of Claims | 52 |
Abstract
A direct memory access (DMA) engine has virtually all control in connection with data transfers that can involve one or both of primary and secondary controllers. The DMA engine receives a command related to a data transfer from a processor associated with the primary controller. This command causes the DMA engine to access processor memory to obtain metadata therefrom. In performing a DMA operation, the metadata enables the DMA engine to conduct data transfers between local memory and remote memory. In performing exclusive OR operations, the DMA engine is involved with conducting data transfers using local memory.
Claim 1
A method for processing data, comprising: providing at least a first controller communicable with a remote memory, said first controller including a direct memory access(DMA) engine; providing at least a processor communicating with a processor memory; storing information using said processor with said processor memory related to data for processing, said information comprising a number of elements including at leasta first element and a second element; starting a process related to said information; accessing firstly said processor memory using said DMA engine to obtain said first element, wherein said accessing firstly comprises said DMA engine retrieving thefirst element from the processor memory in a CPU table data format that is the same data format of said first element that was used when said first element was stored in said processor memory; processing first data related to said first element; accessing secondly said second element from said processor memory using said DMA engine after said step of processing said first data; and processing second data related to said second element.
Claims
52 totalA method for processing data, comprising: providing at least a first controller communicable with a remote memory, said first controller including a direct memory access(DMA) engine; providing at least a processor communicating with a processor memory; storing information using said processor with said processor memory related to data for processing, said information comprising a number of elements including at leasta first element and a second element; starting a process related to said information; accessing firstly said processor memory using said DMA engine to obtain said first element, wherein said accessing firstly comprises said DMA engine retrieving thefirst element from the processor memory in a CPU table data format that is the same data format of said first element that was used when said first element was stored in said processor memory; processing first data related to said first element; accessing secondly said second element from said processor memory using said DMA engine after said step of processing said first data; and processing second data related to said second element.