System and method for conveying information
View Patent ↗A system and method for conveying data include the capability to determine whether a transaction request credit has been received at a computer module, the transaction request credit indicating that at least a portion of a transaction request message may be sent. The system and method also include the capability to determine, if a transaction request message is to be sent, whether at least a portion of the transaction request message may be sent and to send the at least a portion of the transaction request message if it may be sent.
1. A method for conveying data, comprising:
determining whether a transaction request credit has been received at a computer module, the transaction request credit indicating that at least a portion of a transaction request message may be sent;
determining, if a transaction request message is to be sent, whether at least a portion of the transaction request message may be sent in response to the transaction request credit; and
sending the at least a portion of the transaction request message if the transaction request message is to be sent in accordance with the transaction request credit.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether a transaction request credit has been received at a computer module comprises determining whether a signal indicative of a transaction request credit has been received.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether at least a portion of the transaction request message may be sent comprises examining a request credit counter, the request credit counter incremented if a transaction request credit has been received.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising refusing to increment the request credit counter if a limit has been reached.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising decrementing the request credit counter when the at least a portion of the transaction request message has been sent.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the at least a portion of the transaction request message comprises sending the at least a portion over a link set, each link conveying a part of the at least a portion of the request message.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein sending the at least a portion over a link set comprises sending each part at a double data rate over the associated link.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a set of error correction codes associated with the message, wherein the error correction codes may be used to detect and correct single-bit errors, detect double-bit errors, and detect multiple-bit errors.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending a transaction request signal associated with the message, the signal indicating that the message is a transaction request message;
sending a message initiation signal associated with the first portion of the message; and
sending a message completion signal associated with the last portion of the message.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the message includes a command word section and a message head section, the command word section indicating the type of bus transaction that the message is requesting.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the command word section includes an identifier for the transaction so that a response message may be properly associated with the request message.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining whether a transaction response message associated with the transaction request message has been received.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether a transaction response credit has been received at the computer module, the transaction response credit indicating that at least a portion of a transaction response message may be sent;
determining, if a transaction response message is to be sent, whether at least a portion of the transaction response message may be sent; and
sending the at least a portion of the transaction response message if the transaction request message is to be sent.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, at the computer module, whether at least a portion of a transaction request message may be received; and
sending a transaction request credit if at least a portion of a transaction request message may be received, the transaction request credit indicating that at least a portion of a transaction request message may be sent.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, at the computer module, whether at least a portion of a transaction response message may be received; and
sending a transaction response credit if at least a portion of a transaction response message may be received, the transaction response credit indicating that at least a portion of a transaction response message may be sent.