WO2024045742A1

WO2024045742A1 - Computing device

Info

Publication number: WO2024045742A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/098417
Authority: WO
Inventors: 李宇涛
Original assignee: 超聚变数字技术有限公司
Priority date: 2022-08-31
Filing date: 2023-06-05
Publication date: 2024-03-07
Also published as: CN115632900B; CN115632900A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a computing device. The computing device comprises a device management unit and a PCIE device; the device management unit comprises an I3C interface; the PCIE device comprises an I3C interface, and the device management unit is connected to the PCIE device by means of the I3C interface; the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data by means of the I3C interface, wherein the NC-SI sideband communication data comprises a data packet and/or a control packet, the data packet is used for the device management unit to communicate with an external network, and the control packet is used for the device management unit to manage the PCIE device. According to the computing device of the embodiments of the present application, NC-SI sideband communication is achieved by using the I3C interface, interface deployment of the computing device is simplified, and the costs of the computing device are reduced.

Description

a computing device

This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on August 31, 2022, with application number 202211056291.7 and the application title "A Computing Device", the entire content of which is incorporated into this application by reference.

Technical field

The present application relates to the field of servers, and in particular to a computing device.

Background technique

In existing computing equipment and data centers, the sideband communication function of the Network Controller Sideband Interface (NC-SI) in the network controller is increasingly used to realize the networking of the device management plane of the computing equipment. The device management unit uses the NC-SI interface of the network card to communicate with the external network. The NC-SI interface is physically a Reduced Media Independent Interface (RMII), and the NC-SI interface is actually based on the RMII Based Transport (RBT) NC-SI protocol. The NC-SI interface signal is not included in the interface signal definition of the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE) standard card. When a PCIE device, such as a network card, is inserted into a server, even if the chip on the PCIE network card supports the NC-SI interface, the PCIE network card cannot directly communicate with the device management unit of the server motherboard through the NC-SI interface. Therefore, NC-SI functionality cannot be supported. Some computing equipment manufacturers develop their own PCIE network cards with NC-SI interface connectors. NC-SI connectors are also provided on computing device motherboards. Then, customized cables are used to implement NC-SI sideband communication between the server's device management unit and the PCIE network card, which increases deployment costs.

Contents of the invention

Embodiments of the present application provide a computing device, a device management unit, a PCIE device and a data structure. It can effectively reduce the interface deployment cost for NC-SI sideband communication between the device management unit and the PCIE device.

In a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computing device. The computing device includes a device management unit and a PCIE device; the device management unit includes an I3C interface; the PCIE device includes an I3C interface, and the device management unit and the PCIE device are connected through the I3C interface; the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI edges through the I3C interface With communication data; among them, NC-SI sideband communication data includes data packets and control packets; data packets are used for the device management unit to communicate with the external network; control packets are used for the device management unit to manage PCIE devices.

In one implementation, the device management unit managing the PCIE device includes the device management unit configuring the PCIE device, such as configuring a channel to transmit data packets.

In one implementation, the device management unit managing the PCIE device includes the device management unit querying the PCIE device, such as querying the status of the PCIE device.

In this technical solution, the device management unit of the computing device and the PCIE device do not need to have an NC-SI physical interface for transmitting NC-SI sideband communication data. The device management unit and the PCIE device use the I3C interface they have to implement NC-SI. Sideband communications. The cost of implementing NC-SI sideband communications on computing devices is reduced.

In one implementation, the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data based on the I3C protocol through the I3C interface.

In this implementation, the I3C protocol is used to transmit NC-SI sideband communication data between the device management unit and the PCIE network card. This makes it possible to transmit NC-SI sideband communication data regardless of whether the device management unit and the PCIE device have an NC-SI physical interface, thereby improving the compatibility of the device management unit and the PCIE device in the computing device.

In one implementation, the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data based on the I3C protocol through the I3C interface, including: the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI direct common command code commands based on the I3C protocol. Sideband communication data; its , the direct public command code is used to instruct the device management unit to communicate with the specified PCIE device.

Different direct public command codes can indicate different types of communication between the master device and the specified slave device. In this implementation, NC-SI sideband communication data is transmitted between the device management unit and the PCIE device using predetermined direct common command code instructions. Improved the efficiency of sideband communication between the device management unit and PCIE devices.

In one implementation, the direct public command code command includes direct writing and direct reading; the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data based on the direct public command code command of the I3C protocol, including: the device management unit Control messages are transmitted with the PCIE device based on the direct writing frame format and the direct reading frame format.

In an implementable manner, the direct public command code command includes direct writing; the device management unit transmits NC-SI sideband communication data with the PCIE device based on the direct command code command of the I3C protocol, including: the device management unit transmits NC-SI sideband communication data based on direct writing The frame format is used to send data packets to the PCIE device; the PCIE device receives data packets from the device management unit.

The master device on the I3C bus can actively read and write from the slave device. In the above computing device, the device management unit is the master device of the I3C bus, and the PCIE device is the slave device of the I3C bus. The device management unit can realize the transmission of NC-SI sideband communication to PCIE by using direct writing in the direct public command code command. Data; the NC-SI sideband communication data includes NC-SI control messages used by the device management unit to manage PCIE devices and NC-SI data messages sent by the device management unit to the external network.

In one implementation, the directly written frame format and the directly read frame format include: a customized direct public command code sent by the device management unit to the PCIE device;

Among them, the customized direct public command code is used to indicate the transmission of control messages or data messages; the customized direct public command code is determined based on the reserved extended command code of the direct public command code in the I3C protocol; the PCIE device receives data from the device management The unit's custom direct public command code. Among them, the value range of reserved extended command codes is 0xE0-0xFE.

When transmitting control messages, in the directly written frame format, the customized direct public command code is used to instruct the transmission of control messages from the device management unit to the PCIE device; in the directly read frame format, the customized The direct public command code is used to instruct the transmission of control messages from the PCIE device to the device management unit.

When transmitting data packets, in the directly written frame format, the customized direct public command code is used to instruct the device management unit to transmit data packets to the PCIE device.

In one implementation, the customized direct public command code used to instruct the transmission of the control message is different from the customized direct public command code used to instruct the transmission of the data message.

Using the reserved extended command code of the I3C direct public command code in the specification to define NC-SI sideband communication broadens the application scenarios of the I3C specification in computing devices, and different custom command codes can be selected to indicate NC-SI sideband The specific type of communication increases the flexibility of specification usage.

In one implementation, the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface, including: the PCIE device sends a data message to the device management unit based on the I3C protocol in-band interrupt mechanism through the I3C interface; the device The management unit receives the data message.

The slave device on the I3C bus can actively request to transmit data to the master device by using the interrupt mechanism in the I3C protocol. In this computing device, the device management unit communicates with the PCIE device through the I3C interface based on the I3C protocol. The device management unit is the master device of the I3C bus, and the PCIE device is the slave device of the I3C bus. Using the above interrupt mechanism, the PCIE device receives external After receiving the data packets from the network, the data packets can be actively transmitted to the device management unit in a timely manner to improve communication efficiency.

In one implementation, before the PCIE device sends a data message to the device management unit through the I3C interface based on the I3C protocol in-band interrupt mechanism, the PCIE device sends a custom mandatory data byte value to the device management unit; where, the custom The mandatory data byte value is used to indicate the transmission of data packets from the PCIE device to the device management unit; the custom mandatory data byte value is determined based on the reserved extension value of the mandatory data byte in the I3C protocol; the device management unit receives from Custom mandatory data byte value for PCIE devices. Among them, the value of the high-order three bits MDB[7:5] of the forced data byte is 3'b000; the value range of the low-order five bits MDB[4:0] of the forced data byte is 5'h00–5'h1F.

In this implementation, using the reserved extension value of the I3C mandatory data byte in the specification to define NC-SI sideband communication broadens the application scenarios of the I3C protocol specification in computing devices. And different custom command codes can be selected to indicate the specific type of NC-SI sideband communication, which improves the flexibility of standard use.

In one implementation, the control message includes a command message and a response message; the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit the control message based on the direct write frame format and the direct read frame format, including: the device management unit transmits the control message based on the direct write frame format and the direct read frame format. The data field in the incoming frame format sends a command message to the PCIE device; the command message is used to manage the PCIE device; the PCIE device receives the command message from the device management unit; the PCIE device sends the command message to the device management unit based on directly reading the data field in the frame format. Send a response message; the device management unit receives the response message from the PCIE device; the response message is used to indicate the management result.

In one implementation, the device management unit sends a command message to the PCIE device based on the data field written directly into the frame format; the command message is used to configure the PCIE device; the device management unit receives the response message sent by the PCIE device; the response message The text is used to indicate the configuration results.

In one implementation, the device management unit sends a command message to the PCIE device based on the data field written directly into the frame format; the command message is used to query the PCIE device; the device management unit receives the response message sent by the PCIE device; the response message Text is used to indicate query results.

In one implementation, the device management unit is a device manager.

In an implementation manner, the PCIE device is a PCIE network card.

In the second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a device management unit. The device management unit includes an I3C interface; the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface; wherein, the NC-SI sideband communication data It includes data packets and control packets. Data packets are used for the device management unit to communicate with the external network; control packets are used for the device management unit to manage PCIE devices.

In this technical solution, the device management unit does not need to have an NC-SI physical interface for transmitting NC-SI sideband communication data. The I3C interface can be used to realize NC-SI sideband communication with PCIE devices. The cost of implementing NC-SI sideband communication for the device management unit is reduced.

In one implementation, the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface, including: the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit the NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface based on the I3C protocol.

In this implementation, the I3C protocol is used to transmit NC-SI sideband communication data between the device management unit and the PCIE device. This enables the device management unit to transmit NC-SI sideband communication data with the PCIE device regardless of whether it has an NC-SI interface, thereby improving the compatibility of the device management unit.

In one implementation, the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data based on the I3C protocol through the I3C interface, including: the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI direct common command code commands based on the I3C protocol. Sideband communication data; among them, the direct public command code command is used to instruct the device management unit to communicate with the specified PCIE device.

Different direct public command codes can indicate different types of communication between the master device and the specified slave device. In this implementation, NC-SI sideband communication data is transmitted between the device management unit and the PCIE device using designated direct common command code instructions. Improved the efficiency of sideband communication between the device management unit and PCIE devices.

In one implementation, the direct public command code command includes direct writing and direct reading; the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data based on the direct public command code command of the I3C protocol, including: the device management unit Send data packets to the PCIE device based on the directly written frame format.

In this implementation, the master device on the I3C bus can actively read and write to the slave device. In the computing device described above, the device management sheet The device management unit is the master device of the I3C bus, and the PCIE device is the slave device of the I3C bus. The device management unit can realize the transmission of NC-SI sideband communication data to PCIE by using direct writing in the direct public command code command; the NC-SI sideband Communication data includes NC-SI control messages used by the device management unit to manage PCIE devices and NC-SI data messages sent by the device unit to the external network.

In one implementation, the directly written frame format and the directly read frame format include: a customized direct public command code sent by the device management unit to the PCIE device; wherein the customized direct public command code is used to indicate Transmit control messages or data messages; the customized direct public command code is determined based on the reserved extended command code of the direct public command code in the I3C protocol. The value range of reserved extended command codes is 0xE0-0xFE.

Using the reserved extended command code of the I3C direct public command code in the specification to define NC-SI sideband communication broadens the application scenarios of the I3C specification in computing devices. And different custom command codes can be selected to indicate the specific type of NC-SI sideband communication, which improves the flexibility of standard use.

In one implementation, the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface, including: the device management unit receives the data message sent by the PCIE device through the I3C interface and based on the I3C protocol in-band interrupt mechanism.

The slave device on the I3C bus can actively request to transmit data to the master device by using the interrupt mechanism in the I3C protocol. In this computing device, the device management unit communicates with the PCIE device through the I3C interface based on the I3C protocol. The device management unit is the master device of the I3C bus, and the PCIE device is the slave device of the I3C bus. Using the above interrupt mechanism, the PCIE device receives external After receiving the data packet from the network, the data packet can be actively transmitted to the device management unit in a timely manner. Improve the communication efficiency between the device management unit and external networks.

In one implementation, before the device management unit receives the data message sent by the PCIE device through the I3C interface based on the I3C protocol in-band interrupt mechanism, the device management unit includes: the device management unit receives a custom mandatory data byte value sent by the PCIE device; Among them, the customized mandatory data byte value is used to indicate the transmission of data messages; the customized mandatory data byte value is determined based on the reserved extension value of the mandatory data byte in the I3C protocol. Among them, the upper three bits MDB[7:5] of the forced data byte have a value of 3’b000; the lower five bits MDB[4:0] of the forced data byte have a value range of 5’h00–5’h1F.

Using the reserved extended value of the I3C mandatory data byte in the specification to define NC-SI sideband communication broadens the application scenarios of the I3C specification in computing devices, and different custom command codes can be used to indicate NC-SI sideband communication. Concrete types improve the flexibility of specification usage.

In one implementation, the control message includes a command message and a response message; the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit the control message based on the direct write frame format and the direct read frame format, including: the device management unit transmits the control message based on the direct write frame format and the direct read frame format. The data field in the incoming frame format sends a command message to the PCIE device; the command message is used to manage the PCIE device; the device management unit receives the response message sent by the PCIE device; the response message is used to indicate the management result.

In one implementation, the device management unit is a device manager.

In the third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a PCIE device. The PCIE device includes an I3C interface; the PCIE device and the device management unit transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface; wherein the NC-SI sideband communication data includes data Messages and control messages, data messages are data used by the device management unit to communicate with the external network, and control messages are used by the device management unit to manage PCIE devices.

In one implementation, the device management unit managing the PCIE device includes the device management unit configuring the PCIE device, such as configuring a channel for transmission of data packets.

In one implementation, the device management unit managing the PCIE device includes the device management unit querying the PCIE device, such as querying the channel status of the PCIE device. In this technical solution, PCIE equipment does not need to have an NC-SI physical interface for transmitting NC-SI sideband communication data. PCIE The device uses its own I3C interface to implement NC-SI sideband communication with the device management unit, reducing the cost of PCIE equipment implementing NC-SI sideband communication.

In one implementation, the PCIE device and the device management unit transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface, including: the PCIE device and the device management unit transmit the NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface based on the I3C protocol.

In one implementation, the PCIE device and the device management unit transmit the NC-SI sideband communication data based on the I3C protocol, including: the PCIE device and the device management unit transmit the NC-SI sideband communication data based on the direct common command code command of the I3C protocol. ; Among them, the direct public command code command is used to instruct the device management unit to communicate with the specified PCIE device.

Different direct public command codes can indicate different types of communication between the master device and the specified slave device. In this implementation, specified direct public command code instructions are used to transmit NC-SI sideband communication data between the device management unit and the PCIE device, thereby improving the sideband communication efficiency between the device management unit and the PCIE device.

In one implementation, the direct public command code command includes direct writing and direct reading; the PCIE device and the device management unit transmit NC-SI sideband communication data based on the direct public command code command of the I3C protocol, including: PCIE device and The device management unit transmits control messages based on the direct writing frame format and the direct reading frame format.

In one implementation, the direct public command code command includes direct writing; the PCIE device and the device management unit transmit NC-SI sideband communication data based on the I3C protocol through the I3C interface, including: the PCIE device is based on The directly written frame format receives the data message sent by the device management unit.

In one implementation, the directly written frame format and the directly read frame format include: the PCIE device receives a customized direct public command code sent by the device management unit; wherein the customized direct public command code is used to indicate Transmit control messages or data messages; the customized direct public command code is determined based on the reserved extended command code of the direct public command code in the I3C protocol. Among them, the value range of reserved extended command codes is 0xE0-0xFE.

Using the reserved extended command code of the I3C direct public command code in the specification to define NC-SI sideband communication broadens the application scenarios of the I3C specification in computing devices, and different custom command codes can be selected to indicate NC-SI sideband communication. With communication specific types, the flexibility of specification usage is improved.

In one implementation, the PCIE device and the device management unit transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface, including: the PCIE device sends a data message to the device management unit through the I3C interface and based on the I3C protocol in-band interrupt mechanism.

In one implementation, before the PCIE device sends a data message to the device management unit through the I3C interface based on the I3C protocol in-band interrupt mechanism, the process includes: the PCIE device sends a custom mandatory data byte value to the device management unit; where, The customized mandatory data byte value is used to indicate the transmission of data messages; the customized mandatory data byte value is determined based on the reserved extension value of the mandatory data byte in the I3C protocol. Among them, the upper three bits MDB[7:5] of the forced data byte have a value of 3’b000; the lower five bits MDB[4:0] of the forced data byte have a value range of 5’h00–5’h1F.

Using the I3C mandatory data byte reserved extension value in the specification to define NC-SI sideband communications broadens the scope of the I3C specification in computing devices application scenarios, and different custom command codes can be selected to indicate the specific type of NC-SI sideband communication, which improves the flexibility of standard use.

In one implementation, the control message includes a command message and a response message; the PCIE device and the device management unit transmit the control message based on the direct write frame format and the direct read frame format, including: the PCIE device transmits the control message based on the direct write frame format and the direct read frame format. The data field in the frame format receives the command message sent by the device management unit; the command message is used to manage the PCIE device; the PCIE device sends a response message to the device management unit based on directly reading the data field in the frame format; the response message is used for instructions Management results.

In an implementation manner, the PCIE device is a PCIE network card.

In the fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a data structure. The data structure includes: Start field, I3C Reserved Address field, first Read/Write field, first Acknowledge field, I3C Directed Common Command Code field, Parity Bit field, Repeated Start field, I3C Target Address, second Read/Write field, second Acknowledge field, Data field, Transition Bit field, Stop field; among them, I3C Directed Common Command Code value is any command code from 0xE0-0xFE; this command The code is used to instruct the device management unit and the PCIE device to transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface; where the NC-SI sideband communication data includes control messages and/or data messages; the data messages are used for all The device management unit communicates with an external network, and the control message is used by the device management unit to manage the PCIE device.

In one implementation, the I3C Reserved Address field carries the I3C broadcast address 7’h7E; the first Read/Write field is set to 0. At this time, the first Read/Write field can be understood as a Write field, indicating the execution of a write operation.

In one implementation, I3C Directed Common Command Code is used to instruct the device management unit and PCIE device to transmit control messages.

For example, select the reserved extended command code value xF0 of I3C Directed Common Command Code to instruct the device management unit to transmit control messages to the PCIE device or the PCIE device to transmit control messages to the device management unit. When instructing the device management unit to transmit a control message to the PCIE device, the second Read/Write value is 0, and the Transition Bit field is the Parity Bit field, which is used to verify the written control message.

When instructing the PCIE device to transmit control packets to the device management unit, when the Read/Write value is 1, the Transition Bit field is End-of-Data, which is used to indicate whether the control packet transmission is completed; for example, when the Transition Bit is 1 When the Transition Bit is 0, it means that the control message has not been transmitted yet. When the Transition Bit is 0, it means that the control message has been transmitted.

In one implementation, the I3C Directed Common Command Code is used to instruct the transmission of data packets from the device management unit to the PCIE device; the RnW value is 0, and the Transition Bit field is the Parity Bit field, which is used to verify the written data packet. arts.

For example, select the reserved extended command code value 0xF1 of I3C Directed Common Command Code to instruct the device management unit to transmit data packets to the PCIE device. When instructing the device management unit to transmit a data message to the PCIE device, the second Read/Write value is 0, and the Transition Bit field is the Parity Bit field, which is used to verify the written data message.

In one implementation, the Data field is used to send the above NC-SI sideband communication data.

In the fifth aspect, the technical solution of this application provides a data structure. The data structure includes: Start field, I3C Target Address, Read/Write field, Acknowledge field, Mandatory Data Byte field, Parity Bit field, Data field, Stop field; wherein , the value of the high three bits MDB[7:5] of Mandatory Data Byte (MDB) is 3'b000; the value range of the low five bits MDB[4:0] of Mandatory Data Byte is 5'h00–5'h1F; from all Select one value from the lower five bits of the Mandatory Data Byte and the upper three bits to form a value; this MDB value is used to instruct the PCIE device to send a data message to the device management unit.

For example, the value of the high-order three bits of MDB [7:5] is 3'b000; the value of the low-order five bits of MDB [4:0] is 5'h01; then the MDB value is 0x01, and this MBD value is used to indicate the slave The PCIE device sends a data packet to the device management unit.

In one implementation, the Data field is used to send data packets.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application.

Figure 1A is a schematic diagram of a computing device deploying PCIE devices provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 1B is a schematic structural diagram of a PCIE network card provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 2A is a schematic diagram of the I3C direct writing frame format provided by the embodiment of the present application;

Figure 2B is a schematic diagram of the I3C direct reading frame format provided by the embodiment of the present application;

Figure 3 is a schematic flowchart of the method for the device management unit to send NC-SI command messages to the PCIE network card based on I3C direct writing provided by the embodiment of the present application;

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the NC-SI command message format provided by the embodiment of the present application;

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the format of the Enable Channel command message provided by the embodiment of this application;

Figure 6 is a schematic flowchart of the method for the PCIE network card provided by the embodiment of the present application to send an NC-SI response message to the device management unit based on direct I3C reading;

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the NC-SI response message format provided by the embodiment of the present application;

Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the format of the Enable Channel response message provided by the embodiment of this application;

Figure 9 is a schematic flowchart of the method for the device management unit to send NC-SI data packets to the PCIE network card through I3C direct writing provided by the embodiment of the present application;

Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the NC-SI data message format provided by the embodiment of the present application;

Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of the Mandatory Data Byte data format provided by the embodiment of this application;

Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the I3C interrupt communication frame format provided by the embodiment of the present application;

Figure 13 is a schematic flowchart of a method for the PCIE network card to send an NC-SI data message to the device management unit through the I3C interrupt mechanism provided by the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the solution of the present application, the technical solution in the embodiment of the present application will be clearly described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiment of the present application.

The terms "first" and "second" in the embodiments of this application do not have logical or temporal dependencies, nor do they limit the number or execution order. It should also be understood that, although the following description uses the terms first, second, etc. to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by the terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another.

In the embodiments of this application, the term "at least one" means one or more, and in the embodiments of this application, the term "multiple" means two or more.

It should also be understood that the term "if" may be interpreted as "when" or "upon" or "in response to determining" or "in response to detecting." Similarly, depending on the context, the phrase "if it is determined..." or "if [stated condition or event] is detected" may be interpreted as "when it is determined..." or "in response to the determination..." or “On detection of [stated condition or event]” or “In response to detection of [stated condition or event]”.

In order to facilitate understanding of this application, the terms involved in this application are first introduced.

Network Controller Sideband Interface (NC-SI) is an industrial sideband interface network controller defined by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) to support server out-of-band management. standard.

Equipment management unit: performs component management and asset management functions in the computer system, such as power on and off control, fan speed regulation, electronic label management, etc. Different server manufacturers have different names for the device management unit. For example, the device management unit can be a baseboard management controller. (Baseboard Management Controller, BMC), integrated remote management iLO (Integrated Lights-Out, iLO), and/or, integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller, iDRAC).

I2C: I2C bus, two-wire synchronous serial bus, master-slave communication mechanism, using clock line (Serial Clock, SCL) and data line (Serial Data, SDA) for communication, supporting multiple master devices and slave devices sharing the bus connection , distinguish nodes by physical address.

I3C: I3C bus is an improved version of I2C bus. It uses clock line (SCL) and data line (SDA) for communication and is downward compatible with I2C. Compared with I2C, I3C data rate has been greatly improved, supports dynamic address allocation to support common bus connection of multiple nodes with the same physical address, and supports interrupt mechanism to support slave nodes actively sending data to the master node.

Referring to FIG. 1A, an embodiment of the present application provides a schematic diagram of a computing device deploying a PCIE device.

The computing device is an electronic device with a PCIE interface. The computing device can be a server, a desktop computer, a user equipment (UE), a mobile phone, a tablet, etc.; it can also be a data transfer device, such as a router, repeater, bridge or switch wait. The PCIE device may be a network card with a PCIE interface. For the convenience of description, the following description takes the PCIE network card as an example.

FIG. 1B is a schematic structural diagram of a PCIE network card provided in this embodiment. 1A and 1B, the computing device 100 includes a motherboard 110 on which a device management unit 120, a processor 130 and a PCIE interface connector 140 are provided. The PCIE interface connector 140 may be a PCIE slot. Among them, the device management unit 120 can be a baseboard management controller (Baseboard Management Controller, BMC), an integrated remote management iLO (Integrated Lights-Out, iLO) or an integrated Dell remote management controller (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller, iDRAC). ).

The PCIE network card 200 includes a body 210, which may be a circuit board. The body 210 is provided with a chip 220 and a PCIE interface connector 230; the PCIE interface connector 230 is located at the edge of the body 210; the PCIE interface connector 230 includes a plurality of gold fingers 231; the gold fingers 231 of the PCIE 230 connector and the chip 220 Electrical connection. The PCIE interface connector 140 of the motherboard 110 is plugged into the PCIE interface connector 230 of the PCIE network card 200 . The specific implementation is that the golden finger on the body 210 of the PCIE network card is inserted into the PCIE slot on the motherboard 110, so that the PCIE network card 200 is electrically connected to the motherboard 110 to realize signal transmission.

In one implementation, the signal definition of PCIE interface connector 230 includes the interface definition of I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit); and I3C (Improved Inter Integrated Circuit) and I2C are compatible in terms of physical signals, and both Use two physical signal lines, SCL and SDA, for communication.

In the interconnection structure of the computing device 100 and the PCIE network card 200 as shown in Figure 1A, the device management unit 120 and the PCIE network card 200 can use the I2C channel to run I3C protocol communication to form an I3C interface. Therefore, the PCIE interface connector 230 of the PCIE network card 200 can be compatible with the I3C interface. The computing device 100 is connected to the PCIE network card 200 through a PCIE interface. The PCIE interface may be a business interface, such as using a PCIE network card to transmit business data for a business system of the computing device 100, such as a CPU system or an OS system. The device management unit 120 in the computing device 100 interfaces with the I3C interface. The I3C interface is an out-of-band interface and is used by the PCIE network card 200 to transmit management data to the device management unit 120, such as a BMC.

As mentioned above, the PCIE network card 200 provides an I3C interface and supports connection and communication with the device management unit 120 through the I3C interface. The device management unit 120 is connected to the PCIE network card 200 through the I3C interface. The device management unit 120 supports NC-SI sideband communications. The PCIE network card 200 and the device management unit 120 support the transmission of NC-SI information through the I3C interface to realize NC-SI sideband communication. Among them, in the above I3C communication, the device management unit 120 is the master device on the I3C bus, and the PCIE network card 200 is the slave device on the I3C bus.

Based on the interface structure of the PCIE network card, this embodiment provides a method for NC-SI sideband communication between the device management unit and the PCIE network card. Among them, the NC-SI sideband communication data includes NC-SI control messages and NC-SI data messages. Among them, the NC-SI control message includes an NC-SI command message and an NC-SI response message; the NC-SI command message is used by the device management unit to manage the PCIE network card. The management of the PCIE network card includes querying and configuring the configuration. function, initialization, etc.; the response message is used by the PCIE network card to feedback the management results to the device management unit; such as whether the configuration is successful. Data packets are used to transmit management data between the device management unit 120 and the external network.

In an implementable manner, the I3C specification is extended and reserved extension words in the I3C specification are used to define NC-SI sideband communication. Specifically: the I3C Directed CCC field represents the I3C direct public command code. According to the specification definition, different command codes are used to indicate different communication commands; the direct public command code can indicate different types of communication between the master device and the specified slave device. For I3C Directed CCC, the I3C specification defines some reserved extended command codes, with a value range of 0xE0-0xFE, for use as manufacturer extensions. In this embodiment, using this specification extension, the I3C direct public command code reserved extended command code is used to define the transmission of control data of NC-SI sideband communication. I3C direct public command code commands include I3C direct reading and I3C direct writing.

The communication between the device management unit and the NC-SI control message of the PCIE network card includes the device management unit 120 using I3C direct writing to send the NC-SI command message to the PCIE network card 200, and the PCIE network card 200 using I3C direct reading to the device management unit 120 sends the response message of the above NC-SI command.

Specifically, the I3C directly written frame format used in the NC-SI command message sent by the device management unit 120 to the PCIE network card 200 is shown in Figure 2A; the response to the NC-SI command sent by the PCIE network card device 200 to the management module 120 The frame format of the I3C direct reading used in the message is shown in Figure 2B. It can be understood that the above frame format may be a set of command timings for communication between the device management unit 120 and the PCIE network card 200 . The description of the frame format of the I3C direct write command and the frame format of the I3C direct read is shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Frame format description of I3C direct write/direct read code command

Based on the I3C directly written frame format shown in Figure 2A, this embodiment provides a method for the device management unit to send an NC-SI command message to the PCIE network card. The method flow is shown in Figure 3.

S101: The device management unit 120 sends the startup signal S to the PCIE network card 200. In the idle state of the I3C bus, the device management unit 120 initiates START, indicating that communication with the PCIE network card 200 can be started.

S102: The device management unit 120 sends the I3C broadcast address and write signal W to the PCIE network card 200.

In an implementable manner, before sending the I3C direct public command code command, the device management unit 120 sends the broadcast address (7'h7E) as the I3C reserved address and Read/Write is set to 0 (1'b0). Wait for the response confirmation signal ACK from the PCIE network card 200.

S103: The PCIE network card 200 responds to the device management unit 120 with the acknowledgment signal ACK. When confirming receipt of the broadcast message, the PCIE network card 200 may respond to the device management unit 120 with a confirmation signal ACK.

S104: The device management unit 120 sends the direct public command code indicating the transmission of the NC-SI control message and the check digit of the direct public command code to the PCIE network card 200.

In an implementable manner, any command code is selected from the reserved extended command codes 0xE0-0xFE of the direct public command code as the command code indicating the transmission of the control message. For example, 0xF0 is selected as the command code indicating the transmission of control packets. Specifically, when the device management unit 120 manages the PCIE 200 device, the direct public command code indicates that the message to be sent is an NC-SI command message for the device management unit 120 to manage the PCIE network card 200. The checksum of the command is sent at the same time as the direct command code.

It should be noted that the device management unit 120 manages the PCIE 200 device and can configure the PCIE 200 device for the device management unit 120 or query information from the PCIE 200 device.

It can be understood that those skilled in the art can arbitrarily select a command code from the reserved extended command codes 0xE0-0xFE of the above-mentioned I3C direct public command codes based on setting requirements. This application does not impose specific restrictions on the selected command codes.

S105: The device management unit 120 sends the repeated start signal Sr to the PCIE network card 200. The device management unit 120 initiates Repeated START to continue communication with the PCIE network card 200.

S106: The device management unit 120 sends the address of the PCIE network card 200 and the write signal W to the PCIE network card 200.

The device management unit 120 sends the PCIE network card 200 address (7bit) and Read/Write is set to 0 (1’b0), indicating that the NC-SI command message is about to be sent to the PCIE network card 200. Wait for the response confirmation signal ACK from the PCIE network card 200.

S107: The PCIE network card 200 responds to the device management unit 120 with the acknowledgment signal ACK. When the PCIE network card 200 confirms receipt of its own address, it may automatically reply to the device management unit 120 with a response confirmation signal ACK.

S108: The device management unit 120 sends the NC-SI command message and the check digit of the NC-SI command message to the PCIE network card 200.

In an implementable manner, the device management unit 120 sends the NC-SI command message Command Data (Data1, Data2,..., DataN) and the corresponding verification data Parity (Para1, DataN) to the PCIE network card 200 in byte units. Para2,...,ParaN) to realize the management of the PCIE network card, which management includes configuration or query.

In an implementable manner, the device management unit 120 configures the PCIE network card 200 through an NC-SI command message, where the format of the NC-SI command message is as shown in FIG. 4 . Each NC-SI command message includes a packet header (NC-SI Control packet header), payload data (payload) and checksum data (checksum). The payload data is variable in length depending on the command. The description of the command message format is shown in Table 2.

Table 2 NC-SI command message format description

In an optional implementation, the NC-SI commands used by the device management unit 120 to configure the PCIE network card 200 include but are not limited to Select Package, Clear Initial State or Enable Channel. This embodiment uses the NC-SI command Enable Channel as an example to describe the specific format of the command. The control message type of the NC-SI command Enable Channel is 0x03.

Optionally, set the command sequence ID IID of the Enable Channel to 0x01; set the channel ID Channel ID to 0x01.

The Enable Channel does not have payload data, so the 12-bit value of Payload Length is 0x000.

In an implementable manner, the sender of the NC-SI command can use a cumulative sum algorithm to generate the check data. When all reserved fields of the NC-SI control message are set to 0, the cumulative check value of the NC-SI command Enable Channel is 0xFFFFFFFA.

The command format of the Enable Channel is shown in Figure 5. The total length of the command is 20 bytes, including a 16-byte header and 4-byte check data. The device management unit 120 sends the above command to the PCIE network card 200 in byte units 20 times.

S109: The device management unit 120 sends the end signal P to the PCIE network card 200.

In an implementable manner, after the device management unit 120 completes sending the NC-SI command message, it sends a completion signal P to the PCIE network card 200 to end the current sending operation of the NC-SI command message.

After receiving the NC-SI command message sent by the device management unit 120, the PCIE network card 200 parses the command message and completes the NC-SI channel enabling configuration according to the command. Then the PCIE network card 200 generates an NC-SI response message and sends the response message to the device management unit 120. The response message is used to indicate the configuration result, such as whether the configuration is successful.

In an implementable manner, after the PCIE network card 200 receives the NC-SI command message sent by the device management unit 120 and parses the command message, it first accumulates and checks the command message; for example, Enable Channel The command format is as shown in Figure 5. Each data in the command is accumulated. When the sum is 0, it indicates that the data passes the verification. The NC-SI command that passes the verification can be used to configure the PCIE network card 200.

For the sending method of other NC-SI commands, such as Select Package and Clear Initial State, refer to steps S101-S109 shown in Figure 3. It is understandable that for sending different NC-SI commands, the difference is that the Data sent in I3C direct writing is different. The rest of the method process is the same and will not be repeated here.

Based on the frame format directly read by I3C shown in Figure 2B, this embodiment provides a method for the PCIE network card to send an NC-SI response message to the device management unit. The method flow is shown in Figure 6.

S201: The device management unit 120 sends the startup signal S to the PCIE network card 200. In the idle state of the I3C bus, the device management unit 120 initiates START, indicating that communication with the PCIE network card 200 can be started.

S202: The device management unit 120 sends the I3C broadcast address and the write W signal to the PCIE network card 200.

In an implementable manner, before sending the I3C direct public command code command, the device management unit 120 sends the I3C broadcast address (7'h7E) as the reserved address and Read/Write position 0 (1'b0). Waiting for ACK from PCIE network card 200.

S203: The PCIE network card 200 responds to the device management unit 120 with the acknowledgment signal ACK. When confirming receipt of the broadcast message, the PCIE network card 200 can automatically reply an ACK signal to the device management unit 120 .

S204: The device management unit 120 sends the direct public command code indicating the transmission of the control message and the check digit of the direct public command code to the PCIE network card 200.

In an implementable manner, any command code is selected from the reserved extended command codes 0xE0-0xFE of the direct public command code as the command code indicating the transmission of the control message. For example, select 0xF0 as the command code for control message transmission. Specifically, after the PCIE 200 device completes the configuration based on the command of the device management unit, when responding to the configuration result, the direct public command code is used to indicate that the message to be sent is an NC-SI response message sent by the PCIE network card 200 to the device management unit 120. arts. When the direct public command code is sent, the check digit Par of the direct public command code is also sent.

S205: The device management unit 120 sends the repeated start signal Sr to the PCIE network card 200. The device management unit 120 initiates Repeated START to continue communication with the PCIE network card 200.

S206: The device management unit 120 sends the PCIE network card 200 address and the read signal R to the PCIE network card 200. The device management unit 120 sends the PCIE network card 200 address (7bit) and Read/Write position 1 (1’b1), instructing the PCIE network card 200 to send a response message to the device management unit 120. Wait for the response confirmation signal ACK from the PCIE network card 200.

S207: The PCIE network card 200 responds to the device management unit 120 with the acknowledgment signal ACK. When the PCIE network card 200 confirms receipt of its own address, it can automatically reply an ACK signal to the device management unit 120 .

S208: The PCIE network card 200 sends the NC-SI response message and the conversion bit to the device management unit 120.

In an implementable manner, the PCIE network card 200 sends the NC-SI response message Respouse Data (Data1, Data2,..., DataN) to the device management unit 120 in units of bytes and continues the conversion bit after each data. Transition (T1, T2,…,TN) to respond to the management of PCIE network cards.

It should be noted that the conversion bit T is used to indicate whether the read data has been sent. For example, if the transmission conversion bits T1, T2,..., TN-1 have a value of 1, it means that the data has not been sent completely; if TN has a value of 0, it means that the data has been sent.

In an implementable manner, the message data format in which the PCIE network card 200 responds to the NC-SI command of the device management unit 120 is as shown in FIG. 7 . The description of each field in the message data format is shown in Table 3.

In an implementable manner, the message data format that the PCIE network card 200 needs to respond to the NC-SI command of the device management unit 120 is as shown in FIG. 7 . Each NC-SI response message includes a packet header (NC-SI Control packet header), payload data (payload) and checksum data (checksum), where the payload data is variable in length depending on the command. The description of each field in the message data format is shown in Table 3.

Table 3 NC-SI response message format field description

In an implementable manner, when the NC-SI command is Select Package, Clear Initial State or Enable Channel, the corresponding NC-SI response is Select Package Response, Clear Initial State Response or Enable Channel Response. This embodiment uses the response to the Enable Channel command as an example to illustrate the response format of NC-SI.

For this Enable Channel response, the control packet identification Control Packet Type changes to 0x83. Set the command sequence ID IID of this command to 0x01; set the channel ID Channel ID to 0x01.

The response code and reason code of the Enable Channel response message are used as the payload data. The 12-bit value of Payload Length is 0x004.

In an implementable manner, when the PCIE network card is successfully configured based on the NC-SI command, the response code value is 0x0000, indicating that the configuration is completed. The value of the reason code is 0x0000, which means there is no error in the configuration.

In an implementable manner, the sender of the NC-SI command can use a cumulative sum algorithm to generate the check data. When all reserved fields of the NC-SI control message are set to 0, the cumulative check value of the NC-SI command Enable Channel is 0xFFFFFF7A.

The NC-SI response message of the Enable Channel Response is shown in Figure 8. The total length of the Enable Channel response message is 24 bytes, including a 16-byte header, a 4-byte response code and reason code, and a 4-byte verification data. The PCIE network card 200 sends the above response to the device management unit 120 in byte units 24 times.

S209: After determining that the data transmission is completed, the device management unit 120 sends the end signal P to the PCIE network card 200. Initiate STOP on the device management unit 120 to end the current sending operation of the NC-SI response message.

After receiving the NC-SI response message sent by the PCIE network card 200, the device management unit 120 parses the response message to obtain the configuration result, such as whether the configuration is successful.

In an implementable manner, after receiving the NC-SI response message sent by the PCIE network card 200 and parsing the response message, the device management unit 120 first accumulates and checks the response message; for example, Enable Channel The response format of the command is as shown in Figure 8. The command Each data in is accumulated. If the accumulated sum is 0, it indicates that the response message passes the verification. The device management unit 120 may obtain the configuration result according to the response message and determine whether the configuration of the PCIE network card 200 is completed.

In an implementable manner, when the device management unit 120 detects that the conversion bit T changes to a low level, the device management unit 120 sends an end signal to the PCIE network card 200 to end the sending of the NC-SI response message this time. operate.

It can be understood that the communication of NC-SI control messages includes the transmission of NC-SI command messages and the transmission of NC-SI response messages. Therefore, the above-mentioned device management unit 120 sends the NC-SI command message to the PCIE network card 200 and The NC-SI response message sent by the PCIE network card 200 to the device management unit 120 belongs to a complete NC-SI control message communication process between the device management unit 120 and the PCIE network card.

In this embodiment, compared with the existing technology, additional connectors and cables are customized between the device management unit and the PCIE network card, and the private connector signal definition does not support third-party device compatibility. This solution extends the I3C specification and uses the reserved extended command code in the I3C public command code to define the transmission of control messages for NC-SI communication, realizing the communication of NC-SI control messages between the PCIE network card and the device management unit. . Reduces the cost of PCIE network card and device management unit NC-SI sideband communication.

After the device management unit 120 completes the configuration of the PCIE network card 200, the device management unit can communicate with the external network through data packets (NC-SI Data) through the PCIE network card.

In an implementable manner, the device management unit 120 sends the NC-SI data message to the PCIE network card 200 through I3C direct writing. The specific implementation is to extend the I3C specification, and the device management unit 120 uses the reserved extended command code definition of the I3C direct public command code to send the NC-SI sideband communication data message to the PCIE network card 200.

It can be understood that those skilled in the art can arbitrarily select a command code from the above reserved extended command codes 0xE0-0xFE based on setting requirements, but the direct common command code instructing the transmission of NC-SI data packets is the same as the direct common command code instructing the transmission of NC-SI control. The direct public command codes of the messages are different, and this application does not impose specific restrictions on the selected command codes.

The frame format in which the device management unit 120 directly writes the data packet in the NC-SI sideband communication to the PCIE network card 200 through I3C is shown in Figure 2A. And the meaning and value of each field are shown in Table 1, which will not be described again here.

Based on the I3C directly written frame format shown in Figure 2A, this embodiment provides a method for a device management unit to send a data message to a PCIE network card. The method flow is shown in Figure 9.

S301: The device management unit 120 sends the startup signal S to the PCIE network card 200. In the idle state of the I3C bus, the device management unit 120 initiates START, indicating that communication with the PCIE network card 200 can be started.

S302: The device management unit 120 sends the I3C broadcast address and write signal W to the PCIE network card 200.

S303: PCIE network card 200 responds to the device management unit 120 with an acknowledgment signal ACK. When confirming receipt of the broadcast message, the PCIE network card 200 may automatically respond to the device management unit 120 with a confirmation signal ACK.

S304: The device management unit 120 sends the direct public command code indicating the transmission of the transmission data packet and the check digit of the direct public command code to the PCIE network card 200.

In an implementable manner, any command code is selected from the reserved extended command codes 0xE0-0xFE of the direct public command code as the command code for transmitting the control message. This command code is different from the command code for transmitting control messages. For example, 0xF1 is selected as the command code for control message transmission. Specifically, when the device management unit 120 sends a data message for external transparent transmission to the PCIE 200 device, the direct public command code indicates that the message to be sent is an NC-SI data message sent by the device management unit to the PCIE network card 200. . This data packet is a data packet that the PCIE network card subsequently transparently transmits to the external network. When sending the direct common command code, the check word Par of the direct common command code is sent.

S305: The device management unit 120 sends the repeated start signal Sr to the PCIE network card 200. The device management unit 120 initiates Repeated START to continue communication with the PCIE network card 200.

S306: The device management unit 120 sends the PCIE network card 200 address and the write signal W to the PCIE network card 200.

The device management unit 120 sends the PCIE network card 200 address (7bit) and Read/Write set to 1 (1’b0), indicating that the NC-SI data message is about to be sent to the PCIE network card 200. Wait for the response confirmation signal ACK from the PCIE network card 200.

S307: The PCIE network card 200 responds to the device management unit 120 with a confirmation signal. When the PCIE network card 200 confirms receipt of its own address, it may automatically reply to the device management unit 120 with a response confirmation signal ACK.

S308: The device management unit 120 sends the data packet and the check bit of the data packet to the PCIE network card 200.

S309: Send the end signal P.

In an implementable manner, the device management unit 120 sends the data message NC-SI Data (Data1, Data2,..., DataN) and the check bit corresponding to each byte of data to the PCIE network card 200 in units of bytes. Par(Par1, Par2,…,ParN).

In one implementation method, the NC-SI sideband communication data message is an Ethernet message, and the data format is as shown in Figure 10. The format description of the Ethernet message data is shown in Table 4.

Table 4 NC-SI sideband communication data message description

It can be understood that after the PCIE network card 200 receives the I3C data, it obtains the Ethernet message, parses the Ethernet message to obtain the DMAC address, and transparently transmits the Ethernet message to the external network device based on the DMAC address.

In this embodiment, compared with the existing technology, additional connectors and cables are made between the device management unit and the PCIE network card, and the private connector signal definition does not support third-party device compatibility. This solution extends the I3C specification and uses the reserved extended command code definition of the I3C direct public command code to send NC-SI data messages from the device management unit to the PCIE network card, realizing NC-SI data between the device management unit and the PCIE network card. Sideband communication of messages. It reduces the cost of NC-SI sideband communication between the PCIE network card and the device management unit, and improves the compatibility of the PCIE network card.

In an implementable manner, the PCIE network card 200 can use the in-band interrupt mechanism of the I3C protocol to send a data message to the device management unit 120. The data message is received by the PCIE network card 200 from the external network and forwarded to the device management unit 120. data message. The specific implementation is to extend the I3C specification and use the Mandatory Data Byte (MDB) of the I3C protocol to reserve an extended interrupt group identifier (3'b000) and a reserved specific interrupt identifier value (5'h00– 5'h1F) to define the PCIE network card 200 to send the data message NC-SI Data to the device management unit 120, in which the format of the mandatory data byte (Mandatory Data Byte, MDB) of the I3C protocol is as shown in Figure 11.

The device management unit 120 uses the I3C interrupt mechanism to receive the NC-SI sideband communication data message command frame format from the PCIE network card as shown in Figure 12. The description of each field in this frame format is shown in Table 5. It can be understood that the frame format may be a set of command timings for communication between the device management unit 120 and the PCIE network card 200 .

Table 5 I3C interrupt operation frame format description

Based on the frame format of in-band interrupt communication as shown in Figure 12, this embodiment provides a method for a PCIE network card to send a data message to the device management unit. The method flow is shown in Figure 13.

S401: The device management unit 120 responds to the interrupt request of the PCIE network card 200 and sends the start signal S.

The I3C protocol supports in-band interrupts. When the bus is idle, the slave device is allowed to initiate an interrupt request and actively transmit data to the slave device.

It can be understood that when the device management unit 120 communicates with the PCIE network card 200 based on the I3C protocol, the device management unit 120 acts as a master device on the I3C bus, and the PCIE network card 200 acts as a slave device on the I3C bus. After the PCIE network card 200 receives the message data from the external network, it actively sends an interrupt request to the master device to transmit the message data.

S402: The PCIE network card 200 sends the PCIE network card 200 address and the read signal R to the device management unit 120. PCIE network card 200 sends its own address (7bit) and Read operation (1’b1). Wait for the ACK signal from the device management unit 120.

S403: The device management unit 120 responds to the PCIE network card 200 with the acknowledgment signal ACK. When confirming receipt of the device address of the PCIE network card 200, the device management unit 120 can automatically reply an ACK signal to the PCIE network card 200.

S404: The PCIE network card 200 sends the mandatory data byte value indicating the transmission data message and the check bit of the mandatory data byte value to the device management unit 120.

In an implementable manner, the mandatory data byte value is used to define the command code for transmitting the NC-SI data message. In this embodiment, taking the interrupt group identifier 3’b000 and the interrupt number 5’h01 as an example, the forced data byte is set to 0x01. Indicates that the current interruption is that the PCIE network card 200 forwards Ethernet packets received from the external network.

It can be understood that those skilled in the art can use the extended interrupt group identifier (3'b000) and the reserved specific interrupt identifier (5'h00–5'h1F) of the mandatory data byte reservation in the I3C protocol based on the definition requirements. Other values are used to define that the PCIE network card 200 sends the data message NC-SI Data to the device management unit 120. This application does not limit the value of the mandatory data byte reservation extension.

S405: The PCIE network card 200 sends the external data message Data and the conversion bit T to the device management unit 120.

In one implementation method, the NC-SI sideband communication data message is an Ethernet message, and the data format is as shown in Figure 10.

In an implementable manner, the PCIE network card 200 sends the data message NC-SI Data (Data1, Data2,..., DataN) and the check bit corresponding to each byte of data to the device management unit 120 in units of bytes. T(T1, T2,…,TN).

S406: The device management unit 120 sends an end signal to the PCIE network card 200. The device management unit 120 initiates STOP to end the current reception operation of external Ethernet message data.

It should be understood that "one embodiment", "an embodiment" and "an implementation" mentioned in the embodiments of this application mean that specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiment or implementation are included in the embodiments of this application. In at least one embodiment. Therefore, “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” and “an implementation” appearing in various places throughout this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

The above are only examples of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the principles of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

A computing device, characterized in that the computing device includes a device management unit and a PCIE device; the device management unit includes an I3C interface; the PCIE device includes an I3C interface, and the device management unit communicates with the PCIE device through the The above I3C interface connection;

The device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface;

Wherein, the NC-SI sideband communication data includes data messages and/or control messages, wherein the data messages are used for the device management unit to communicate with the external network, and the control messages are used for the The device management unit manages the PCIE device.
The computing device according to claim 1, wherein the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface, including:

The device management unit and the PCIE device transmit the NC-SI sideband communication data based on the I3C protocol through the I3C interface.
The computing device according to claim 2, wherein the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data based on the I3C protocol through the I3C interface, including: the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data based on the I3C protocol. The PCIE device transmits the NC-SI sideband communication data based on the direct public command code command of the I3C protocol; wherein the direct public command code is used to instruct the device management unit to communicate with the designated PCIE device.
The computing device according to claim 3, wherein the direct common command code command includes direct writing and direct reading; the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit direct common command code commands based on the I3C protocol. NC-SI sideband communication data, including:

The device management unit and the PCIE device transmit the control message based on the directly written frame format and the directly read frame format.
The computing device according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the direct common command code command includes direct writing; the device management unit transmits NC-SI with the PCIE device based on the direct command code command of the I3C protocol. Sideband communication data includes: the device management unit sending the data message to the PCIE device based on the directly written frame format; the PCIE device receiving the data message from the device management unit .
The computing device according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the directly written frame format and the directly read frame format include: a customized frame format sent by the device management unit to the PCIE device. Direct public command code;

Wherein, the self-defined direct public command code is used to instruct transmission of the control message or the data message; the self-defined direct public command code is based on the reserved extension of the direct public command code in the I3C protocol. The command code is confirmed.
The computing device of claim 6, wherein the customized direct common command code used to instruct transmission of the control message is different from the customized direct common command code used to instruct transmission of the data message. The public command codes are different.
The computing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the device management unit and the PCIE device transmit NC-SI sideband communication data through the I3C interface, including:

The PCIE device sends the data message to the device management unit through the I3C interface and based on the I3C protocol in-band interrupt mechanism;

The device management unit receives the data message.
The computing device according to claim 8, characterized in that, before the PCIE device sends the data message to the device management unit through the I3C interface based on the I3C protocol in-band interrupt mechanism, it includes:

The PCIE device sends a customized mandatory data byte value to the device management unit;

Wherein, the self-defined mandatory data byte value is used to instruct the PCIE device to transmit the data message to the device management unit; the self-defined mandatory data byte value is based on the mandatory data byte in the I3C protocol. The reserved extension value is determined;

The device management unit receives the customized mandatory data byte value from the PCIE device.
The computing device according to any one of claims 4 to 9, characterized in that the control message includes a command message and a response message; the device management unit and the PCIE device are based on the direct writing. The frame format and the directly read frame format for transmitting the control message include:

The device management unit sends the command message to the PCIE device based on the data field of the directly written frame format; the command message is used to manage the PCIE device;

The PCIE device receives the command message from the device management unit;

The PCIE device sends the response message to the device management unit based on the data field of the directly read frame format;

The device management unit receives the response message from the PCIE device; the response message is used to indicate the management result.
The computing device according to any one of claims 1-10, characterized in that the device management unit is a device manager.
The computing device according to any one of claims 1-11, characterized in that the PCIE device is a PCIE network card.