ROUTER CHIP WITH QUAD-CROSSBAR AND HYPERBAR PERSONALITIES

摘要

2073179 9110198 PCTABS00006 A router circuit (130) is made configurable as either a crossbar switch or a hyperbar switch by dividing the router chip into sections (sections A-D), where each section is associated with a group of input terminals, and wherein various grant circuits (272) within each of the sections have enable/disable input terminals (506) connected by controllable switches (400) to either enable/disable output terminals of grant circuits in an adjacent section (hyperbar personaly) or to fixed logic levels (crossbar personality). In the crossbar configuration, for each input terminal of a section, only one grant circuit (272) per channel is enabled. Each of the sections has a different set of grant circuits enabled per channel so that two sections can not access a same output terminal of the router chip. In the hyperbar configuration, the sections are made transparent, and grant circuits are enabled or disabled depending on output wire availability. Additionally, the router circuit contains novel routing address bit and protocol bit circuitry (252, 258) as well as novel diagnostic circuitry (584) for detecting broken wires (550) between router circuits.