Image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application disclose a kind of image processing equipment based on PCIe non-transparent bridge.The equipment includes: control board card, PCIe exchange board card and image service processing board card;Wherein, the control board card is configured to access PCIe exchange board card by PCIe non-transparent bridge port, and the PCIe RC port of the image service processing board card hung under PCIe exchange board card is connected in communication;The control board card is configured to traverse the communication address routing table for installing image service processing board card slot and issue to image service processing board card, to communicate between board card by table lookup.Adopting the scheme of the present application, video service processing board card accessed to PCIe exchange board card no longer must select to use the processing unit chip supporting PCIe EP mode, to realize that video service board card accessed to exchange board card does not limit the PCIe interface mode supported by processor.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of image processing technology, and in particular to an image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge. Background Technology

[0002] In video processing equipment solutions, PCIe communication is a commonly used communication method. This approach can effectively improve the communication bandwidth between nodes and also facilitates cascading expansion. A typical PCIe communication architecture has one RC port, one NT port, and multiple EP ports. However, this approach restricts the video service processing board to use processing unit chips that support EP mode; otherwise, such chips cannot be used, increasing the limitations on the processing chip selection. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This invention provides an image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge, which enables all cards (including control cards and video service processing cards) connected to the PCIe switching board to not restrict the PCIe interface modes supported by the processor.

[0004] This invention provides an image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge, comprising: a control board, a PCIe switching board, and an image service processing board; wherein,

[0005] The control board is configured to connect to the PCIe switching board via a PCIe non-transparent bridge port and communicate with the PCIe switching board via the PCIe RC port of the control board.

[0006] The image service processing board is configured to connect to the PCIe switching board through the PCIe non-transparent bridge port, and communicate with the PCIe switching board through the PCIe RC port of the image service processing board.

[0007] The control board is configured to traverse the slots used to install the image service processing board to obtain a communication address routing table and send it to the image service processing board so that the boards can communicate with each other by looking up the table.

[0008] This invention provides an image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge. The device includes a control board, a PCIe switching board, and an image service processing board. The control board communicates with the PCIe RC port of the connected image service processing board via a PCIe non-transparent bridge port supported by the PCIe switching board. The control board is configured to traverse the slots used to install the image service processing board to obtain a communication address routing table and distribute it to the image service processing board, enabling communication between the boards through table lookup. Using this solution, the video service processing board is no longer limited to using a processing unit chip supporting EP mode, thus allowing the board connected to the PCIe switching board to be unrestricted by the PCIe interface mode supported by the processor.

[0009] The above description of the invention is merely an overview of the technical solution of the present invention. In order to better understand the technical means of the present invention and to implement it in accordance with the contents of the specification, and to make the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention more apparent and understandable, specific embodiments of the present invention are described below. Attached Figure Description

[0010] Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the invention. Furthermore, the same reference numerals denote the same parts throughout the drawings. In the drawings:

[0011] Figure 1 This is a structural block diagram of an image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0012] Figure 2 This is a simplified schematic block diagram of an overall framework provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0013] Figure 3 This is a detailed architecture block diagram of a control host provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0014] Figure 4 This is a detailed architecture block diagram of an equipment cabinet solution provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0015] Figure 5 This is a detailed architecture block diagram of another equipment cabinet solution provided in this embodiment of the invention;

[0016] Figure 6 This is a simplified flowchart of system service initialization provided in an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0017] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and not intended to limit it. Furthermore, it should be noted that, for ease of description, the accompanying drawings show only the parts relevant to the present invention, and not all of the structures.

[0018] Before discussing the exemplary embodiments in more detail, it should be noted that some exemplary embodiments are described as processes or methods depicted as flowcharts. Although the flowcharts describe the operations (or steps) as sequential processes, many of these operations can be performed in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. Furthermore, the order of the operations can be rearranged. The process can be terminated when its operation is completed, but it may also have additional steps not included in the figures. The process may correspond to a method, function, procedure, subroutine, subroutine, etc.

[0019] Figure 1 This is a structural block diagram of an image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge, provided in an embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is applicable to image processing scenarios based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge. Figure 1 As shown, the image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge in this embodiment may include: a control board 110, a PCIe switching board (the switching board includes at least one of a master switching board, a slave switching board, and an expansion cascade board) 120, and an image service processing board 130; wherein,

[0020] The control board 110 is configured to communicate with the PCIe RC port of the connected image service processing board 130 through the PCIe non-transparent bridge port supported by the PCIe switching board 120.

[0021] The control board is configured to connect to the PCIe switching board via a PCIe non-transparent bridge port and communicate with the PCIe switching board through the PCIe RC port of the control board; the image service processing board is configured to connect to the PCIe switching board via a PCIe non-transparent bridge port and communicate with the PCIe switching board through the PCIe RC port of the image service processing board.

[0022] The control board 110 is configured to traverse the slots used to install the image service processing board to obtain a communication address routing table and send it to the image service processing board so that the boards can communicate with each other by looking up the table.

[0023] Among them, the control board 110 can refer to a PCIe communication address lookup table that is used to traverse and search all slots and form a PCIe communication address lookup table, and then distribute it to all slot image service processing cards. Communication between the control board and the image service processing card, and between the image service processing cards, is carried out through the lookup table.

[0024] PCIe switching board 120 can refer to a collective term for master switching board, slave switching board, and expansion cascade board, including at least one of the three. The PCIe non-transparent bridge supported by the PCIe switching board can refer to an embedded intelligent I / O board that connects two independent processor domains. The resources and addresses on the slave device side are invisible to the master system on the master device side. This allows the local processor on the slave device side to independently configure and control its subsystem. The addresses on the slave device side and the master device side are completely independent.

[0025] The image service processing board 130 can refer to a board used to process image signals input through the image service signal input interface, for example, by communicating with the PCIe RC port of the connected image service processing board through a PCIe non-transparent bridge port supported by a PCIe switching board. The image service processing board at least supports PCIe RC mode.

[0026] This invention provides an image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge. The control board 110 communicates with the PCIe RC port of the connected image service processing board 130 via a PCIe non-transparent bridge port supported by the PCIe switching board 120. A communication address routing table is obtained by traversing the slots used to install the image service processing board and distributed to the board, enabling communication between boards via table lookup. A full NT port PCIe communication architecture is adopted to achieve communication between all RC ports, ensuring good compatibility with processors of different PCIe interface specifications.

[0027] In conventional PCIe communication architectures used in video splicing processor devices, the device has one main control board connected to a PCIe switch via an RC port, and multiple PCIe service cards connected to the PCIe switch via EP ports. The main control board performs PCIe enumeration and service configuration for all service cards. In a conventional PCIe architecture, the service card processor or FPGA must support PCIe EP mode, the main control board is fixed in location within the control host, and there is only one main control board, resulting in poor operational stability.

[0028] In cascaded PCIe switch systems, each PCIe subsystem operates independently, exchanging data between subsystems via the PCIe switch. Multiple PCIe switches can be backed up. Each PCIe subsystem includes a main control board, switching boards, and service boards. The service card processing unit must support EP mode, making the control system complex and cumbersome to operate. For users, multiple control systems need to be operated separately.

[0029] In the field of display control, conventional PCIe switching solutions restrict the service card processing unit to support EP mode. Generally, CPUs support RC and EP modes, or only RC mode, resulting in poor processor compatibility. Furthermore, conventional PCIe switching solutions rely on a single main control board, leading to poor stability. Some solutions have two main control boards, but these must be inserted in fixed positions, resulting in inflexible networking. Therefore, this application provides an image processing device based on a non-transparent PCIe bridge.

[0030] In one optional embodiment, this implementation can be combined with various optional embodiments described above. This embodiment adopts an all-NT port PCIe switching architecture, such as... Figure 2 The overall framework is briefly illustrated in the block diagram. The host unit includes main control boards, switching boards, service boards, and expansion boards; the equipment cabinet includes main control boards, switching boards, and service boards. The overall framework of the all-NT port PCIe switching architecture can be summarized as follows:

[0031] A1. Each device connected to the PCIe switch supports RC mode, which has good compatibility with the processor of the service board and is compatible with all processors that support the PCIe RC interface.

[0032] A2. When multiple equipment cabinets are stacked and expanded, a single control system is presented to the user, making it convenient to use;

[0033] A3. Supports multiple main control boards, which can be connected to both the host and the equipment rack.

[0034] A4. Each equipment cabinet chassis supports at least one main control board. When multiple equipment cabinet chassis are stacked, only one main control board is the primary main control board, and the rest are backup main control boards. You can choose to match them according to your stability requirements.

[0035] A5. A single equipment cabinet chassis supports ≥10 service boards;

[0036] A6. Supports expansion cascading of 1 host + 5 device cabinets.

[0037] This invention provides an image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge. By adopting a full NT port PCIe switching architecture, it achieves full RC port communication and good compatibility with processors of different PCIe interface specifications. It also supports chassis expansion and stacking of multiple equipment racks, providing users with a more convenient control system.

[0038] In one optional embodiment, this implementation can be combined with various optional embodiments described above. In one optional embodiment, the control host supports two main control boards, such as... Figure 3 The detailed architecture diagram of the control host is shown below.

[0039] The control host supports two main control boards, but only one main control board is in operation. The other main control boards are used as backups. Ten image service processing boards are connected to the main switching board, and the equipment cabinets are cascaded through the expansion cascade board on the host.

[0040] Optionally, the control board includes at least one main control board. In the case of more than one main control board, a one-main-one-standby or one-main-multiple-standby mode is adopted, so that when one main control board is in working state, the remaining main control boards are in standby state.

[0041] At least one main control board of the control board is installed in at least one equipment cabinet, and each equipment cabinet is equipped with a PCIe switching board, and at least one image service processing board is connected to the PCIe switching board.

[0042] Optionally, the main control board and the main switching board, the main switching board and the image service processing board, the main switching board and the expansion cascade board, and the equipment cabinets that are cascaded through the expansion cascade board on the host use PCIe and control signals to transmit image data, and use other control buses to complete the power-on and power-off control and temperature management of the boards.

[0043] This invention provides an image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge. A single device cabinet supports up to two main control boards, and multiple chassis cascaded together support multiple main control boards, which can be located in any chassis. However, there is only one primary main control board, which improves usability while providing redundancy and stability, presenting a single device to the user.

[0044] In one optional embodiment, this implementation can be combined with various optional embodiments described above. In one optional embodiment, the equipment cabinet and the control host have the same architecture, such as... Figure 4 The detailed architecture diagram of the equipment cabinet solution is shown below.

[0045] Each equipment rack contains a PCIe switching card that supports connection to at least one expansion cascade card, and the PCIe switching cards in different equipment racks can be expanded and cascaded through the expansion cascade card.

[0046] Optionally, at least one equipment rack supports at least one expansion cascade board, the expansion cascade board supports expansion cascading of at least one equipment rack, and the expansion cascade board is connected to the PCIe switching boards of all equipment racks. The connection methods include, but are not limited to, onboard high-speed connectors, MiniSAS HD cables, and fiber optic cables.

[0047] Each equipment rack can support the configuration and installation of up to two main control boards, and at least one PCIe switching board configured in the equipment rack is connected to one or two main control boards.

[0048] When the control board includes only two main control boards, the two main control boards are set in the same equipment cabinet, and the PCIe switching board configured in the equipment cabinet is connected to the two main control boards.

[0049] When there are more than two control boards, each equipment cabinet is equipped with two main control boards, and the PCIe switching board in each equipment cabinet is connected to the two main control boards in the equipment cabinet.

[0050] Different equipment cabinets are distinguished by preset identification information, which includes I / O level pull-up / pull-down configuration information and the storage device type of the electrically erasable programmable read-only memory.

[0051] See Figure 4 The equipment cabinet and control host have the same architecture, supporting the connection of the main control board and 10 image service processing boards. The control host is not limited to the first location; it can also be connected to the other four locations. While the control host and equipment cabinet are identical, they are distinguished by preset information, including but not limited to IO level pull-up / pull-down and EEPROM storage device types.

[0052] This invention provides an image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge. The device cabinet and the control host have the same architecture, making expansion convenient and easy to use. Users can stack and cascade multiple chassis according to their needs, and there is only one main control board, presenting a unified control system to the user without the need to configure different chassis separately.

[0053] In one optional solution of this embodiment, such as Figure 5 Another detailed architecture diagram of the equipment cabinet solution is shown. It is only used for expansion cascading and does not support the main control board. It connects to the host through a fixed interface and connects 10 image service processing boards from the switching board.

[0054] In one optional embodiment, this implementation can be combined with various optional solutions from one or more of the above embodiments. For example... Figure 6 The simplified flowchart of system business initialization shows that it may include the following steps:

[0055] S810, the device is powered on;

[0056] S820, main control board primary / backup contention (only required when there are two or more main control boards);

[0057] S830 and the main control board poll the image service processing boards at each physical location in order to generate a PCIe communication address lookup table.

[0058] S840: The primary main control board sends the PCIe communication address lookup table to each image service processing board and the backup main control board.

[0059] The S850 main control board issues service configuration commands, and the image service processing boards in each slot look up the data to be transmitted according to the PCIe communication address lookup table.

[0060] In the case where the control board is the primary control board, the control board is used to poll the image service processing boards in each slot according to the physical location order of each slot, and generate a PCIe communication address routing table.

[0061] The control board is also used to send PCIe communication address routing tables to the image service processing boards and to send service configuration commands to the image service processing boards, so that the image service processing boards in the slots can transmit data between the boards by looking up the PCIe communication address routing tables. Simultaneously, the control board is also used to send the PCIe communication address routing tables to the backup control board, so that it can flexibly take over services in the event of a failure of the primary control board.

[0062] Alternatively, in a conventional PCIe architecture, the main control board acts as the root complex, and other devices act as endpoint devices. The main control board can directly enumerate the endpoint devices one by one according to the PCIe protocol standard.

[0063] In this design, both the main control board and the image processing board communicate via a non-transparent bridge, without distinguishing between RC and EP, making it impossible to enumerate according to the conventional PCIe protocol standard. Therefore, this embodiment is designed as follows: Figure 6The initialization process shown is used to complete the construction of the PCIe communication system. The main control board traverses all slots and forms a PCIe communication address lookup table, which is then distributed to all slot image service processing boards. Subsequently, communication between the main control board and the image service processing boards, as well as between the image service processing boards themselves, can be achieved directly by looking up the table.

[0064] This invention provides a system service initialization process, which involves: powering on the device; a primary / backup contention among main control boards; the primary main control board polling the image service processing boards in each physical location sequentially to generate a PCIe communication address lookup table; the primary main control board distributing the PCIe communication address lookup table to each image service processing board and the backup main control board; and the main control board issuing service configuration commands. Each slot's image service processing board then uses the PCIe communication address lookup table to locate and transmit data. This completes the construction of the PCIe communication system, enabling direct table lookup communication between the main control board and the image service processing boards, and between image service processing boards themselves, thus achieving service communication between the boards.

[0065] In the description of this specification, references to terms such as "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "example," "specific example," or "some examples," etc., indicate that a specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the illustrative expressions of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.

[0066] Note that the above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the technical principles employed. Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described herein, and various obvious changes, readjustments, and substitutions can be made without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, although the present invention has been described in detail through the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and may include many other equivalent embodiments without departing from the concept of the present invention, the scope of which is determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An image processing device based on a PCIe non-transparent bridge, characterized in that, It adopts an all-NT port PCIe switching architecture, including: control board, PCIe switching board, and image service processing board; among which, The control board is connected to the PCIe switching board through a PCIe non-transparent bridge port, and communicates with the PCIe switching board through the PCIe RC port of the control board. The image service processing board is connected to the PCIe switching board through the PCIe non-transparent bridge port, and communicates with the PCIe switching board through the PCIe RC port of the image service processing board. The control board is configured to traverse the slots used to install the image service processing board to obtain a communication address routing table and send it to the image service processing board so that the boards can communicate with each other by looking up the table. The image service processing board supports at least PCIe RC mode; In the case where the control board is the primary control board, the control board is used to poll the image service processing boards in each slot according to the physical location order of each slot, and generate a PCIe communication address routing table. The control board is also used to issue PCIe communication address routing tables to the image service processing board; and to issue service configuration instructions to the image service processing board, so that the image service processing board in the slot can transmit data between the boards by looking up the PCIe communication address routing table; The control board is also used to send the PCIe communication address routing table to the backup control board so as to take over the service when the primary control board fails.

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control board includes at least one main control board. When there is more than one main control board, a one-main-one-standby or one-main-multiple-standby mode is adopted, so that when one main control board is in working state, the remaining main control boards are in standby state.

3. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that, At least one main control board is installed in at least one equipment cabinet, and each equipment cabinet is equipped with a PCIe switching board, and at least one image service processing board is connected to the PCIe switching board.

4. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that, The PCIe switching cards configured in the equipment cabinet support connection to expansion cascade cards, and the PCIe switching cards configured in different equipment cabinets can be expanded and cascaded through the expansion cascade cards.

5. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that, There is at least one PCIe switching card configured in the equipment cabinet that is connected to one or two main control cards.

6. The device according to claim 5, characterized in that, When the control board includes multiple main control boards, a maximum of two main control boards are installed in the same equipment cabinet, and the PCIe switching board configured in the equipment cabinet is connected to the two main control boards.

7. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that, At least one equipment rack supports at least one expansion cascade board, and the expansion cascade board supports expansion cascading to at least one equipment rack. The expansion cascade board is connected to the PCIe switching boards of all equipment racks, and the connection methods include onboard high-speed connectors, MiniSAS HD cables, and fiber optic cables.

8. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that, Different equipment cabinets are distinguished by preset identification information on the main control board inside the equipment cabinet. The preset identification information includes I / O level pull-up / pull-down configuration information and the storage device type of the electrically erasable programmable read-only memory.

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