Summary of SoC Interconnection Buses This is a summary of System-on-Chip (SoC) interconnection buses that we have found. Implementations identified as a Network-on-Chip (NoC) and 'C' language systems are also included. All are used to interconnect cores together in SoC applications. The purpose of this list is to understand: (a) what interconnection buses are available, (b) if they are open or proprietary, (c) if they are available under license agreement, (d) if any copyright, trademark and/or patent protection exists and (e) to provide hotlinks for more information. They are listed in alphabetical order by name.
In the descriptions below the term 'open' is used if the following conditions are met: (a) there is no special license agreement required to use, view or purchase the specification (other than a simple 'click-through' license or some public license such as the General Public License (GPL)), (b) the specification is not controlled by a single individual, organization or company and (c) it's either in the public domain -or- modifications to the specification are controlled by a public standards organization (such as ANSI, IEC or the IEEE). If these requirements are not met, then it is listed as 'proprietary'.
Additional information about SoC patents can be found at: www.silicore.net/wishpats.htm.
Submissions to this list are encouraged. If you know of additional SoC interconnection buses, please send any information to: wadep@silicore.net.
AMBA®Bus Name: Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA)
Controlled by: ARM Limited - Cambridge (GB)
IP Status: Proprietary. Specification is copyrighted by ARM. Available on-line under a simple 'click-through' license agreement. AMBA® is a registered trademark of ARM Limited.
Other: Includes AHB, APB and ASB sub bus structures.
Possible protection under patents: US 6,064,626; US 6,418,491; US 6,424,179 and US 6,463,488.
Hotlink: www.arm.com (search using keyword: 'AMBA')
Atlantic™Bus Name: Atlantic™
Controlled by: Altera Corporation - San Jose, CA (US)
IP Status: Proprietary. Specification is copyrighted by Altera, and made available on-line. License could not found (May 2003). Atlantic™ is a common law trademark of Altera Corporation.
Hotlink: www.altera.com (search using keyword: 'Atlantic')
Avalon™Bus Name: Avalon™
Controlled by: Altera Corporation - San Jose, CA (US)
IP Status: Proprietary. Specification is copyrighted by Altera, but made available on-line. License restricts useage to Altera devices only (checked Mar 2002). Avalon™ is a common law trademark of Altera Corporation.
Hotlink: www.altera.com (search using keyword: 'Avalon')
CHAIN [*NEW*]Bus Name: CHAIN
Controlled by: University of Manchester - Manchester (UK)
IP Status: Unknown if proprietary or open. No evidence found that 'CHAIN' is trademark protected.
Note: CHAIN is an asynchronous Network-on-Chip. Also see 'MARBLE' below.
Hotlink: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/apt/mainpage.html (look under 'APT Projects' and search for 'CHAIN')
CoreConnect™Bus Name: CoreConnect™
Controlled by: IBM - Armonk, NY (US)
IP Status: Proprietary. Specification is copyrighted by IBM. Available on a no-fee / no-royalty basis. Requires that prospective users obtain a license from IBM (terms unknown). CoreConnect™ is a common law trademark of IBM.
Other: Includes PLB, OPB and DCR sub bus structures.
Possible protection under patents: US 6,477,691 and US 6,513,089
Hotlink: www.ibm.com (search using keyword: 'CoreConnect')
CoreFrame®Bus Name: CoreFrame®
Controlled by: Palmchip Corporation - San Jose, CA (US)
IP Status: Proprietary. Specification is available under license agreement (terms unknown). CoreFrame® is a registered trademark of Palmchip Corporation.
Other: Palmchip has a common law trademark on PalmSocket™, which is another hardware core technology. No other information found on PalmSocket.
Possible protection under patents: US 5,978,954 and US 6,601,126
Hotlink: www.palmchip.com (click on 'CoreFrame')
FISPbusBus Name: FISPbus
Controlled by: Mentor Graphics - Wilsonville, OR (US)
IP Status: Proprietary. Specification could not be found on web site. No evidence found that 'FISPbus' is trademark protected.
Hotlink: www.mentorg.com (search using keyword: 'FISPbus')
IPBus™Bus Name: IPBus™ (IDT Peripheral Bus)
Controlled by: Integrated Device Technology (IDT) - Santa Clara, CA (US)
IP Status: Proprietary. License not available. IPBus™ is a common law trademark of Integrated Device Technology.
White paper from IDT: idtipbus.pdf (Adobe Acrobat® 4.0 file, 55 Kb)
Hotlink: www.idt.com (search using keyword: 'IPBus')
IP InterfaceBus Name: IP Interface
Controlled by: Motorola, Inc. - Schaumburg, IL (US)
IP Status: Proprietary. Evaluation copies of the IP Interface specification appear to be available on the Motorola web site. However, the researcher was unable to view because of restrictions in their license agreement. Searching the Motorola web site using 'SRS' (Semiconductor Reuse Standards) brought up related information. No evidence found that 'IP Interface' is trademark protected.
Hotlink: www.motorola.com (search using keywords: 'IP Interface' or 'SRS')
MARBLEBus Name: MARBLE (Manchester Asynchronous Bus for Low Energy)
Controlled by: University of Manchester - Manchester (UK)
IP Status: Unknown if proprietary or open. No evidence found that 'MARBLE' is trademark protected.
Note: MARBLE is an asynchronous bus. Also see 'CHAIN' above.
Hotlink: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/apt/mainpage.html (look under 'APT Projects' and search for 'MARBLE')
OCP-IP®Bus Name: OCP (Open Core Protocol)
Controlled by: OCP-IP - Portland, OR (US)
IP Status: Proprietary. Evaluation copies of the OCP specification appear to be available on the OCP-IP web page. However, the researcher was unable to view because of restrictions in their license agreement (May 2003). OCP-IP® is a registered trademark of OCP-IP Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation of California.
Possible protection under patent: Appears to use technology provided under license from Sonics, Inc. The licensing relationship between OCP-IP and Sonics, Inc. is unknown, and could be covered by patents assigned to Sonics, Inc. (see the 'SiliconBackplane' entry below for a list of patents).
Hotlink: www.ocpip.org
PI-BusBus Name: PI-Bus (Peripheral Interconnect Bus)
Controlled by: Open Microprocessor Systems Initiative (OMI)
IP Status: Unclear if it's open or proprietary, or licensing requirements. There is a lot of information on their website.
Hotlink: www.sussex.ac.uk/engg/research_groups/vlsi/projects/pibus/
SiliconBackplane™Bus Name: SiliconBackplane Network
Controlled by: Sonics, Inc. - Mountain View, CA (US)
IP Status: Proprietary, available under license agreement. SiliconBackplane™ is a common law trademark of Sonics, Inc.
Possible protection under patents: US 5,948,089; US 6,182,183 and US 6,330,225
Note: SiliconBackplane technology appears to be licensed to OCP-IP (see entry above).
Hotlink: www.sonicsinc.com
SystemC® [*NEW*]Bus Name: SystemC
Controlled by: LRM (Language Resource Manual) is under development. See their web site for more details.
IP Status: Looks to be pretty open, but not enough information to determine status (May 2003). SystemC® is a registered trademark of Synopsys, Inc.
Possible protection under patents: US 6,513,145 and US 6,467,075.
Note: SystemC is not a bus. It is a method where the 'C' programming language is used to construct SoC components and systems.
Hotlink: www.systemc.org
VSIA On-Chip BusBus Name: VSIA On-Chip Bus
Controlled by: VSIA (Virtual Socket Interface Alliance)
IP Status: Proprietary. Specification only available to VSIA members under a license agreement.
Hotlink: www.vsia.com
WISHBONEBus Name: WISHBONE
Controlled by: Standards document is in the public domain. Specification was originally created by Silicore Corporation, but was transferred to OpenCores.
IP status: Open standard. Specification and related documentation is available free on-line with no restrictions. 'WISHBONE' is not trademarked, and is in the public domain.
Hotlink: www.opencores.org
Hotlink: www.silicore.net/wishbone.htm
Altera® is a registered trademark of Altera Corporation.
ARM® is a registered trademark of ARM Limited.
Sonics™ is a common law trademark of Sonics, Inc.
VSI Alliance™ is a common law trademark of the Virtual Socket Alliance, Inc.
Silicore® is a registered trademark of Silicore Corporation.
Synopsys® is a registered trademark of Synopsys, Inc.This page last updated: 24 Sep 2003
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