1. An apparatus for turning steerable wheels of a vehicle in response to turning of a steering wheel of the vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
a first mechanism for connection to the steering wheel having a first member connected to a first pivot point of at least one of the steerable wheels, said first member being movable to turn the steerable wheels in response to turning of the steering wheel;
a second mechanism having a hydraulic power steering gear and a second member spaced from the first member and connected to a second pivot point of the at least one of the steerable wheels, said steering gear being free of a rotary valve responsive to a steering input generated by turning of the steering wheel, said steering gear including a first chamber for holding hydraulic fluid and a second chamber for holding hydraulic fluid, an increase in fluid pressure in one chamber acting to move the second member to turn the steerable wheels of the vehicle in one direction and an increase in fluid pressure in the other chamber acting to move the second member to turn the steerable wheels in a direction opposite the one direction; and
a variable flow mechanism for supplying a flow of hydraulic fluid to the first and second chambers of said hydraulic steering gear, that varies in dependence upon at least one sensed vehicle condition.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said variable flow mechanism is in fluid communication with said first chamber for supplying the flow of hydraulic fluid to said first chamber in response to the steerable wheels being turned in the one direction.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said variable flow mechanism comprises a pump driven by a variable speed electric motor.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said sensed vehicle condition is steering column torque.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first member and the second member extend substantially parallel to one another.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first mechanism includes a rack and pinion gear.
7. apparatus of claim 6 wherein the first member is connected to the rack and one of the steerable wheels.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second member extends through the first and second chambers of the steering gear.
9. An apparatus for turning steerable wheels of a vehicle in response to turning of a steering wheel of the vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
an electric motor controlled by an electronic control module in response to at least one sensed vehicle condition for providing steering feel to the vehicle operator;
a hydraulic steering gear, said hydraulic steering gear including a first chamber for holding hydraulic fluid and a second chamber for holding hydraulic fluid, an increase in fluid pressure in one chamber acting to turn the steerable wheels of the vehicle in one direction and an increase in fluid pressure in the other chamber acting to turn the steerable wheels in a direction opposite the one direction;
a variable flow mechanism controllable by said electronic control module for supplying a variable flow of hydraulic fluid to the first and second chambers of said hydraulic steering gear, which flow varies in dependence upon the at least one sensed vehicle condition; and
a mechanism for connection to the steering wheel having a first member connected to a first pivot point of at least one of the steerable wheels, said first member being movable to turn the steerable wheels in response to turning of the steering wheel, a second member connected to a second pivot point of the at least one of the steerable wheels, said second member being movable in response to an increase in pressure in one of the first and second chambers to turn the steerable wheels.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said sensed vehicle condition is vehicle speed.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 including a vehicle speed sensor for sensing vehicle speed and for providing a vehicle speed signal, and wherein said electronic control module controlling said variable flow mechanism to supply a first flow of hydraulic fluid to the steering gear in response to said vehicle speed sensor sensing a first vehicle speed, said electronic control module controls said variable flow device to supply a second flow of hydraulic fluid to the steering gear that is higher than said first flow in response to said vehicle speed sensor detecting a second vehicle speed that is lower than said first speed.
12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said variable flow mechanism comprises a pump, driven by a variable speed electric motor.
13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said sensed vehicle condition is steering column torque.
14. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said variable flow mechanism is in fluid communication with said first chamber for supplying the flow of hydraulic fluid to said first chamber to turn the steerable wheels in the one direction.
15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said variable flow mechanism includes two pumps and variable speed electric motors for driving said pumps, one of said pumps supplying the flow of hydraulic fluid to said first chamber, and other of said pumps supplying hydraulic fluid to said second chamber.
16. The apparatus of claim 9 further including at least one valve assembly fluidly connected to said first chamber, said second chamber, and said variable flow mechanism, said valve assembly having a first position to place said variable flow mechanism in fluid communication with said first chamber.
17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said valve assembly has a second position to place said variable flow mechanism in fluid communication with said second chamber.
18. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said second member is spaced from said first member.
19. An apparatus for turning steerable wheels of a vehicle in response to turning of a steering wheel of the vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
an electric motor controlled by an electronic control module in response to at least one sensed vehicle condition for providing steering feel to the vehicle operator;
a hydraulic steering gear, said hydraulic steering gear including a first chamber for holding hydraulic fluid and a second chamber for holding hydraulic fluid, an increase in fluid pressure in one chamber acting to turn the steerable wheels of the vehicle in one direction and an increase in fluid pressure in the other chamber acting to turn the steerable wheels in a direction opposite the one direction; and
a variable flow mechanism controllable by said electronic control module for supplying a variable flow of hydraulic fluid to the first and second chambers of said hydraulic steering gear, which flow varies in dependence upon the at least one sensed vehicle condition, said variable flow mechanism including a first pump supplying the flow of hydraulic fluid to said first chamber and a first variable speed electric motor for driving said first pump, said variable flow mechanism including a second pump supplying the flow of hydraulic fluid to said second chamber and a second variable speed electric motor for driving said second pump.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said first variable speed motor is actuated to drive said first pump to supply the flow of hydraulic fluid to the first chamber in response to the steerable wheels being turned in the one direction, said second variable speed motor being actuated to drive said second pump to supply the flow of hydraulic fluid to the second chamber in response to the steerable wheels being turned in the direction opposite the one direction.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A fabric control circuit comprising:
a register programmable with a quality of service (QoS) parameter; and
a multiplexor coupled to the register and coupled to receive a portion of a first interface on which the QoS parameter is transmitted, wherein a first transaction is transmitted on the first interface to a first port on a fabric interface circuit, and wherein an output of the multiplexor is coupled to the portion of the first port on which the QoS parameter is received by the first port, and wherein a remaining portion of the first interface except for the portion of the first interface on which the QoS parameter is transmitted is coupled directly to the first port, and wherein the fabric control circuit is configured to select, through the multiplexor, between the QoS parameter in the register and the QoS parameter received on the first portion of the first interface to transmit as the QoS parameter to the first port during a time that the remaining portion of the first transaction is being transmitted directly to the first port from a source of the first transaction.
2. The fabric control circuit as recited in claim 1 further comprising a second register programmable with a selection control, wherein an output of the second register is coupled to a select input of the multiplexor.
3. The fabric control circuit as recited in claim 1 further comprising a control unit coupled to a select input of the multiplexor and coupled to receive one or more transaction attributes from the first interface, and wherein the control unit is configured to generate a selection control on the select input responsive to the one or more transaction attributes.
4. The fabric control circuit as recited in claim 3 wherein the QoS parameter programmed in the register indicates a higher level of service than the received QoS parameter.
5. The fabric control circuit as recited in claim 4 wherein the control circuit is configured to override the received QoS parameter with the programmed QoS parameter responsive to the transaction attributes indicating a predetermined transaction type.
6. A method comprising:
issuing a first transaction from a source component, the source component transmitting a first quality of service (QoS) parameter with the first transaction;
receiving the first QoS parameter and one or more other transaction attributes of the first transaction in a fabric control circuit;
responsive to the other transaction attributes, overriding the first QoS parameter for the first transaction with a second QoS parameter programmed into the fabric control circuit; and
transmitting the second QoS parameter from the fabric control circuit to the first port on a fabric interface circuit, wherein a remaining portion of the first transaction except for a QoS parameter of the first transaction is transmitted directly from the source component to the first port, and wherein the overriding and the transmitting the second QoS parameter occur during a time that the remaining portion of the first transaction is transmitted directly from the source component to the fabric control circuit.
7. The method as recited in claim 6 wherein the second QoS parameter indicates a higher level of service than the first QoS parameter.
8. The method as recited in claim 6 wherein the second QoS parameter indicates a lower level of service than the first QoS parameter.
9. The method as recited in claim 6 further comprising:
issuing a second transaction from the source component, the source component transmitting a third quality of service (QoS) parameter with the second transaction;
receiving the third QoS parameter and one or more other transaction attributes of the second transaction; and
responsive to the other transaction attributes of the second transaction, the fabric control circuit passing the third QoS parameter through for the second transaction.
10. A method comprising:
issuing a first transaction on a first interface by a source component to a first port on a fabric interface circuit;
assigning a quality of service (QoS) parameter by a fabric control circuit coupled to the first interface, wherein the fabric control circuit assigns the QoS parameter because the source component does not transmit QoS parameters with transactions; and
transmitting the assigned QoS parameter to the first port, wherein a remaining portion of the first transaction except for a QoS parameter of the first transaction is received on the first port directly from the source component, and wherein the assigning and the transmitting occurs during a time that the remaining portion is being directly transmitted from the source component to the first port.
11. The method as recited in claim 10 further comprising programming a register in the fabric control circuit with the QoS parameter to be assigned to transactions from the source component.
12. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising programming an enable register in the fabric control circuit to enable the fabric control circuit.
13. A system comprising:
a fabric interface circuit having a first port and a second port;
a first fabric control circuit coupled to the first port and coupled to receive a first quality of service (QoS) parameter; and
a second fabric control circuit coupled to the second port and coupled to receive a second QoS parameter;
wherein each QoS parameter specifies a level of service requested by a source of a corresponding transaction, and wherein the first fabric control circuit is configured to detect that the first QoS parameter exceeds a threshold level of QoS, and wherein the first fabric control circuit is configured to signal the second fabric control in response to detecting that the first QoS parameter exceeds the threshold level, and wherein the second fabric control circuit is programmable with a plurality of limits for transactions issued on the second port, and wherein the second fabric control circuit is configured to reduce at least one limit for transactions issued on the second port responsive to the signal from the first fabric control circuit by selecting one of the plurality of limits that is different from a currently-selected limit of the plurality of limits.
14. The system as recited in claim 13 wherein the second fabric control circuit is configured to detect that the second QoS parameter exceeds the threshold level, and wherein the second fabric control circuit is configured to signal the first fabric control circuit responsive to detecting that the second QoS parameter exceeds the threshold level, and wherein the first fabric control circuit is programmable with a second plurality of limits for transactions issued on the first port, and wherein the first fabric control circuit is configured to reduce at least one limit for transactions issued on the first port responsive to the signal from the second fabric control circuit by selecting one of the second plurality of limits that is different from a second currently-selected limit of the second plurality of limits.
15. The system as recited in claim 13 further comprising a first source component coupled to the first port and a second source component coupled to the second port.
16. The system as recited in claim 13 wherein the first fabric control circuit is configured to detect that the first QoS parameter is below the threshold, and wherein the first fabric control circuit is configured to deassert the signal to the second fabric control circuit in response to detecting that the first QoS parameter is below the threshold.
17. The system as recited in claim 16 wherein the second fabric control circuit is configured to revert the at least one limit to a higher level responsive to deassertion of the signal from the first fabric control circuit by selecting the higher level from the plurality of limits.
18. A system comprising:
a fabric interface circuit having at least a first port;
a source component coupled to the first port and configured to issue transactions to the first port; and
a fabric control circuit coupled to a first portion of a first interface to the first port from the source component, the first portion corresponding to a quality of service (QoS) parameter received by the first port, and wherein the fabric control circuit is configured to select between a first QoS parameter in the fabric control circuit and a value received on the first portion of the first interface to transmit as the QoS parameter to the first port, wherein a remaining portion of the first interface except for the first portion is coupled directly from the source component to the first port and wherein the fabric control circuit is configured to select between the first QoS parameter and the value to transmit as the QoS parameter to the first port during a time that the remaining portion is transmitted directly from the source component to the first port.
19. The system as recited in claim 18 wherein the fabric control circuit is programmable with the first QoS parameter.
20. The system as recited in claim 19 wherein the fabric control circuit is further programmable with an enable that causes the selection of the first QoS parameter.
21. The system as recited in claim 19 wherein the fabric control circuit is further coupled to receive one or more transaction attributes from the source component, and wherein the fabric control circuit is configured select between the first QoS parameter and the value responsive to the one or more transaction attributes.