A communications module for a data communications system having a
plurality of data processors comprises a plurality of ports, each coupled
to a respective one of the data processors. An address table associates
addresses of a memory space to addresses of the data processors. The
memory space may include addressable FIFOs, SRAM memory and/or flag
registers. In the case of FIFOs, a counter coupled to the FIFO supplies a
flag or ready signal indicating the not-full or not-empty status of the
respective FIFO, which is supplied to a master device that is writing
data to the FIFO or that is reading data from the FIFO so that the
writing master device will write only when the FIFO is not full and the
reading master device will read only when the FIFO is not empty.