Intel Corporation

Juniper Networks, Inc.

Netscreen Technologies, Inc.

Feng Deng

Yan Ke

Dongping Luo

James P Kardach

Sung-Soo Cho

Diane M Bryant

Pranav S Shah

A gateway for screening packets transferred over a network. The gateway includes a plurality of network interfaces, a memory and a memory controller. Each network interface receives and forwards messages from a network through the gateway. The memory temporarily stores packets received from a network. The memory controller couples each of the network interfaces and is configured to coordinate the transfer of received packets to and from the memory using a memory bus. The gateway includes a firewall engine couples to the memory bus. The firewall engine is operable to retrieve packets from the memory and screen each packet prior to forwarding a given packet through the gateway and out an appropriate network interface. A local bus is coupled between the firewall engine and the memory providing a second path for retrieving packets from memory when the memory bus is busy.

Firewall including local bus

A gateway for screening packets transferred over a network. The gateway includes a plurality of network interfaces, a memory and a memory controller. Each network interface receives and forwards messages from a network through the gateway. The memory temporarily stores packets received from a network. The memory controller couples each of the network interfaces and is configured to coordinate the transfer of received packets to and from the memory using a memory bus. The gateway includes a firewall engine coupled to the memory bus. The firewall engine is operable to retrieve packets from the memory and screen each packet prior to forwarding a given packet through the gateway and out an appropriate network interface. A local bus is coupled between the firewall engine and the memory providing a second path for retrieving packets from memory when the memory bus is busy.

A gateway for screening packets transferred over a network. The gateway includes a plurality of network interfaces, a memory and a memory controller. Each network interface receives and forwards messages from a network through the gateway. The memory temporarily stores packets received from a network. The memory controller couples each of the network interfaces and is configured to coordinate the transfer of received packets to and from the memory using a memory bus. The gateway includes a firewall engine coupled to the memory bus. The firewall engine is operable to retrieve packets from the memory and screen each packet prior to forwarding a given packet through the gateway and out an appropriate network interface. A local bus is coupled between the firewall engine and the memory providing a second path for retrieving packets from memory when the memory bus is busy. An expandable external rule memory is coupled to the local bus and includes one or more rule sets accessible by the firewall engine using the local bus. The firewall engine is operable to retrieve rules from a rule set and screen packets in accordance with the retrieved rules.

A bridge for communicating between a first and a second bus includes a first interface unit, a second interface unit and a buffer unit. The first interface unit is adapted to be coupled to the first bus. The second interface unit is adapted to be coupled to the second bus. The buffer unit is coupled to the first and second interface units. The buffer unit is adapted to receive a posted transaction from one of the first and second interface units. The buffer unit includes a posting buffer and a discard timer. The posting buffer is adapted to store the posted transaction. The discard timer is adapted to generate a discard timer expired signal after a predetermined time interval that the posted transaction has resided in the posting buffer. A method for exiting from a potential deadlock situation includes posting a transaction, tracking the length of time the transaction has been posted, and discarding the transaction after a predetermined time interval that the transaction has been posted.

Method and apparatus for exiting a deadlock condition

A shared cache in a computer system for caching both system memory information and alternative memory information. The present invention includes cache management logic, a cache memory with a plurality of cache lines and a and a cache tag memory. The cache tag memory comprises an address field and status bits for indicating a status of corresponding information in cache memory. The status bits, when interpreted as a group, indicate the status of the corresponding information in cache memory as well as whether the information in the corresponding cache line is related to the alternative memory or the system memory.

Method and apparatus for distinguishing system memory data from

Prior art quiet docking and undocking methods used an interface that was located within the notebook computer, thus adding to the complexity, weight, and power consumption of the notebook computer. The present invention provides for a method for quiet docking and undocking of a notebook computer using interface circuitry located within the docking station. Moreover, the method of the present invention provides for docking and undocking whether the notebook computer is in a powered-on or suspend mode. The notebook computer is docked and undocked to the docking station such that any transaction occurring on the system bus during the docking/undocking sequence is not affected.

Method and apparatus for docking and undocking a notebook computer to

Prior art quiet docking and undocking methods used an interface that was located within the notebook computer, thus adding to the cost, complexity, weight, and power consumption of the notebook computer. The present invention provides for an apparatus for quiet docking of a notebook computer to a docking station, including interface circuitry located within the docking station. The interface detects when the notebook computer has been inserted within the docking station, and correspondingly enables a switch such that a common system bus is coupled between the notebook computer and the docking station. The interface also generates events to allow a software routine to configure the notebook computer and docking station without prior user intervention. The interface also includes circuitry to detect an undock request, and correspondingly undock the computer such that a transaction occurring on the system bus is not affected.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Feng Deng