At&t Intellectual Property I, L.p.

At+t Corp.

At&t Investments UK LLC

At&t Laboratories, Limited

Glenford Ezra Mapp

Steven Leslie Pope

Derek Edward Roberts

Stephen John Hodges

Alexander Gibson Fraser

Data transfer, synchronizing applications, and low latency networks are disclosed. An example method includes maintaining a first buffer in a first computing device, the first buffer to receive discrete units of data from a second computing device; maintaining a second buffer in the first computing device, the second buffer to store size data identifying a size of respective ones of the discrete units of data received from the second computing device; and reading from the first buffer according to a first value of a first pointer and a corresponding one of the sizes stored in the second buffer.

Data transfer, synchronising applications, and low latency networks

Data transfer, synchronizing applications, and low latency networks are disclosed. An example method includes comparing a first address of a first data item of a first data burst to a second address of a last data item of a second data burst received before the first data burst; and, when the first address sequentially follows the second address, combining the first and second data bursts to form a third data burst.

Asynchronous network interface and method of synchronisation between two applications on different computers is provided. The network interface contains snooping hardware which can be programmed to contain triggering values comprising either addresses, address ranges or other data which are to be matched. These data are termed 'trip wires'. Once programmed, the interface monitors the data stream, including address data, passing through the interface for addresses and data which match the trip wires which have been set. On a match, the snooping hardware can generate interrupts, increment event counters, or perform some other application-specified action. The invention thus provides in-band synchronisation by using synchronisation primitives which are programmable by user level applications, while still delivering high bandwidth and low latency. The programming of the synchronisation primitives can be made by the sending and receiving applications independently of each other and no synchronisation information is required to traverse the network.

Asynchronous network interface and method of synchronisation between two applications on different computers is provided. The network interface contains snooping hardware which can be programmed to contain triggering values comprising either addresses, address ranges or other data which are to be matched. These data are termed 'trip wires'. Once programmed, the interface monitors the data stream, including address data, passing through the interface for addresses and data which match the trip wires which have been set. On a match, the snooping hardware can generate interrupts, increment event counters, or perform some other application-specified action. This snooping hardware is preferably based upon Content-Addressable Memory. The invention thus provides in-band synchronisation by using synchronisation primitives which are programmable by user level applications, while still delivering high bandwidth and low latency. The programming of the synchronisation primitives can be made by the sending and receiving applications independently of each other and no synchronisation information is required to traverse the network.

Asynchronous network interface and method of synchronization between two applications on different computers is provided. The network interface contains snooping hardware which can be programmed to contain triggering values comprising either addresses, address ranges or other data which are to be matched. These data are termed 'trip wires'. Once programmed, the interface monitors the data stream, including address data, passing through the interface for addresses and data which match the trip wires which have been set. On a match, the snooping hardware can generate interrupts, increment event counters, or perform some other application-specified action. This snooping hardware is preferably based upon Content-Addressable Memory. The invention thus provides in-band synchronization by using synchronization primitives which are programmable by user level applications, while still delivering high bandwidth and low latency. The programming of the synchronization primitives can be made by the sending and receiving applications independently of each other and no synchronization information is required to traverse the network.

A flow in a network is identified and handled by using a virtual host address. A packet is received at a switch with a first virtual host address as its destination address. If the packet is the first packet of a flow received by the switch, then a second virtual host address is determined by the switch. The first virtual host address is stored in a packet forwarding table correlated with the second virtual host address. A subsequently received packet of the same flow has the same first virtual host address as its destination address, and is forwarded to the second virtual host address in accordance with the packet forwarding table.

System and method for handling flows in a network

A system and method for networking. A globally valid address in a Wide Area Network includes device identification information and device location information, wherein the device identification information is distinct from the device location information. This facilitates providing network services for mobile devices. Device identification information includes a persistent, globally unique identity for devices that can be coupled to the network, and for each communication endpoint adapted to be coupled to the Wide Area Network. Network addresses are portable, allowing a network services customer to easily change its network service provider, and supporting hosts that have more than one network interface. Inline agents provide network services efficiently and transparently to users. The present invention provides a definition of network service that scales well and is capable of exploiting opportunities that will be presented by new network technologies.

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Cambridge, United Kingdom

Glenford Ezra Mapp