Chelsio Communications, Inc.

Silicon Graphics International Corporation

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP

Silicon Graphics, Incorporated

Mark D Stadler

Steven C Miller

David A Kruckemyer

Randal G Martin

Asgeir Thor Eiriksson

Kianoosh Naghshineh

A multiple channel data transfer system () includes a source () that generates data packets with sequence numbers for transfer over multiple request channels (). Data packets are transferred over the multiple request channels () through a network () to a destination (). The destination () re-orders the data packets received over the multiple request channels () into a proper sequence in response to the sequence numbers to facilitate data processing. The destination () provides appropriate reply packets to the source () over multiple response channels () to control the flow of data packets from the source ().

System and method for ordering of data transferred over multiple channels

A network interface controller includes a plurality of scatter gather circuits (-) connectable to a host via a bus (). A packet buffer () is configured for communication with the scatter gather circuits (-). A plurality of access circuits (-) are configured to access external network connections. An optional forwarding engine () is selectable to generate routing information corresponding to data received via the access circuits (-) and to provide the routing information to the packet buffer ().

Configurable switching network interface controller using forwarding engine

Multi-purpose switching network interface controller

A plurality of direct memory access data transfers are accomplished to transfer data from a host to an adaptor. For each transfer, an indication of locations of at least one group of storage locations associated with the host available to hold the data to be transferred to the host is provided from the host to the adaptor. An indication of the provided indication is maintained, for that transfer, by the host. Based on the indication of locations provided from the host to the adaptor, data is transferred to the at least one group of storage locations from the adaptor. An indication is provided from the adaptor to the host that the data transferring step has been completed with respect to the at least one group of storage locations. The host determines the locations corresponding to the at least one group of storage locations based on the indications maintained by the host and retrieving the data from the at least one group of storage locations based on the determination. A similar method is provided to transfer data from the adaptor to the host. Broadly speaking, the host and adaptor retain state information between DMA data transfers. As a result, absolute values of overhead items need not be transferred between the host CPU and the I/O device for each DMA data transfer, and the amount of overhead is reduced.

Reduced-overhead DMA

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Mark D Stadler