Advanced Micro Devices Corporation

Nvidia Corporation

Mrudula Kanuri

Michael Ward Johnson

Chandan Egbert

John Shigeto Minami

Gopal S Krishna

Somnath Viswanath

Andrew Currid

Bahadir Erimli

Peter Ka-Fai Chow

Shr-Jie Tzeng

Xiaohua Zhuang

Sreenivas Krishnan

Balajee Vamanan

Aditya Mittal

Tukaram Shankar Methar

Thien E Ooi

Venkata Malladi

Robia Y Uyeshiro

A storage controller which uses the same buffer to store data elements retrieved from different secondary storage units. In an embodiment, the controller retrieves location descriptors ahead of when data is available for storing in a target memory. Each location descriptor indicates the memory locations at which data received from a secondary storage is to be stored. Only a subset of the location descriptors may be retrieved and stored ahead when processing each request. Due to such retrieval and storing of limited number of location descriptors, the size of a buffer used by the storage controller may be reduced. Due to retrieval of the location descriptors ahead, unneeded buffering of the data elements within the storage controller is avoided, reducing the latency in writing the data into the main memory, thus improving performance.

Optimal use of buffer space by a storage controller which writes retrieved data directly to a memory

A system and method are provided for performing the retransmission of data in a network. Included is an offload engine in communication with system memory and a network. The offload engine serves for managing the retransmission of data transmitted in the network.

Retransmission system and method for a transport offload engine

A memory controller provided according to an aspect of the present invention includes a predictor block which predicts future read requests after converting the memory address in a prior read request received from the processor to an address space consistent with the implementation of a memory unit. According to another aspect of the present invention, the predicted requests are granted access to a memory unit only when there are no requests pending from processors and the peripherals sending access requests to the memory unit.

Processing of read requests in a memory controller using pre-fetch mechanism

A scheduler provided according to an aspect of the present invention provides higher priority for data units in a low priority queue upon occurrence of a starvation condition, and to packets in a high priority queue otherwise. The scheduler permits retransmission of a data unit in the lower priority queue when in the starvation condition, but clears the starvation condition when the data unit is retransmitted a pre-specified number of times. As a result, the data units in the higher priority queue would continue to be processed, thereby avoiding a deadlock at least in certain situations.

Priority based bus arbiters avoiding deadlock and starvation on buses that support retrying of transactions

A system, method, and related data structure are provided for transmitting data in a network. Included is a data object (i.e. metadata) for communicating between a first network protocol layer and a second network protocol layer. In use, the data object facilitates network communication management utilizing a transport offload engine.

System and method for using metadata in the context of a transport offload engine

A system and method are provided for processing packets received via a network. In use, data packets and control packets are received via a network. Further, the data packets are processed in parallel with the control packets.

System and method for processing RX packets in high speed network applications using an RX FIFO buffer

A system and method are provided for communicating data in a network utilizing a transport offload engine. Included is a data list object that describes how data communicated in a network is to be stored (i.e. placed, etc.) in memory (i.e. application memory). Stored in association (i.e. located, kept together, etc.) with the data list object is a sequence object. Such sequence object identifies a sequence space associated with the data to be stored using the data list object. To this end, the sequence object is used by a transport offload engine to determine whether or not incoming data is to be stored using the data list object.

Sequence tagging system and method for transport offload engine data lists

A network switch includes network switch ports, each including a port filter configured for detecting user-selected attributes from a received layer 2 type data frame. Each port filter, upon detecting a user-selected attribute in a received layer 2 type data frame, sends a signal to a switching module indicating the determined presence of the user-selected attribute, enabling the switching module to generate a switching decision based on the corresponding user-selected attribute and based on a corresponding user-defined switching policy. The switching policy may specify a priority class, or a guaranteed quality of service (e.g., a guaranteed bandwidth), ensuring that the received layer 2 type data frame receives the appropriate switching support. The user-selected attributes for the port filter and the user-defined switching policy for the switching module are programmed by a host processor. Hence, the integrated network switch is able to perform advanced switching operations for layer 2 type data packets to ensure quality of service requirements, independent of priority information specified in the layer 2 type data packets, based on the user-selected attributes in the layer 2 type data packets and the user-defined switching policies established for the switching module.

Arrangement in a network switch for prioritizing data frames based on user-defined frame attributes

A communication processor comprises a data link layer parser circuit () and a plurality of network layer parser circuits (). The data link layer parser circuit () receives a data link layer frame, and removes a data link layer header therefrom to provide a network layer frame as an output. Each network layer parser circuit corresponds to a different network layer protocol, and is selectively activated to receive the network layer frame and to process a network layer header therefrom to provide a transport layer frame as an output. The data link layer parser circuit () further examines a portion of the network layer frame to determine which of the plurality of network protocols is used. The data link layer parser circuit () activates a corresponding one of the plurality of network layer parser circuits () in response, while keeping another one of the plurality of network layer parser circuits () inactive.

Data communication system with hardware protocol parser and method therefor

An Internet small computer system interface (iSCSI) system, method and associated data structure are provided for receiving data in protocol data units. After a protocol data unit is received, a data list is identified that describes how the data contained in the protocol data unit is to be stored (i.e. placed, saved, etc.) in memory (i.e. application memory). Further stored is a state of the data list. To this end, the state of the data list is used in conjunction with the storage of data from a subsequent protocol data unit.

System and method for receiving iSCSI protocol data units

A network switch, configured for performing layer 2 and layer 3 switching in an Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) network without blocking of incoming data packets, includes a switching module for performing layer 2 and layer 3 switching operations, and a plurality of network switch ports, each configured for connecting the network switch to a corresponding subnetwork. The switching module includes a plurality of address tables for storing address information (e.g., layer 2 and layer 3 address and switching information), where each table is configured for storing the address information of a corresponding one of the subnetworks. The use of multiple address tables within the switching module enables the time for looking up address information to be substantially reduced, especially since the multiple address tables can be accessed independently and simultaneously by the switching module. Moreover, the identification of each table by a corresponding subnetwork identifier enables the multiple address tables to be managed efficiently, merely by obtaining the subnetwork identifier from the received layer 2 packet. Hence, layer 3 address information for a given layer 2 packet can be obtained merely by searching the selected address table using the host identifier as a search key.

Arrangement for searching network addresses in a network switch using multiple tables based on subnet identifier

A multiport switching device includes a configuration table that stores associations between addresses of subnets directly connected to the switching device and the port number of the multiport switching device that leads to the subnet. A host processor connected to the multiport switching device updates and maintains the configuration table. A remote processor communicates with the switching device through the host processor. To facilitate the communication of the remote processor with the multiport switch, the host processor executes a TCP/IP stack and the multiport switch is assigned a unique IP address.

Remote configuration of a subnet configuration table in a network device

A network switch, configured for performing layerand layerswitching in an Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) network without blocking of incoming data packets, includes a switching module for performing layerand layer(specifically Internet Protocol) switching operations, and a plurality of network switch ports, each configured for connecting the network switch to a corresponding subnetwork. The switching module includes address tables for storing address information (e.g., layerand layeraddress and switching information). The network switching module is configured for performing prescribed layerswitching that enables transfer of data packets between subnetworks, bypassing a router that normally would need to manage Internet protocol switching between subnetworks of the network. Hence, the network switch performs Internet Protocol switching for intranetwork (i.e., inter-subnetwork) traffic, improving efficiency of the router by enabling the router resources to support more subnetworks.

Layer 3 switching logic architecture in an integrated network switch

A network switch, configured for performing layerand layerswitching in an Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) network without blocking of incoming data packets, includes a network switch port having a packet classifier module configured for evaluating an incoming data packet on an instantaneous basis. The packet classifier module performs simultaneous comparisons between the incoming data stream of the data packet and multiple templates configured for identifying respective data protocols. Each template is composed of a plurality of min terms, wherein each min term specifies a prescribed comparison operation within a selected data byte of the incoming data packet. Hence, the packet classifier module is able to monitor data flows between two network nodes interacting according to a prescribed network application. The packet classifier module determines the application state for a prescribed network application from a received layerdata packet, enabling switching logic within the network switch to utilize application-specific aging intervals for respective network applications such as HTTP, SNMP, ftp, Telnet, etc. in order to delete aged address entries from a network switch address table based on the supported network application. Determination of the application state from the received layerdata packet also enables the network switch to detect the end of a data flow for deletion of the corresponding address entry from the network switch address table.

Selective address table aging in a network switch based on application state determined from a received data packet

A network switch, configured for performing layer 2 and layer 3 switching in an Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) network without blocking of incoming data packets, includes a switching module for performing layer 2 and layer 3 switching operations, and a plurality of network switch ports, each configured for connecting the network switch to a corresponding subnetwork. One of the switch ports serves as a router interface port for transferring data packets between the network switch and a router. The network switch, configured for performing learning of layer 2 addresses and layer 3 addresses of the data packets, has a learning bit for each network switch port. A host network controller disables the learning bit for the router interface port in compliance with IEEE 802.1d, preventing the switching module from performing any learning of layer 2 or layer 3 addresses for the data packets transferred between the network switch and the router on the router interface port. Hence, the network switch can perform layer 3 switching operations for connected subnetworks, enabling the router to be bypassed; moreover, the disabling of the learning bit for the router interface port ensures that the router traffic does not over overwhelm the layer 2 and layer 3 address table within the network switch.

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Mrudula Kanuri