Digital Equipment Corporation

Ronald M Edgar

Satish L Rege

Ramsesh Kalkunte

A method for arbitrating conflicting requests for a memory transfer in a multiport memory system including first and second memory ports. The method includes the following steps. First, monitoring the volume of memory transfer requests from the first memory port. Second, partially disabling the second memory port if the memory request volume is greater than a first predetermined volume. And third, reenabling the second memory port when the memory request volume becomes less than a second predetermined volume. Apparatus implementing this method which includes an activity detector, coupled to the first memory port, for generating a bistate signal having a first state when the volume of memory requests by the first memory port exceeds a first predetermined volume and a second state otherwise. Circuits are provided for selectively partially disabling memory requests from the second memory port in response to the bistate signal being in the second state.

Method and apparatus for arbitrating conflicts by monitoring number of

An apparatus for memory management in network systems provides added margins of reliability for the receipt of vital maintenance operations protocol (MOP) and station management packets (SMP). In addition, additional overflow allocations of buffers are assigned for receipt of critical system packets which otherwise would typically be discarded in the event of a highly congested system. Thus, if a MOP or a SMP packet is received from the network when the allocated space for storing these types of packets in full, the packets are stored in the overflow allocations, and thus the critical packets are not lost.

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Raymond, NH, United States of America

Ronald M Edgar