Applied Micro Circuits Corporation

Qualcomm Incorporated

Thomas Wu

Michael J Moretti

Salil Suri

Scott Furey

David Geddes

Mark F Heppenstall

Micheal Moretti

A method and apparatus for bridging network protocols is disclosed. In one embodiment, a data frame is received and stored in a dual-port memory queue by hardware logic. An embedded processor is notified of the data frame once a programmable number of bytes of the data frame have been received and stored. Once notified, the embedded processor may then undertake to read the data frame from the memory queue while the hardware logic is still writing to the memory queue. In one embodiment, the processor may then translate the data frame's protocol and begin transmitting it out over a network connection, all while the data frame's payload is still being received.

Data frame processing

Methods and apparatus for bridging network protocols are disclosed. A protocol bridge may be used to function as a target for a network processor while performing a target mode operation, while functioning as an initiator on behalf of the network processor while performing an initiator mode operation. In one embodiment, the protocol bridge determines the mode of operation based on information in a received frame's header. In another embodiment, the protocol bridge couples a Fiber Channel device to a storage processor on a packet-over-SONET network.

Method for bridging network protocols

Method and apparatus for implementing a data frame processing model

Methods and apparatus for bridging network protocols are disclosed. A protocol bridge may be used to function as a target for a network processor while performing a target mode operation, while functioning as an initiator on behalf of the network processor while performing an initiator mode operation. In one embodiment, the protocol bridge determines the mode of operation based on information in a received frame's header. In another embodiment, the protocol bridge couples a Fibre Channel device to a storage processor on a packet-over-SONET network.

Method and apparatus for bridging network protocols

Method and apparatus for terminating and bridging network protocols

Method and apparatus for managing payload buffer segments in a networking device

A method and apparatus for transferring data across a network protocol bridge is disclosed. In one embodiment, a multi-processing engine configuration is used wherein processing engines are tasked with carrying out specific data transfer operations. In another embodiment, this multi-processing engine configuration is implemented in a protocol bridge in which data is being transferred between Fibre Channel and a network bus that is coupled to a host system. In one embodiment, the network bus is a PCI/PCI-X bus.

Method and apparatus for transferring data across a protocol bridge

Growing community of inventors

Pleasanton, CA, United States of America

Thomas Wu