The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 27, 2000
Filed:
May. 08, 1997
Jameel Hyder, Redmond, WA (US);
Kyle Brandon, Seattle, WA (US);
Nk Srinivas, Issaquah, WA (US);
Rod Gamache, Issaquah, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A method and computer program product that overcomes the problem of intrasystem copying of data from one data structure to another while processing incoming packets of network data coming into the system off a communications network in an environment having an integrating component in between the network card device driver and the transport protocol driver that assigns system memory for packets to the respective drivers. The integrating component temporarily transfers ownership of the original data structure from the network card device driver to the transport protocol driver based on indication from the network card device driver, independent determination that the network card device driver can afford to temporarily release ownership, and determination of the transport protocol driver's ability to take ownership. The transport protocol driver will indicate receipt of ownership of the data structure and later explicitly release it. The transport protocol driver may then operate on the data structure after the initial invocation session has ended when it initially received ownership until it is released at a later time to thus prevent copying of the data and thereby increase system efficiency. Temporary transfer of ownership according to the present invention is especially important when the network card device driver fills data structure with network data during interrupt processing that causes a scenario where the transport protocol driver is not able to fully process the network data in the initial invocation session without copying the data.