Read-modify-write avoidance using a boundary word storage mechanism

Abstract

The utilization of a controlled buffer and tags associated with read requests and the transmission of data in response to these requests, along with the transmitted tag information, is used to avoid a read-modify-write operations occurring in a communications adapters whose function it is to assemble various pluralities of data blocks, each with a varying amount of information, into single data packets for transmission from the adapter's memory. The presence of error correction capabilities associated with the adapter's memory would otherwise require the utilization of the read-modify-write operation which is bandwidth limiting.