Integrated network interface supporting multiple data transfer protocols
First Claim
1. An integrated network interface device, comprising:
- protocol specific components capable of separately supporting data exchanges with a network in at least two supported protocols based on different network data transfer standards; and
protocol independent components capable of working in conjunction with the protocol specific components to process data exchanges in the supported protocols;
wherein the protocol specific components and protocol independent components are configured to enable data exchanges with the network based on at least one of the supported protocols, wherein a data stream received from the network which is based on a protocol in accordance with a particular network data transfer standard is processed into data not subject to any network data transfer standard.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An integrated network interface device that supports data exchange in two or more high-speed network data transfer protocols that are based on different standards of network data transfer architectures, wherein an incoming data stream formatted in accordance with a particular network data transfer standard is processed into data not subject to the network data transfer standard to be output for further processing by a host. In one aspect, a network interface device is provided with a set of shared or common protocol independent physical link components that are used to identify the operating protocol of the incoming data, and a set of dynamically or statically re-configurable, shared or common protocol independent data transfer processing components that support data exchange via the physical link components for all the supported protocols, which may include a protocol specific link interface for each supported protocol.
-
Citations
33 Claims
-
1. An integrated network interface device, comprising:
-
protocol specific components capable of separately supporting data exchanges with a network in at least two supported protocols based on different network data transfer standards; and
protocol independent components capable of working in conjunction with the protocol specific components to process data exchanges in the supported protocols;
wherein the protocol specific components and protocol independent components are configured to enable data exchanges with the network based on at least one of the supported protocols, wherein a data stream received from the network which is based on a protocol in accordance with a particular network data transfer standard is processed into data not subject to any network data transfer standard. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. A method of interfacing a network interface device to a network, comprising the steps of:
-
providing protocol specific components capable of separately supporting data exchanges with a network in at least two supported protocols based on different network data transfer standards;
providing protocol independent components capable of working in conjunction with the protocol specific components to process data exchanges in the supported protocols;
configuring the protocol specific components and protocol independent components to enable data exchanges with the network based on at least one of the supported protocols; and
processing a data stream received from the network which is based on a protocol in accordance with a particular network data transfer standard into data not subject to any network data transfer standard. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
-
Specification