METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVING THE MANAGAMENT OF DATA PACKETS

• US 20050254488A1
• Filed: 05/17/2004
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
• Original Assignee: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
• Inventors: Huang, Jia-Bin
• Granted Patent: US 7,864,790 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/901 using storage descriptor, e.g. read or write pointers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9063 Intermediate storage in different physical parts of a node or terminal

Abstract

An apparatus for improving the management of data packets received from a network comprises a receiver for receiving data packets, a first storage unit for storing data packets, a counter for storing a count value, a second storage unit for storing a threshold value, and a comparator for comparing the count value against the threshold value wherein when count value reaches the threshold value, the apparatus issues a first event. A method for improving the management of data packets received from a network comprises receiving a data packet from the network, transferring the data packet into at least one data buffer, monitoring the number of unavailable descriptors, comparing the number of unavailable descriptors with a threshold value, and triggering a first event when the count value reaches the threshold value.

Claims

1. An apparatus for improving the management of received data packets of a host system that comprises a plurality of data buffers and a plurality of descriptors that corresponds to a subset of the plurality of data buffers to manage the received data packets, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver for receiving a data packet;

a first storage unit for storing the data packet from the receiver;

a counter for monitoring the number of descriptors in a first state to produce a count value;

a second storage unit for storing a threshold value; and

a comparator for comparing the count value with the threshold value and producing a comparison signal;

wherein the apparatus issues a first event to the host system according to the comparison signal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a Receive DMA (direct memory address) for transferring the data packet from the first storage unit into the data buffers.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the counter, the second storage unit, and the comparator are positioned within the Receive DMA module.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first event indicates that data buffers corresponding to the descriptors should be cleared.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first state is an unavailable state.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the threshold value is programmable.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first state is a free state.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus issues a second event when the data packet is an ok packet.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the data buffers corresponding to the descriptors are cleared when the first event or the second event is issued.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a wireless network device.

11. A method for improving the management of received data packets of a host system that comprises a plurality of data buffers and a plurality of descriptors that corresponds to a subset of the data buffers to manage the received data packets, the method comprising:

receiving a data packet;

transferring the data packet into at least one of the data buffers;

monitoring an amount of the descriptors in a first state;

comparing the amount with a threshold value to generator a comparison signal; and

generating a first event to the host system according to the comparison signal to prevent all the descriptors from being in the first state.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the first state is an unavailable state.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the threshold value is programmable.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the first state is a free state.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

generating a second event when the data packet is an ok packet.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the data buffers corresponding to the descriptors are cleared when the first event or the second event is generated.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the method further comprises issuing a third event when transferring an error packet.

18. A method for improving the management of data packets received from a network by a host system that comprises a plurality of data buffers and that utilizes a plurality of descriptors that corresponds to a subset of the plurality of data buffers to manage the data packets received from the network, the method comprising:

receiving a data packet from the network;

transferring the data packet into at least one of the data buffers;

monitoring the number of descriptors that will have their state changed when the data packet is transferred;

calculating a count value according to the number of descriptors that will have had their state changed by the data packet being transferred; and

comparing the count value with a threshold value, and triggering a first event to the host system when the count value reaches the threshold value;

wherein the first event notifies the host system to clear the data buffers corresponding to the descriptors.