NOTIFICATION OF OUT OF ORDER PACKETS

• US 20090086736A1
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Annie Foong, Bryan E. Veal
• Original Assignee: Annie Foong, Bryan E. Veal
• Inventors: Veal, Bryan E., Foong, Annie
• Application Number:
  US11/864,276
• Publication Number:
  US 20090086736A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/394
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1841 Resequencing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control

Abstract

Methods and apparatus relating to notification of out-of-order packets are described. In an embodiment, data such as a sequence number and a flow identifier may be extracted from a packet. The extracted data may be used to check the extracted sequence number against an expected sequence number and indicate that the packet is an out-of-order packet. Other embodiments are also disclosed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a network adapter comprising a first logic to extract a sequence number and a flow identifier from a received packet;

a storage device coupled to the first logic to store a plurality of entries, wherein each entry comprises an expected sequence number and a corresponding flow identifier; and

the network adapter comprising a second logic to compare an expected sequence number corresponding to the extracted flow identifier with the extracted sequence number, wherein the second logic is to indicate, to a processor coupled to the network adapter via a chipset, that the received packet is an out-of-order packet in response to a determination that the expected sequence number and the extracted sequence number are different.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second logic causes a next expected sequence number to be stored in the storage device in response to an indication that the expected sequence number and the extracted sequence number match.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the next expected sequence number is determined based on a combination of the extracted sequence number and a payload length of the received packet.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the expected sequence number is stored in the storage device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first logic comprises a processor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises one or more processor cores.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the storage device comprises one or more of a network adapter memory, a main system memory, or a cache.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the cache comprises one or more of a shared cache or a private cache.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the cache comprises one or more of a level 1 (L1) cache, a level 2 (L2) cache, a mid-level cache (MLC), or a last level cache (LLC).

10. A method comprising:

extracting a sequence number and a flow identifier from a received packet;

comparing an expected sequence number corresponding to the extracted flow identifier with the extracted sequence number; and

forming a packet descriptor having at least one bit to indicate that the received packet is an out-of-order packet in response to a result of the comparison that indicates the expected sequence number and the extracted sequence number are different.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing the formed packet descriptor in a storage device.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing a next expected sequence number in a storage device in response to an indication that the expected sequence number and the extracted sequence number match.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising combing the extracted sequence number and a payload length of the received packet to determine the next expected sequence number.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing a plurality of entries in a storage device, wherein each entry comprises an expected sequence number and a corresponding flow identifier.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the flow identifier comprises a protocol identifier and an address.