SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TCP/IP OFFLOAD INDEPENDENT OF BANDWIDTH DELAY PRODUCT

• US 20100250783A1
• Filed: 06/10/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Elzur, Uri, McDaniel, Scott S., Fan, Frankie, Lindsay, Steven B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,549,152 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/193 at the transport layer, e.g. TCP related
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9063 Intermediate storage in different physical parts of a node or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/10 Streamlined, light-weight or high-speed protocols, e.g. express transfer protocol [XTP] or byte stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/12 Protocol engines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/162 involving adaptations of sockets based mechanisms secure socket layer H04L63/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/166 IP fragmentation; TCP segmentation

Abstract

A network interface device may include an offload engine that receives control of state information while a particular connection is offloaded. Control of the state information for the particular connection may be split between the network interface device and a host. The at least one connection variables may be updated and provided to the host.

Claims

1-50. -50. (canceled)

51. A network interface device comprising:

an offload engine; and

a memory that is operable to store at least one attribute of an open connection;

while a connection is open between a first computer and a second computer, the offload engine receives at least one connection state from the first computer, wherein the offload engine is operable to update the at least one connection state;

when the connection is closed, the offload engine is operable to return the connection state to a stack in the first computer.

52. The network interface device of claim 51, wherein attributes of the open connection include an IP address, a port being used, and a packet sequence number.

53. The network interface device of claim 51, wherein connection states from the first computer include performance sensitive connection states and non-performance sensitive connection states.

54. The network interface device of claim 53, wherein the at least one connection state received by the offload engine includes a performance sensitive connection state.

55. The network interface device of claim 53, wherein at least one non-performance sensitive connection state is controlled by the first computer while a connection is open between the first computer and the second computer.

56. The network interface device of claim 51, wherein control of at least one connection state is maintained by the first computer, thereby allowing the first computer to provide security against malicious attacks.

57. The network interface device of claim 56, wherein the at least one connection state is associated with connection setup.

58. The network interface device of claim 56, wherein the at least one connection state is non-performance sensitive.

59. The network interface device of claim 51, wherein the offload engine processes incoming data packets

60. The network interface device of claim 51, wherein the offload engine receives the at least one connection state from the first computer by pulling from the stack in the first computer.

61. The network interface device of claim 51, wherein the offload engine pushes the updated connection state onto the stack in the first computer.

62. The network interface device of claim 51, wherein the offload engine is a TCP/IP offload engine.