Method and apparatus for placing multiple frames of data in a buffer in a direct memory access transfer
First Claim
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1. A method of managing a direct memory access (DMA) operation, comprising:
- receiving a sequence of data frames at a controller in a DMA transfer; and
placing the data frames in data buffers in a memory, wherein multiple data frames are stored by the controller in at least one of the data buffers.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus of managing a multi-channel direct memory access (DMA) operation in which a sequence of data frames are received at a controller that controls a DMA transfer. The data frames are placed in data buffers in a memory by the controller. Multiple data frames are stored by the controller in at least one of the data buffers. The storing of multiple data frames in a single buffer provides efficient utilization of memory space as large size buffers are used to hold more than a single data frame, and also reduces the management overhead involved in placing the data frames in the data buffers.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of managing a direct memory access (DMA) operation, comprising:
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receiving a sequence of data frames at a controller in a DMA transfer; and placing the data frames in data buffers in a memory, wherein multiple data frames are stored by the controller in at least one of the data buffers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of managing a multi-channel direct memory access (DMA) operation, comprising:
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storing descriptors of data buffers in locations of a circular descriptor queue; obtaining with a network controller a set of available descriptors from the descriptor queue; and performing a DMA transfer with a host system via the network controller using at least some of the available data buffers whose descriptors were obtained, including storing multiple data frames in at least one of the data buffers. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An arrangement for managing multi-channel direct memory access (DMA) transfers of data, comprising:
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a bus; a host system having a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory coupled to the bus, the memory having a plurality of data buffers; a multi-channel network controller coupled to the bus, the network controller transferring data frames received at the network controller to the host system via data buffers that are available for use, wherein multiple data frames are stored in at least one of the data buffers. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification