Method of communicating data from a host to a network controller

• US 5,892,925 A
• Filed: 11/12/1997
• Issued: 04/06/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Iyer, Prakash, Aditya, Vikas
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Mark H.
• Application Number:
  US08/968,400
• Time in Patent Office: 510 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.6, 395/200.58, 395/200.49, 395/200.52, 395/200.43, 395/200.5, 395/200.66, 395/200.75, 395/200.8, 370/469
• US Class Current: 709/230
• 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 49/9047 including multiple buffers, e.g. buffer pools
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9057 Arrangements for supporting packet reassembly or resequencing

Abstract

The basic invention is to define the TBD data structure in the driver layer to be exactly the same as the pointer structure in the TCB fragment structure and to have the TBD pointer in the TxCB point to the TCB fragment structure which is in protocol space. Also, the driver must specify at initialization that physical addresses be loaded into the TCB fragment pointers. This structure then allows the elimination of the TBDs in driver space. They are replaced by the TCB fragment structure. The advantages are that many cpu instructions formerly needed to set up the TBD'"'"'s and to manage them in memory are eliminated. Also, it is faster to send the fragment structure to the controller than to send the TBDs. This is because the fragment structure is a contiguous array and can therefore go to the controller in burst mode.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a host computer having a CPU connected to a system bus;

a controller having a first side connected to said system bus and to a buffer memory and a second side connected to a network physical layer and to said buffer memory;

a main memory connected to said system bus and storing a network operating system having a protocol stack which includes a lower protocol layer that provides a data structure that locates data in main memory to be transmitted over said physical link and communicates with a driver layer which in turn communicates with said controllers,

logic in said host for causing the loading of said lower protocol data structure with physical addresses at initialization; and

logic in said host for causing said driver layer to create a single data structure that points directly to said lower protocol space data structure.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said single data structure comprises a TxCB which includes:

a header field;

a link address field;

an address field that points to said lower protocol space data structure;

a data fragment number field; and

a optional data byte count field.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further including logic for transferring said single data structure to said controller.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said network operating system is Netware and said lower protocol space data structure is a transmit control block and a transmit data block data structure.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said transmit command block is located in driver space.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a host computer having a CPU connected to a system bus;

a controller having a first side connected to said system bus and to a buffer memory and a second side connected to a network physical layer and to said buffer memory;

a main memory connected to said system bus and storing a network operating system having a protocol stack which includes a lower protocol layer that provides transmit control blocks, transmit control block fragment arrays and transmit data buffers in said main memory and communicates with a driver layer which communicates with said controller and which contains a transmit command block;

logic in said host for specifying the loading of said lower protocol data structure with physical addresses at initialization; and

logic in said host for setting up a pointer in said transmit command block to said transmit control block fragment array; and

logic in said host for issuing a transmit command.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 further characterized by logic for copying any optional data from said transmit control block to said transmit command block.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said transmit command block is created at initialization.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said network operating system is Netware.