Protocol processing stack for use with intelligent network interface device

• US 6,427,171 B1
• Filed: 02/28/2000
• Issued: 07/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Alacritech, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Alacritech, Inc.
• Inventors: Philbrick, Olive M., Higgen, David A., Boucher, Laurence B., Craft, Peter K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US09/514,425
• Time in Patent Office: 883 Days
• Field of Search: 709/230, 709/250, 709/236, 709/243, 709/228, 709/238
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• 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 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/166 IP fragmentation; TCP segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/326 in the transport layer [OSI layer 4] H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/327 in the session layer [OSI layer 5]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A host CPU runs a network protocol processing stack that provides instructions not only to process network messages but also to allocate processing of certain network messages to a specialized network communication device, offloading some of the most time consuming protocol processing from the host CPU to the network communication device. By allocating common and time consuming network processes to the device, while retaining the ability to handle less time intensive and more varied processing on the host stack, the network communication device can be relatively simple and cost effective. The host CPU, operating according to instructions from the stack, and the network communication device together determine whether and to what extent a given message is processed by the host CPU or by the network communication device.

Claims

1. A set of computer-executable instructions store on a computer-readable medium of a computer connectable to a network, the set of instructions comprising:

a stack of protocol processing layers configured for establishing a TCP connection for a network message having data and headers corresponding to several protocol layers, and

directions for transferring control of said TCP connection from said stack of protocol processing layers to an intelligent network interface device.

2. The set of instructions of claim 1, further comprising directions for communicating a status of said TCP connection between said stack of protocol processing layers and said intelligent network interface device.

3. The set of instructions of claim 1, further comprising directions for choosing whether to transfer control of said TCP connection to said intelligent network interface device.

4. The set of instructions of claim 1, further comprising directions for processing a portion of said message.

5. The set of instructions of claim 1, further comprising directions for storing said data in a memory of said computer.

6. The set of instructions of claim 1, further comprising directions for retrieving said data from a memory of said computer.

7. A method for receiving a network message by a device having a processor and specialized protocol processing hardware, the processor running a stack of protocol processing layers, the network message containing data and protocol headers, the method comprising:

establishing, by the stack of protocol processing layers, a TCP connection corresponding to the network message; and

transferring control of the TCP connection from the stack of protocol processing layers to the specialized protocol processing hardware.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising transferring control of the TCP connection from the specialized protocol processing hardware to the stack of protocol processing layers.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising processing a transport layer header of the network message by the specialized protocol processing hardware.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising processing a session layer header of the network message by the stack of protocol processing layers.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

processing a first portion of the network message by the stack of protocol processing layers, and

processing a second portion of the network message by the specialized protocol processing hardware.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

processing, by the stack of protocol processing layers, a first portion of the message to determine a destination for the data, and

processing, by the specialized protocol processing hardware, a second portion of the message to send the data to the destination without processing the second portion by the stack of protocol processing layers.