TCP/IP/PPP modem

• US 6,765,901 B1
• Filed: 05/28/1999
• Issued: 07/20/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Johnson, Michael Ward, Minami, John Shigeto, Koyama, Ryo
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, TIMOTHY L
• Application Number:
  US09/321,902
• Time in Patent Office: 1,880 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/401, 370/463, 370/465, 370/466, 370/467, 370/464, 370/469, 370/474, 370/389, 375/222
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2859 Point-to-point connection between the data network and the subscribers encapsulation H04L12/4633; virtual LANs H04L12/4641; routing of packets H04L45/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• 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 69/165 Combined use of TCP and UDP protocols; selection criteria therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/168 specially adapted for link layer protocols, e.g. asynchronous transfer mode [ATM], synchronous optical network [SONET] or point-to-point protocol [PPP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/06 Simultaneous speech and data transmission, e.g. telegraphic transmission over the same conductors

Abstract

An Internet network protocol stack, along with special logic, is embedded with a modem, thereby enabling a modem to become Internet-ready. As a result, the modem offloads much of the network protocol processing from the main CPU and improves the overall performance of the communication system.

Claims

1. A modem, comprising:

a modem core;

a network stack embedded in hardware within said modem core'"'"'s hardware circuit and which executes network protocols to allow said modem to communicate on an electronic network, wherein said network stack comprises an Internet network protocol stack and wherein said network stack performs all network protocol processing; and

a packet analyzer module for using knowledge of the end of a PPP packet to tell said modem to wait a minimum amount of time before sending a packet, wherein said packet analyzer module examines a type of service (TOS) field in an IP header to determine the amount of latency used in the transmission of packets, wherein said TOS field describes priority and reliability requested for a packet.

2. A modem, comprising:

a modem core;

a network stack embedded in hardware within said modem core'"'"'s hardware circuit and which executes network protocols to allow said modem to communicate on an electronic network, wherein said network stack comprises an Internet network protocol stack, and wherein said network stack performs all network protocol processing; and

a packet analyzer module for using knowledge of the end of a PPP packet to tell said modem to wait a minimum amount of time before sending a packet, wherein said packet analyzer module examines a type of service (TOS) field in an IP header to determine the amount of latency used in the transmission of packets, wherein properties that are settable for said TOS field include any of Minimize Delay, Maximize Throughput, Maximize Reliability, and Minimize Cost.

3. The modem of claim 2, wherein more than one of said TOS flag properties can be set at one time.

4. A modem, comprising:

a modem core;

a network stack embedded in hardware within said modem core'"'"'s hardware circuit and which executes network protocols to allow said modem to communicate on an electronic network, wherein said network stack comprises an Internet network protocol stack, and wherein said network stack performs all network protocol processing;

a latency table; and

an IP latency resolver that takes input values from an IP sub-protocol latency table and an IP TOS field latency table, and that selects a lower of said two values.

5. A modem, comprising:

a modem core;

a network stack embedded in hardware within said modem core'"'"'s hardware circuit and which executes network protocols to allow said modem to communicate on an electronic network, wherein said network stack comprises an Internet network protocol stack, and wherein said network stack performs all network protocol processing;

a latency table; and

a TCP latency resolver that takes input values from a destination port latency table and a TCP state latency table, and that selects a lower of said two values.

6. A modem, comprising:

a modem core;

a network stack embedded in hardware within said modem core'"'"'s hardware circuit and which executes network protocols to allow said modem to communicate on an electronic network, wherein said network stack comprises an Internet network protocol stack, and wherein said network stack performs all network protocol processing;

a latency table;

an IP latency resolver that takes input values from an IP sub-protocol latency table and an IP TOS field latency table, and that selects a lower of said two values; and

a TCP latency resolver that takes input values from a destination port latency table and a TCP state latency table, and that selects a lower of said two values;

wherein said IP latency resolver and said TCP latency resolver outputs are muxed to produce a combined latency value, with said mux being controlled by the protocol field within the IP header.

7. A modem, comprising:

a modem core;

a network stack embedded in hardware within said modem core'"'"'s hardware circuit and which executes network protocols to allow said modem to communicate on an electronic network, wherein said network stack comprises an Internet network protocol stack, and wherein said network stack Performs all network protocol processing; and

a latency table;

wherein a latency setting value is provided by a PPP latency table, with said value being determined by the PPP protocol field and the PPP command code field.

8. The modem of claim 7, wherein said PPP latency table value is muxed with the muxed value of said IP latency resolver and said TCP latency resolver.