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Ethernet emulation using a shared mailbox between two processors in a feature phone

  • US 6,987,961 B1
  • Filed: 06/28/2004
  • Issued: 01/17/2006
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2004
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A feature wireless-communications device comprising:

  • a wireless transceiver circuit for sending and receiving wireless data over a wireless network using wireless protocols;

    a base-band processor, coupled to control the wireless transceiver circuit, for executing routines using a first operating system that contains a first network stack for a network protocol that is a different protocol than the wireless protocols;

    an applications processor for executing routines using a second operating system that contains a second network stack for the network protocol that is a different protocol than the wireless protocols;

    a shared memory having a first buffer that is written by the base-band processor and read by the applications processor and a second buffer that is written by the applications processor and read by the base-band processor;

    a first general-purpose input-output (GPIO) module, coupled to read a signal on a GPIO line and generate a first interrupt to the base-band processor in response to the signal on the GPIO line;

    a second GPIO module, coupled to write the signal onto the GPIO line in response to a command from the applications processor;

    a shared mailbox, coupled to be written by the applications processor and by the base-band processor, having a plurality of mailbox locations, wherein writing to a first mailbox location in the shared mailbox generates a second interrupt to the applications processor;

    a first physical-network-emulating driver, executed by the base-band processor in response to the first interrupt, the first physical-network-emulating driver reading a first network packet from the second buffer in the shared memory in response to the first interrupt; and

    a second physical-network-emulating driver, executed by the applications processor in response to the second interrupt, the second physical-network-emulating driver reading a second network packet from the first buffer in the shared memory in response to the second interrupt;

    wherein the first network packet is sent to the first network stack by the first physical-network-emulating driver, the first network stack removing a packet header from the first network packet before sending data from the first network packet to a program executing on the base-band processor;

    wherein the second network packet is sent to the second network stack by the second physical-network-emulating driver, the second network stack removing a packet header from the second network packet before sending data from the second network packet to an application program executing on the applications processor,whereby communication between processors is emulated by the first and second physical-network-emulating drivers over an emulated physical network using the shared memory.

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