Control of processing order for received network packets

• US 7,164,678 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2001
• Issued: 01/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Connor, Patrick L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo; Ricky Q.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHANG, RICHARD K
• Application Number:
  US09/891,574
• Publication Number:
  US 20020196785A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,031 Days
• Field of Search: 370/392, 370/412, 370/413, 370/415, 370/428, 370/468
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/36 by determining packet size, e.g. maximum transfer unit [MTU]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6215 Individual queue per QOS, rate or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6245 Modifications to standard FIFO or LIFO

Abstract

The present invention provides for controlling the order in which packets received from across a network may be processed. A receiver station examines the packets and determines a property of the packet. A priority level is associated with the packet prior to processing. The packet is placed into a queue and processed in an order based at least in part on its priority level. The method may be used to expedite or slow the processing of particular packets, such as advancing the processing order for acknowledgment packets. In addition, other aspects of the present invention relating to determining an order for processing packets by a receiver station.

Claims

1. A method of controlling the order of processing packets, the method comprising:

receiving packets from a network;

identifying a property for at least one of the packets;

associating a priority level based on the property with the at least one packet, wherein the at least one packet has a pre-designated priority value and the associating of the priority level includes disregarding the pre-designated priority value;

attaching a packet description for the priority level to the at least one packet;

inserting the at least one packet into a first queue; and

processing the at least one packet in an order based, at least in part, on the priority level.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

associating a priority level with at least a second packet;

inserting the at least second packet into a second queue; and

processing the at least second packet in an order based, at least in part, on the priority level of the at least second packet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein inserting into the first queue includes packets having different priority levels.

4. The method of claim 3, further including reading the packet descriptions for the packets in the queue and determining the order for processing based, at least in part, on the packet description.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one packet has more than one property with different priority values and the priority level is a select one of the priority values.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one packet has more than one property with priority values and the priority level includes the sum of at least some of the priority values.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the property is an acknowledgment packet.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifying of the property is by determining the packet size.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the acknowledgment packet is processed prior to the processing of other packets received.

10. The method of claim 1, performed by a final destination receiver station on the network.

11. A receiver station to control the order of processing packets, comprising:

an input port to receive packets from a network;

a controller to identify a property for at least one of the packets and to associate a priority level based on the property with the at least one packet and further to attach a packet description for the priority level to the at least one packet and to insert packets having different priority levels into the same queue, wherein the at least one packet has a pre-designated priority value and wherein the controller is to associate the priority level by disregarding the pre-designated priority value;

at least a first queue to accept the at least one packet; and

a processing unit to process the at least one packet in an order based, at least in part, on the priority level for the at least one packet.

12. The receiver station claim 11, wherein the controller is further to identify a different property for at least a second packet, to associate a priority level with the at least second packet, and to insert the at least second packet into a second queue for the priority level of the at least second packet.

13. The receiver station of claim 11, further including a driver to further read the packet descriptions for the packets in the queue and to determine the order of the packets.

14. The receiver station of claim 11, wherein the at least one packet has more than one property with different priority values and the priority level is a select one of the priority values.

15. The receiver station of claim 11, wherein the at least one packet has more than one property with priority values and the priority level includes the sum of at least two of the priority values.

16. The receiver station of claim 11, wherein the property is an acknowledgment packet.

17. The receiver station of claim 16, wherein the controller is to identify the property by determining the packet size.

18. The receiver station of claim 16, wherein the processing unit is to process the acknowledgment packet before processing the other packets received.

19. The receiver station of claim 11, wherein the receiver station is the final destination for the packet.

20. A method of controlling the order of processing packets, the method comprising:

receiving a stream of packets from a network;

identifying an acknowledgment property packet, the acknowledgment packet having a pre-designated priority value;

associating a high priority level to the acknowledgement packet, wherein associating the high priority level to the acknowledgement packet includes disregarding the pre-designated priority value;

placing the acknowledgement packet into a priority queue;

placing the other packets into at least one other queue;

removing the acknowledgement packet from the priority queue before removing the other packets from the at least one other queue; and

processing the acknowledgement packet before processing the other packets.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one packet has a pre-designated priority value and wherein the associating the priority level includes disregarding the pre-designated priority value.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one packet has more than one property with different priority values and the priority level is a select one of the priority values.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the identifying of the property is by determining the packet size.

24. The method of claim 20, performed by a final destination receiver station on the network.