TCP/IP stack-based operating system

• US 8,335,864 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2011
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iota Computing, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Iota Computing, Inc.
• Inventors: Cullimore, Ian Henry Stuart
• Primary Examiner(s): LAZARO, DAVID R
• Application Number:
  US13/277,111
• Publication Number:
  US 20120042088A1
• Time in Patent Office: 426 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-203, 709217-230, 709244-247, 709/250, 710/1, 712/1, 718/1
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• 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: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems and corresponding methods include a system having an operating system based wholly around a protocol stack, such as a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack. The system may include a central processing unit (CPU) including the operating system embedded therein, and a network interface coupled with a network and the CPU. The network may be the Internet. The operating system is fundamentally a state machine. The kernel of the operating system is fundamentally just a protocol stack for communicating with one or more devices of the network via the network interface. The protocol stack may be a TCP/IP protocol stack, UDP/IP stack or combinations thereof. A chip may be provided that includes the TCP/IP stack state machine-based operating system embedded in a CPU. The resultant chip may be ultra low power, miniscule in size, and IP-centric.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by an operating system, input/output (I/O) requests from an application residing in an application layer of a system, the operating system comprising a kernel, the operating system kernel being a state machine that comprises a protocol stack for processing the I/O requests according to a network protocol, the operating system being embedded within and executing within a central processing unit (CPU);

wherein all executable instructions for the operating system are stored in memory of the CPU and executed through a sockets applications programming interface (API);

wherein all the functions of the operating system and any associated application occur through the protocol stack and the sockets API; and

processing the I/O requests from the application according to the network protocol using the operating system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the protocol stack comprises a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack such that the operating system is a TCP/IP stack state machine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the protocol stack comprises a User Datagram Protocol/Internet Protocol (UDP/IP) stack.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the I/O requests comprises communicating data via a network interface, the network interface comprising one of an Ethernet controller and a wireless interface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing via the sockets API one or more of a keyboard input device and a display output device.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied instructions thereon, the instructions executable by a processor in a computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, by an operating system, input/output (I/O) requests from an application residing in an application layer of a system, the operating system comprising a kernel, the operating system kernel being a state machine that comprises a protocol stack for processing the I/O requests according to a network protocol, the operating system being embedded within and executing within a central processing unit (CPU);

wherein all executable instructions for the operating system are stored in memory of the CPU and executed through a sockets applications programming interface (API);

wherein all the functions of the operating system and any associated application occur through the protocol stack and the sockets API; and

processing the I/O requests from the application according to the network protocol using the operating system kernel.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the protocol stack comprises a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack such that the operating system is a TCP/IP stack state machine.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the protocol stack comprises a User Datagram Protocol/Internet Protocol (UDP/IP) stack.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein processing the I/O requests comprises communicating data via a network interface, the network interface comprising one of an Ethernet controller and a wireless interface.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising accessing via the sockets API one or more of a keyboard input device and a display output device.

11. A computing system comprising:

a network interface coupled with a network and a central processing unit (CPU);

the central processing unit including an operating system (OS) embedded therein, the operating system comprising a kernel, the operating system kernel being a state machine that and comprising a protocol stack for communicating with one or more devices of the network via the network interface;

wherein all executable instructions for the operating system are stored in memory of the CPU and executed through a sockets applications programming interface (API); and

wherein all the functions of the operating system and any associated application occur through the protocol stack and the sockets API.

12. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the network interface further comprises one of an Ethernet controller and a wireless interface.

13. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the protocol stack comprises a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack such that the operating system is a TCP/IP stack state machine.

14. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the protocol stack comprises a User Datagram Protocol/Internet Protocol (UDP/IP) stack.

15. The computing system of claim 11, wherein executable instructions for the operating system are stored solely in read only memory (ROM).

16. The computing system of claim 11, further comprising an asynchronous clock to serve as an internal clock for the operating system.

17. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the asynchronous clock is configurable to automatically stop when clock cycles are not needed.

18. The computing system of claim 11, wherein a time reference for the operating system kernel is based on a Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) from a remote time server coupled to the network.

19. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the network further comprises the Internet and the operating system utilizes sockets style API of sockets and ports on IP addresses for handling I/O requests.

20. The computing system of claim 11, wherein instructions for the operating system, executable by the central processing unit and stored in memory, are written in assembly language.

21. A chip comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU);

an operating system embedded in the CPU, the operating system comprising a kernel, the operating system kernel being a state machine and comprising a TCP/IP protocol stack for communicating with one or more devices via a network interface;

wherein all executable instructions for the operating system are stored solely in and execute solely from read only memory (ROM) and execute through a sockets applications programming interface (API); and

wherein all the functions of the operating system and any associated application occur through the protocol stack and the sockets API.

22. The chip of claim 21, wherein the network interface further comprises one of an Ethernet controller and a wireless interface.

23. The chip of claim 21, wherein the network comprises the Internet and the operating system utilizes sockets style API of sockets and ports on IP addresses for handling I/O requests.

24. The chip of claim 21, further comprising an asynchronous clock to serve as an internal clock for the operating system kernel.