Compressing or decompressing packet communications from diverse sources

• US 20070239897A1
• Filed: 03/29/2006
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Rothman, Michael, Zimmer, Vincent
• Application Number:
  US11/392,406
• Publication Number:
  US 20070239897A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/247
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC

Abstract

Compressed input/output communications may be handled without requiring any alteration of system topology. In some embodiments, when a communication is received by a device such as a network interface card, an alert may be provided to an agent that may handle compression or decompression, independently of a main operating system and a main partition. For example, compression may be handled by a sequestered partition or a virtual machine monitor, as two examples. These agents may then decide whether to compress or decompress and how to do so in some cases. As a result, the handling of compressed communications may be offloaded to a separate processor which may be dedicated to that task.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an indication that a packet has been received at a device; and

determining whether to compress or decompress the packet using a processor dedicated to compression or decompression.

2. The method of claim 1 including using a sequestered partition to determine whether to handle the packet through a dedicated processor for purposes of compression or decompression.

3. The method of claim 1 including using a virtual machine monitor to determine whether to handle the packet through a dedicated processor.

4. The method of claim 1 including selecting a compression algorithm to compress the packet.

5. The method of claim 1 including converting at least one header on said packet and compressing data in said packet.

6. The method of claim 1 including selectively compressing packets based at least in part on a characteristic of said packet.

7. The method of claim 1 including receiving an indication that a packet has been received from a network interface card.

8. The method of claim 1 including determining whether to handle the packet through a dedicated processor using an agent independent of a main operating system.

9. The method of claim 1 including using a dedicated central processing unit to handle compression.

10. A computer readable medium storing instructions that, if executed, cause a system to:

receive an indication that a packet has been received at a device; and

determine whether to compress or decompress the packet using a processor dedicated to compression or decompression.

11. The medium of claim 10 further storing instructions to use a sequestered partition to determine whether to handle the packet through a dedicated processor for purposes of compression or decompression.

12. The medium of claim 10 further storing instructions to use a virtual machine monitor to determine whether to handle the packet through a dedicated processor.

13. The medium of claim 10 further storing instructions to select a compression algorithm to compress the packet.

14. The medium of claim 10 further storing instructions to convert at least one header on said packet and compress data in said packet.

15. The medium of claim 10 further storing instructions to selectively compress packets based at least in part on a characteristic of said packet.

16. The medium of claim 10 further storing instructions to receive an indication that a packet has been received from a network interface card.

17. The medium of claim 10 further storing instructions to determine whether to handle the packet through a dedicated processor using an agent independent of a main operating system.

18. The medium of claim 10 further storing instructions to use a dedicated central processing unit to handle compression.

19. An apparatus comprising:

an analyzer to analyze a communication received by an agent to determine whether data should be compressed or decompressed; and

a central processing unit, coupled to said analyzer, said unit dedicated to compression or decompression.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said analyzer includes a virtual machine monitor.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said analyzer includes a sequestered partition.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 including an integrated circuit package, said processor and said analyzer being contained within said package.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, said package including at least one additional processor.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein said package includes a memory controller hub.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein said package includes a service processor.

26. A system comprising:

a first central processing unit;

a second central processing unit;

a network interface card coupled to at least one of said processors; and

an analyzer coupled to at least one of said central processing units to analyze a communication received by said card and to determine whether data should be compressed or decompressed by at least one of said central processing units.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein said first central processing unit is dedicated to compression and decompression and said second central processing unit is responsible for operating said system.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein said analyzer includes a virtual machine monitor.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein said analyzer includes a sequestered partition.

30. The system of claim 26 including an integrated circuit package, said processors and said analyzer being contained within said package.