Efficient flow management utilizing control packets
US11496599B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 29, 2021 |
| Grant date | Nov 8, 2022 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 5, 2041 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L69/22
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Techniques are disclosed for utilizing control packets to manage flows by a smart network interface card (smartNIC). In one example, an accelerator of the smartNIC determines that a cache entry of a cache that is managed by the accelerator is a candidate for removal. The cache entry stores flow state of a particular flow. The accelerator generates a control packet that includes flow information of the particular flow that is formatted utilizing a particular header format, the flow information operable for generating a hash that indexes to the cache entry. The accelerator includes an instruction within the control packet that requests a programming data plane of the smartNIC to provide instructions for removing the cache entry from the cache. Upon receiving the control packet, the programming data plane generates and transmits a second instruction to the accelerator for removing the cache entry from the cache.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.