Offload of TCP segmentation to a smart adapter
US5937169A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 29, 1997 |
| Grant date | Aug 10, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 29, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/387
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method is provided for sending data from a data source executing a network protocol such as the TCP/IP protocol stack, which includes a process for generating headers for packets according to the network protocol. The method includes sending such data on a network through a smart network interface. The network protocol defines a datagram in the data source, including generating a header template and supplying a data payload. The datagram is supplied to the network interface. At the network interface, a plurality of packets of data are generated from the datagram. The plurality of packets include respective headers, such as TCP/IP headers, based on the header template, and include respective segments of the data payload. The network interface supports packets having a pre-specified length, and the data payload is greater than the pre-specified length, such as two to forty times larger or more. Thus, the higher layer processing specifies a very large datagram, which is automatically segmented at the network interface layer, instead of at the TCP layer.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.