Layer manager

US6792467B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Brycen Co., Ltd. · JP

Inventors

• Douglas Hale · Orem, US
• Michael Wright · Sandy Spring, US
• Merrill Smith · Riverton, US
• David O. Cox · Orem, US
• Kyle Bryan Seegmiller · Salt Lake City, US
• Jonathan Wood · Layton, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 3, 2001
• Grant date: Sep 14, 2004
• Expiry date: Dec 22, 2022

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04W80/00
• WIPO field: Digital communication
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention provides an improved method and system for controlling packet flow through a protocol stack. The system comprises the layer manager which interfaces with each stack layer. The layer manager handles the packet flow to the stack layers. For a new packet path to be supported, only the Layer Manager needs to be modified, not the stack layers. This makes the implementation of the layers in the protocol stack easier. In an alternative embodiment, the layer manager comprises a plurality of protocol descriptor lists for supported services and uses these lists to route a packet to the appropriate stack layer. With this alternative embodiment, new stack layers may be inserted into the protocol stack without the need to modify the existing stack layers.