Methods, system and article of manufacture for pre-fetching descriptors
US6857030B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 12, 2001 |
| Grant date | Feb 15, 2005 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 2, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L12/66
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system and method for reducing the number of memory accesses by a hardware device to a descriptor memory is disclosed. Methods, systems and articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention enable software to embed a subsequent descriptor it is posting in the descriptor memory into a current descriptor listed in the descriptor memory. Additionally, hardware is configured to transmit a data packet associated with the current descriptor to a recipient device. When hardware receives an acknowledgment message from the recipient device associated with the transmitted data packet, it fetches the current descriptor to update a completion code within the current descriptor using a Read-Modify-Write (RMW) transfer sequence. As part of the RMW memory operation, hardware may use the embedded copy of the subsequent descriptor within the current descriptor to transmit the next data packet associated with the subsequent descriptor. This process avoids hardware from having to fetch the embedded descriptor from the descriptor memory before transmitting the next data packet.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.