System and method for low-overhead monitoring of transmit queue empty status
US7177963B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 19, 2002 |
| Grant date | Feb 13, 2007 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 26, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/24
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A queue monitoring system and method determines when one or more transmit queues have reached a state that requires action by the host processing device, without the need for periodic polling of transmit status or excessive interrupt servicing. The queue monitoring implements an interrupt mechanism that generates an interrupt if one or more of the transmit queues has gone from a non-empty state to an empty state, and remained in the empty state for a (programmable) period of time. The combination of queue status checking (when adding new transmit data) with the queue monitoring interrupt mechanism removes the need for periodic polling of queue status and handling of interrupts generation on the completed transmission of data from one or more transmit buffer.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.