Apparatus and method for high-throughput asynchronous communication with flow control
US7636361B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 27, 2005 |
| Grant date | Dec 22, 2009 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 7, 2027 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L49/40
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that asynchronously controls sending data items from a sender to a receiver. This system includes a set of sending FIFOs, a set of receiving FIFOs, as well as a shared data path between the sender and the receiver. The system also includes a set of control paths that operate in parallel between the sender and the receiver, wherein a given control path controls the transmission of data items between a corresponding sending FIFO and a corresponding receiving FIFO through the shared data path. The system further includes a round-robin scheduling mechanism which activates one control path at a time in a predetermined sequence. An activated control path asynchronously controls the sending of a data item from a corresponding sending FIFO to a corresponding receiving FIFO. By operating the control paths in parallel in the predetermined sequence, the system does not have to wait a request-acknowledge cycle time between the sender and the receiver before sending consecutive data items through the shared data path, but can instead send multiple data items through the shared data path within a single request-acknowledge cycle time.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.