NIC flow switching
US9178815B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 5, 2013 |
| Grant date | Nov 3, 2015 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 9, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L2101/622
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Methods, apparatus, and systems for implementing in Network Interface Controller (NIC) flow switching. Switching operations are effected via hardware-based forwarding mechanisms in apparatus such as NICs in a manner that does not employ use of computer system processor resources and is transparent to operating systems hosted by such computer systems. The forwarding mechanisms are configured to move or copy Media Access Control (MAC) frame data between receive (Rx) and transmit (Tx) queues associated with different NIC ports that may be on the same NIC or separate NICs. The hardware-based switching operations effect forwarding of MAC frames between NIC ports using memory operations, thus reducing external network traffic, internal interconnect traffic, and processor workload associated with packet processing.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.