Systems and methods of inserting idles within packets to reduce latency

Abstract

Devices, systems, methods, and processes for transmitting and receiving one or more data packets are described herein. A device may face an internal non-deterministic delay in processing causing a gap or an interruption during transmission of the data packet. During the gap, the device can transmit one or more Intra-Packet Idle (IPI) words between the transmission of the data packet. The IPI words can be ignored or discarded by a receiver. The device may transmit the data packet into multiple parts by transmitting the IPI words between the parts. The receiver can receive the parts of the data packet and the IPI words and retrieve the data packet based on the parts of the data packet. The device may set a configurable threshold value indicative of a maximum number of the IPI words that can be transmitted during the gap of the interruption, such that the receiver can efficiently identify and discard a runt packet. The device does not require a buffer to fetch and store the data packet prior to the transmission, thereby eliminating a latency caused by the buffer.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.