Internet protocol system using hardware protocol processing logic and parallel data processing method using the same

A method of transmitting protocol data through an Internet communication protocol device which includes at least one transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) protocol stack, said method comprising the steps of:

• receiving data from an upper layer and storing the received data into a data buffer;
• calculating a checksum of said data;
• and
• storing said checksum in a header buffer;
• said step of storing the received data into the data buffer and said step of storing the checksum of said data into the header buffer being carried out at the same time, whereby the checksum calculation need not be carried out during data transmission.

A method for processing data in parallel, comprising:

• a first processing step performed during a first unit time, and comprising sub-steps of storing first unit processing data in a temporary buffer, initializing a checksum buffer to be used in a checksum calculation of the first unit processing data, and storing the first unit processing data in a first buffer;
• a second processing step performed during a second unit time, and including sub-steps of summing second unit processing data and the value stored in the temporary buffer, and storing the second unit processing data in a second buffer;
• a third processing step performed during a third unit time, and including sub-steps of storing third unit processing data in the temporary buffer, storing a value summed in the second unit time in the checksum buffer, and storing the third unit processing data in a third buffer;
• and
• a fourth processing step performed during a fourth unit time, and including sub-steps of summing fourth unit processing data and the value stored in the temporary buffer, and storing the fourth unit processing data in a fourth buffer;
• said first, second, third and fourth processing steps being performed repeatedly for the processing of Internet protocol data, and wherein, at each processing step, multiple operations are simultaneously carried out by a plurality of parallel processing units within a single unit time.

A method for processing, in parallel, header information and data of a transmission control protocol (TCP), said method comprising:

• a first processing step performed during a first unit time (t1), and including sub-steps of storing ACK1 in an ACK number field of a TCP header into a temporary buffer (TMP), initializing a checksum buffer (CBUF) to be used in a header checksum calculation, and storing the ACK1 into a first buffer (R1);
• a second processing step performed during a second unit time (t2), and including sub-steps of summing ACK2 in the ACK number field of the TCP header and a value stored in the temporary buffer (TMP), and storing the ACK2 in a second buffer (R2);
• a third processing step performed during a third unit time (t3), and including sub-steps of storing ACK3 in the ACK number field of the TCP header into the temporary buffer (TMP), storing a value summed in the second unit time (t2) into the checksum buffer (CBUF), and storing the ACK3 into a third buffer (R3);
• a fourth processing step performed during a fourth unit time (t4), and including sub-steps of summing ACK4 in the ACK number field of the TCP header and the value stored in the temporary buffer (TMP), and storing the ACK4 into a fourth buffer (R4);
• and
• a fifth processing step performed during a fifth unit time (t5), and including sub-steps of storing HLEN in an HLEN field of the TCP header in the temporary buffer (TMP), storing a value calculated in the fourth unit time (t4) in the checksum buffer (CBUF), immediately processing the HLEN without delay, and processing the ACK number field using ACK values collected during a period from the first unit time to the fourth unit time (t1˜t4);
• said first, second, third, fourth and fifth processing steps being performed repeatedly for the processing of Internet protocol data, and wherein, at each processing step, multiple operations are simultaneously carried out by a plurality of parallel processing units within a single unit time.

A method for processing protocol data in hardware, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing received protocol data in a temporary buffer, and transferring the received protocol data by storing the received protocol data in respective corresponding data buffers in a unit time while a checksum is calculated;
• producing a checksum calculation value of final protocol data at a time when the final protocol data are received;
• storing a checksum calculation result of an overall protocol data packet into a checksum buffer at a next unit time (tn+1) when the final protocol data are received, and comparing the stored checksum calculation result with a checksum value in a header of a corresponding protocol;
• discarding data stored in the respective corresponding data buffer of the corresponding protocol when the comparison result indicates a checksum fail, and returning a memory pointer value to a previous value at a next unit time (tn+3);
• and
• preserving the data stored in the respective corresponding data buffer of the corresponding protocol when the comparison result does not indicate the checksum fail, and proceeding to a process for the next received protocol segment.

A method for transmitting application protocol data to an Internet protocol (IP) layer by using hardware protocol control logic, said method comprising the steps, carried out in parallel, of:

• pre-storing data to be transmitted in a corresponding protocol data buffer at an application layer;
• sending pre-produced protocol header information prior to data transmission;
• and
• continuously transmitting data from the protocol data buffer to a lower layer from a next unit time following the sending of the pre-produced protocol header information.

An apparatus for connecting transmission control protocol (TCP) hardware processing logic, user datagram protocol (UDP) hardware processing logic, Internet control message protocol (ICMP) hardware processing logic, Internet group management protocol (IGMP) hardware processing logic, Internet protocol (IP) hardware processing logic, address resolution protocol (ARP) hardware processing logic and reverse address resolution protocol (RARP) hardware processing logic and an upper layer, said apparatus comprising:

• application programming interface (API) control logic for establishing an application programming interface, and having a clock synchronizing function with a microcontroller unit (MCU) for various interfaces,
• a command register for storing commands from an application;
• and
• a status register for providing status information.