Distributed protocol processing in a data processing system

Abstract

A data processing system suitable for transmitting and receiving data packets via a network including a first processing entity and a second processing entity both having access to system memory data subject to transmission over the network after being formatted according to a network communication protocol. The first processing entity performs a first portion of the network communication protocol, such as a flow control portion, while the second processing entity performs a second portion of the protocol, such as acknowledgement handling or data retrieval. The first processing entity is typically a central processing unit of a network server while the second processing entity is typically a network communication device. The first and second processing entities may reside on a single physical system or on physically distinct systems connected via a switched bus I/O architecture. The acknowledgement handling portion of the protocol may include reclamation of memory corresponding to an acknowledged packet where the memory resides on a system memory or on memory local to the second processing entity.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.