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AssigneeNational Semiconductor Corporation
InventorsDesmond W. Young, James R. Hamstra
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An interface system for transferring information between a local area network and a system memory associated with a station attached to the network. The interface system includes a bus interface unit for implementing the transfer of information between the interface system and the memory system. An indicate module transfers information received by the interface system from the network to the memory system via the bus interface unit. A request module transfers information received by the interface system from the memory system via the bus interface unit to the network. A status generation/space management module connected to the indicate module and to the request module monitors the status thereof and generates corresponding status signals and manages the allocation of storage space in the memory system for information transferred between the network and the memory system via the interface system.
A method of processing information descriptors in an interface system connected between a local area network communications medium and a network station, wherein the interface system transfers information objects between the communications medium and a memory system associated with the network station, each information including one or more parts described by an information descriptor associated with said part, and wherein the interface system includes a bus interface unit that connects to the network station for transferring information objects between the interface system and the memory system, indicate circuitry connected to the bus interface unit for transferring data information objects and control information objects received by the interface system from the communications medium to the memory system via the bus interface unit, request circuitry connected to the bus interface unit for transferring data information objects and control information objects received by the interface system from the memory system to the communications medium via the bus interface unit, and a status management unit that interprets control information objects received from the memory system or the communications medium, each information descriptor including one or more fields having zero value or greater than zero value, information descriptors associated with data information objects including a byte count field, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.