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US 6,005,849 AGranted
Full-duplex communication processor which can be used for fibre channel frames
AssigneeEmulex Corporation
InventorsBradley Roach, Peter Fiacco, Greg Scherer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A full duplex communication processor simultaneously sends and receives frames of data and commands. Separate transmit and receive protocol engines are controlled by separate sequencers. This enables frames of data to be received and transmitted simultaneously without involving a host CPU on a frame-by-frame basis.
Claims26
A full-duplex communication processor comprising:
- (a) a receive processor coupled to a non-switched port of a computer network for receiving and validating frames of data, wherein the frames of data include commands;
- (b) a transmit processor coupled to said non-switched port for constructing transmit frames;
- (c) a transfer ready queue coupled between the transmit and receive processors, for transmitting commands in each frame of data having commands from the receive processor to the transmit processor;
- (d) an interface circuit for coupling the receive and transmit processors and the transfer ready queue with a programmed host computer including a CPU and host memory;
- and
- (e) interlocked information table containing context information wherein the receive frame processor uses the context information to process receive frames without frame by frame involvement of said CPU.
3 more elements
A method of processing frames of data in a computer network comprising:
- (a) receiving a first frame of data in a microcoded receive processor coupled to the computer network;
- (b) transferring the first frame from the receive processor to a transfer ready queue;
- (c) storing contextual information relating to the frame of data in an information table;
- (d) using the contextual information to validate the first frame of data;
- (e) transferring the first frame of data from the transfer ready queue to a microcoded transmit processor coupled to said non-switch port;
- (f) constructing a transmit frame using information stored in the first frame of data in the transmit processor;
- and
- (g) transferring the transmit frame to said non-switch port while simultaneously receiving a second fame of data in the receive processor without frame by frame involvement of a CPU of a host computer.
5 more elements
A computer network comprising:
- (a) source and destination computer devices;
- (b) communication channel coupled to the source and destination computer devices;
- (c) a receive processor coupled to the communication channel for receiving and validating frames of data from the source computer device, wherein the frames of data include commands;
- (d) a transmit processor coupled to the computer network for constructing transmit frames;
- (e) a transfer ready queue coupled between the transmit and receive processors, for transmitting commands in the frames of data having commands from the receive processor to the transmit processor;
- (f) a host computer including a CPU, memory and host driver software;
- (g) interface means for coupling the receive and transmit processors and the transfer ready queue with the host computer;
- and
- (h) interlocked information table containing context information wherein the receive frame processor uses the context information to process the receive frames without frame by frame involvement of said CPU.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.