Media access control receiver and network management system

In a media access controller, the media access controller configured to communicate with an upper layer and a lower physical layer, the media access controller including a receive controller for processing transmit requests from the upper layer and for processing received data from the physical layer, a method for modifying the processing of received data, comprising;

• processing data through the receive controller, the processing being performed in accordance with a setting of a register contained within the receive controller;
• transferring a control signal for modifying the register to the receive controller while the data is being processed through the receive controller;
• and
• altering the processing of data being processed within the receive controller based on the modification of the register contained within the receive controller.

A receive media access controller, comprising:

• a physical medium receive interface unit for receiving packet data from a physical medium, and decoding the received packet data;
• a receiver cyclic redundancy checker configured to directly receive the decoded packet data from the physical medium receive interface unit;
• a receiver interface unit configured to directly receive the decoded packet data from the physical medium receive interface unit concurrently with the receiver cyclic redundancy checker, the receiver interface unit being arranged to process the decoded packet data and pass the processed decoded packet data to an upper layer;
• a receiver control block for directing the processing of the received packet data based on at least in part on received control signals;
• the receiver control block being in communication with the receiver interface unit and the physical medium receive interface unit;
• and
• a receiver utilities block for monitoring and accounting for processing events that occur within the receive media access controller.

A receive media access controller comprising:

• a physical medium receive interface unit for receiving packet data from a physical medium, and decoding the received packet data;
• a receiver cyclic redundancy checker configured to directly receive the decoded packet data from the physical medium receive interface unit;
• a receiver interface unit configured to directly receive the decoded packet data from the physical medium receive interface unit concurrently with the receiver cyclic redundancy checker, the receiver interface unit being arranged to process the decoded packet data and pass the processed decoded packet data to an upper layer;
• a receiver control block for directing the processing of the received packet data based on at least in part on received control signals;
• the receiver control block being in communication with the receiver interface unit and the physical medium receive interface unit;
• and
• a receiver utilities block for monitoring and accounting for processing events that occur within the receive media access controller, wherein the receiver utilities block includes a cascadable utilization computer, the cascadable utilization computer being expandable to optimize central processing unit interrupts.

A computer readable media containing program instructions for driving a media access controller configured to communicate with an upper layer and a lower physical layer, the media access controller including a receive controller for receiving and processing receive data requests from the lower layer and transferring received data to the upper layer, the computer readable media comprising;

• program instructions for receiving data from the lower layer and processing the received data through the receive controller, the processing being performed in accordance with a setting of a plurality of control registers associated with a transmit controller;
• program instructions for receiving a control signal for modifying at least one of the plurality of control registers while the data is being processed through the receive controller;
• and
• program instructions for altering the processing of data being processed within the receive controller based on the modification of the at least one of the plurality of control registers associated with the receive controller;
• and
• program instructions for transferring the processed data.