Method and apparatus for performing raw cell status report frequency mitigation on receive in a network node

An apparatus for reporting information in a network node having a host system including a host memory coupled to a network by an adapter, the adapter reassembling cell data received from the network and storing the reassembled cell data in the host memory, comprising:

• means for allocating, in the host system, plural slots into which received data is transferred, a slot being a physically contiguous area of host memory, each slot being of one of a plurality of sizes, a raw cell consuming exactly one rx raw cell slot, a rx raw cell slot being at least large enough to hold an entire raw cell;
• means for detecting, in the adapter, a raw cell data transfer request;
• means, coupled to the detecting means, for transferring the raw cell data from the adapter to an rx raw cell slot in the host system, rx raw cell slots being consumed in the order in which they are posted;
• means, coupled to the detecting means, for deciding, in the adapter, whether to send a rx raw cell status report to the host system;
• means for creating, upon a decision to send a rx raw cell status report, a rx raw cell status report which explicitly identifies the rx raw cell slot to which the raw cell data was transferred, said rx raw cell status report implicitly identifying rx raw cell slots to which raw cell data has been transferred since the last rx raw cell status report sent to the host system;
• and
• means for transferring the created rx raw cell status report from the adapter to the host system, thereby mitigating the number rx raw cell status reports needed to be transferred to the host system.