General input/output architecture, protocol and related methods to manage data integrity

A general input/output (GIO) interface comprising:

• a physical layer, to couple the GIO interface to a GIO communication link;
• and
• a data link layer, coupled with the physical layer, to:
• receive a datagram from a remote GIO interface through the GIO communication link, wherein the GIO interface is implemented on a communication port implementing a communication stack including a transaction layer, a data link layer, and a physical layer, the physical layer to receive the datagram;
• validate content of one or more packets embedded within the received datagram by determining whether the one or more packets meet predetermined framing requirements, the validating performed by each of the physical link layer and the data link layer of the GIO interface;
• if the framing requirements are met, strip framing boundaries from the datagram to reveal one or more data link layer packets;
• and
• issue an acknowledgement to the remote GIO interface that the datagram was successfully received based, at least in part, on a result of the validation;
• and
• a transaction layer, coupled with the data link layer, to provide flow control update information to be transmitted to the remote GIO interface with the acknowledgement.

A storage medium comprising content which, when executed by an accessing device, causes the device to implement a general input/output interface (GIO) with which to communicate with remote GIO interface(s) of other device(s), wherein the GIO interface:

• receives a datagram at a general input/output (GIO) interface from a remote GIO interface through a GIO link, wherein the GIO interface is implemented on a communication port implementing a communication stack including a transaction layer, a data link layer, and a physical layer, the physical layer to receive the datagram;
• validates content of one or more packets embedded within the received datagram by determining whether the one or more packets meet predetermined framing requirements, the validating performed by each of the physical link layer and the data link layer of the GIO interface;
• if the framing requirements are met, strips framing boundaries from the datagram to reveal one or more data link layer packets;
• and
• on positive validation of the datagram, issues an acknowledgement to the remote GIO interface that the datagram was successfully received before promoting the embedded data link layer packets to a transaction layer of the GIO interface, wherein the acknowledgement includes flow control update information to be transmitted to the GIO interface.