Low-latency packet receive method for networking devices

A host for interfacing with a networking device, the host comprising:

• a logic;
• the logic comprising:
• a receive queue configured to store a first queue entry to be read by a queue reader of the networking device, the first queue entry comprising a virtual address of a virtual buffer, the virtual buffer corresponding to a physical buffer list in a physical memory, the physical buffer list corresponding to a plurality of buffer elements;
• an unpinned memory configured to store a first data in the plurality of buffer elements, the first data associated with the first queue entry, the size of the first data being larger than the size of a buffer element;
• and
• a pinned memory configured to store a second data from the networking device, the size of the second data being the size of the buffer element or smaller, wherein the logic is configured to write the second data to another unpinned memory.

A method for interfacing with a host memory, comprising:

• receiving a first data and a second data, the size of the first data being larger than the size of a buffer element, the size of the second data being the size of the buffer element or smaller;
• reading a first queue entry from a receive queue in the host memory, the first queue entry comprising a virtual address of a virtual buffer, the virtual buffer corresponding to a physical buffer list in a physical memory, the physical buffer list corresponding to a plurality of buffer elements in the unpinned memory in the host memory;
• writing the first data to the plurality of buffer elements in the unpinned memory in the host memory in response to the read first queue entry;
• and
• writing the second data to a pinned memory in the host memory.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium for an apparatus, the medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform a method comprising:

• storing a first queue entry in a receive queue configured to be read by a queue reader of a networking device, the first queue entry comprising a virtual address of a virtual buffer, the virtual buffer corresponding to a physical buffer list in a physical memory, the physical buffer list corresponding to a plurality of buffer elements in the unpinned memory in the host memory;
• storing a first data from the networking device in the plurality of buffer elements in the unpinned memory, the first data associated with the first queue entry, the size of the first data being larger than the size of a buffer element;
• storing a second data from the networking device in a pinned memory, the size of the second data being the size of the buffer element or smaller;
• and
• writing the second data to another unpinned memory.