Apparatus and method for constructing data for transmission within a reliable communication protocol by performing portions of the protocol suite concurrently

Claim 3

The method according to claim 1, for further reliably constructing a synchronous acknowledgement to at least one received datagram, further comprising the step of generating a datagram that contains said acknowledgement as the data on said network card.

Claim 4

The method according to claim 1, for further reliably constructing a synchronous acknowledgement to at least one received datagram, further comprising the step of generating a datagram that contains said acknowledgement embedded in one of the TCP header and the IP header on said network card.

Claim 5

The method according to claim 1, for further reliably constructing an asynchronous acknowledgement to at least one received datagram, further comprising the step of generating a datagram that contains said acknowledgement as the data on said network card.

Claim 6

The method according to claim 1, for further reliably constructing an asynchronous acknowledgement to at least one received datagram, further comprising the step of generating a datagram that contains said acknowledgement embedded in one of the TCP header and the IP header on said network card.

Claim 7

The method according to claim 1, wherein said protocol logic is reconfigurable.

Claim 8

The method according to claim 2, wherein synchronous acknowledgement is suppressed by logic implemented in a network processor on said network card.

Claim 9

The method according to claim 4, wherein asynchronous acknowledgement is suppressed by logic implemented in a network processor on said network card.

Claim 10

The method according to claim 2, wherein said acknowledgement is transmitted in response to an expiration of a timer in protocol logic on said network card.

Claim 11

The method according to claim 3, wherein said acknowledgement is transmitted in response to an expiration of a timer in protocol logic on said network card.

Claim 12

The method according to claim 4, wherein said acknowledgement is transmitted in response to an expiration of a timer in protocol logic on said network card.

Claim 13

The method according to claim 5, wherein said acknowledgement is transmitted in response to an expiration of a timer in protocol logic on said network card.

Claim 14

In a system having a plurality of computer networks, each network having a plurality of nodes, and selected ones of said nodes having a processing subsystem comprising: a mechanical backplane backplane further comprising a plurality of parallel conductors for connecting and electrically coupling a PCI bus to bus interface circuitry; RAM memory connected to said mechanical backplane; a disk controller card connected to said mechanical backplane; an AC to DC converter connected to said mechanical backplane; a processor connected to said mechanical backplane; a keyboard connected to said mechanical backplane; a network processor connected to said mechanical backplane; said bus interface circuitry residing in each of said RAM memory, said processor, said keyboard, said disk controller card, and said network processor; said bus interface circuitry recognizes a bus address of a unit in which it resides; said network processor further comprises an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interface unit connected and electrically coupled to ATM switches, a first bridging means connected and electrically coupled to said ATM interface, said bridging means further connected and electrically coupled to a second bridging means and to protocol logic, said second bridging means further connected and electrically coupled to said bus interface, said protocol logic connected and electrically coupled to a memory unit; said processor and said network processor combine to implement the entire TCP/IP protocol suite within said processing subsystem; said memory unit stores a command list and acts as a buffer for TCP acknowledgement (ACK) commands and for a disposition queue of datagrams require further processing by the processor if they are inbound and transmission to the ATM switches via the ATM interface if they are outbound; and said protocol logic implements a portion of the TCP protocol and a portion of the IP protocol.

Claim 15

In a system having a plurality of computer networks, each network having a plurality of nodes, and selected ones of said nodes having a processing subsystem comprising: a mechanical backplane backplane further comprising a plurality of parallel conductors for connecting and electrically coupling a PCI bus to bus interface circuitry; RAM memory connected to said mechanical backplane; a disk controller card connected to said mechanical backplane; an AC to DC converter connected to said mechanical backplane; a processor connected to said mechanical backplane; a keyboard connected to said mechanical backplane; a network processor connected to said mechanical backplane; said bus interface circuitry residing in each of said RAM memory, said processor, said keyboard, said disk controller card, and said network processor; said bus interface circuitry recognizes a bus address of a unit in which it resides; said network processor further comprises an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interface unit connected and electrically coupled to ATM switches, a first bridging means connected and electrically coupled to said ATM interface, said bridging means further connected and electrically coupled to a second bridging means and to protocol logic, said second bridging means further connected and electrically coupled to said bus interface, said protocol logic connected and electrically coupled to a memory unit; said processor and said network processor combine to implement the entire TCP/IP protocol suite within said processing subsystem; said memory unit stores a command list and acts as a buffer for TCP acknowledgement (ACK) commands and for a disposition queue of datagrams require further processing by the processor if they are inbound and transmission to the ATM switches via the ATM interface if they are outbound; and said protocol logic implements a portion of the TCP protocol and a portion of the IP protocol.

Claim 16

The processing subsystem according to claim 13, wherein said protocol logic is reconfigurable.

Claim 17

The processing subsystem according to claim 13 wherein said network processor further comprises: a reconfigurable logic block; a processor subsystem; a bus connector slot; a first bridging means; a second bridging means; a clock generator; an arbitration means; a first internal bus; a second internal bus; said bus connector slot connected and electrically coupled to said reconfigurable logic block, said bus connector slot further connected and electrically coupled to said first internal bus, said first internal bus connected and electrically coupled to said first bridging means, said first internal bus further connected and electrically coupled to said processor subsystem, said processor subsystem connected and electrically coupled to said reconfigurable logic block, said reconfigurable logic block connected and electrically coupled to said clock generator, said reconfiguable logic block further connected and electrically coupled to said second internal bus, said second internal bus connected and electrically coupled to said first bridging means, said second internal bus further connected and electrically coupled to said second bridging means, said second internal bus further connected and electrically coupled to said arbitration means, said arbitration means connected and electrically coupled to said first bridging means, said arbitration means further connected and electrically coupled to said second bridging means.

Claim 18

The processing subsystem according to claim 13 wherein said network processor verifies that both the TCP segment checksum and the IP header checksum are correct before forwarding an inbound datagram to said processor for further processing.

Claim 19

The processing subsystem according to claim 13 wherein the network processor further accomplishes reassembly of a plurality of inbound datagrams and further verifies that partial checksums of the individual datagrams yield a verified total checksum of reassembled datagrams.

Claim 20

The processing subsystem according to claim 16, wherein the network processor further generates an acknowledgment synchronously to the sender once the data has been verified by the checksum.

Claim 21

The processing subsystem according to claim 17, wherein said network processor further buffers datagrams received out of order.

Claim 22

The processing subsystem according to claim 13, wherein said network processor calculates and inserts both the TCP segment checksum and the IP header checksum into outbound datagrams before forwarding said outbound datagrams to said ATM switches for transmission.

Claim 23

The processing subsystem according to claim 13, wherein the network processor further calculates a plurality of partial checksums of the individual outbound datagrams.

Claim 24

The processing subsystem according to claim 20, wherein the network processor further accepts an acknowledgment synchronously from the sender indicating that the outbound data has been received and verified by the checksum.

Claim 25

The processing subsystem according to claim 16, wherein the network processor further generates an acknowledgment asynchronously to the sender once the data has been verified by the checksum.

Claim 26

The processing subsystem according to claim 20, wherein the network processor further accepts an acknowledgment asynchronously from the sender indicating that the outbound data has been received and verified by the checksum.

Claim 27

The processing subsystem according to claim 16, wherein the network processor suppresses the generation and transmission of an acknowledgement.

Claim 28

In a system having a plurality of computer networks, each network having a plurality of nodes, and selected ones of said nodes having a processing subsystem comprising: a mechanical backplane backplane further comprising a plurality of parallel conductors for connecting and electrically coupling a PCI bus to bus interface circuitry; RAM memory connected to said mechanical backplane; a disk controller card connected to said mechanical backplane; an AC to DC converter connected to said mechanical backplane; a processor connected to said mechanical backplane; a keyboard connected to said mechanical backplane; a network processor connected to said mechanical backplane; said bus interface circuitry residing in each of said RAM memory, said processor, said keyboard, said disk controller card, and said network processor; said bus interface circuitry recognizes a bus address of a unit in which it resides; said network processor further comprises a wide area network (WAN) interface unit connected and electrically coupled to WAN switches, a first bridging means connected and electrically coupled to said WAN interface, said bridging means further connected and electrically coupled to a second bridging means and to protocol logic, said second bridging means further connected and electrically coupled to said bus interface, said protocol logic connected and electrically coupled to a memory unit; said processor and said network processor combine to implement the entire TCP/IP protocol suite within said processing subsystem; said memory unit stores a command list and acts as a buffer for TCP acknowledgement (ACK) commands and for a disposition queue of datagrams require further processing by the processor if they are inbound and transmission to the WAN switches via the WAN interface if they are outbound; and said protocol logic implements a portion of the TCP protocol and a portion of the IP protocol.

Claim 29

In a system having a plurality of computer networks, each network having a plurality of nodes, and selected ones of said nodes having a processing subsystem comprising: a mechanical backplane backplane further comprising a plurality of parallel conductors for connecting and electrically coupling a PCI bus to bus interface circuitry; RAM memory connected to said mechanical backplane; a disk controller card connected to said mechanical backplane; an AC to DC converter connected to said mechanical backplane; a processor connected to said mechanical backplane; a keyboard connected to said mechanical backplane; a network processor connected to said mechanical backplane; said bus interface circuitry residing in each of said RAM memory, said processor, said keyboard, said disk controller card, and said network processor; said bus interface circuitry recognizes a bus address of a unit in which it resides; said network processor further comprises a wide area network (WAN) interface unit connected and electrically coupled to WAN switches, a first bridging means connected and electrically coupled to said WAN interface, said bridging means further connected and electrically coupled to a second bridging means and to protocol logic, said second bridging means further connected and electrically coupled to said bus interface, said protocol logic connected and electrically coupled to a memory unit; said processor and said network processor combine to implement the entire TCP/IP protocol suite within said processing subsystem; said memory unit stores a command list and acts as a buffer for TCP acknowledgement (ACK) commands and for a disposition queue of datagrams require further processing by the processor if they are inbound and transmission to the WAN switches via the WAN interface if they are outbound; and said protocol logic implements a portion of the TCP protocol and a portion of the IP protocol.

Claim 30

The processing subsystem according to claim 26, wherein said protocol logic is reconfigurable.

Claim 31

The processing subsystem according to claim 26 wherein said network processor further comprises: a reconfigurable logic block; a processor subsystem; a bus connector slot; a first bridging means; a second bridging means; a clock generator; an arbitration means; a first internal bus; a second internal bus; said bus connector slot connected and electrically coupled to said reconfigurable logic block, said bus connector slot further connected and electrically coupled to said first internal bus, said first internal bus connected and electrically coupled to said first bridging means, said first internal bus further connected and electrically coupled to said processor subsystem, said processor subsystem connected and electrically coupled to said reconfigurable logic block, said reconfigurable logic block connected and electrically coupled to said clock generator, said reconfiguable logic block further connected and electrically coupled to said second internal bus, said second internal bus connected and electrically coupled to said first bridging means, said second internal bus further connected and electrically coupled to said second bridging means, said second internal bus further connected and electrically coupled to said arbitration means, said arbitration means connected and electrically coupled to said first bridging means, said arbitration means further connected and electrically coupled to said second bridging means.

Claim 32

The processing subsystem according to claim 26 wherein said network processor verifies that both the TCP segment checksum and the IP header checksum are correct before forwarding an inbound datagram to said processor for further processing.

Claim 33

The processing subsystem according to claim 26 wherein the network processor further accomplishes reassembly of a plurality of inbound datagrams and further verifies that partial checksums of the individual datagrams yield a verified total checksum of reassembled datagrams.

Claim 34

The processing subsystem according to claim 29, wherein the network processor further generates an acknowledgment synchronously to the sender once the data has been verified by the checksum.

Claim 35

The processing subsystem according to claim 30, wherein said network processor further buffers datagrams received out of order.

Claim 36

The processing subsystem according to claim 26, wherein said network processor calculates and inserts both the TCP segment checksum and the IP header checksum into outbound datagrams before forwarding said outbound datagrams to said WAN switches for transmission.

Claim 37

The processing subsystem according to claim 26, wherein the network processor further calculates a plurality of partial checksums of the individual outbound datagrams.

Claim 38

The processing subsystem according to claim 33, wherein the network processor further accepts an acknowledgment synchronously from the sender indicating that the outbound data has been received and verified by the checksum.

Claim 39

The processing subsystem according to claim 29, wherein the network processor further generates an acknowledgment asynchronously to the sender once the data has been verified by the checksum.

Claim 40

The processing subsystem according to claim 33, wherein the network processor further accepts an acknowledgment asynchronously from the sender indicating that the outbound data has been received and verified by the checksum.

Claim 41

The processing subsystem according to claim 29, wherein the network processor suppresses the generation and transmission of an acknowledgement.