Patent ID: 7839779
Filing Date: 2010-11-23
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: identifying an overflow RxFIFO, included in a plurality of RxFIFOs, with the overflow RxFIFO having a fill level exceeding a threshold, with each RxFIFO in the plurality of RxFIFOs holding data of a corresponding virtual stream included in a receive group of virtual streams, and with an RxFIFO and a corresponding TxFIFO transferring data in a virtual stream, where the plurality of RxFIFOs are included in a first Ethernet device coupled to first and second link partners, where the overflow RxFIFO holds traffic of a first receive virtual stream included in the receive group of virtual streams and where the corresponding TxFIFO is located in the first link partner; encoding bits in the reserved field of a first 802.3 flow-aware pause frame, using an 802.3 processing element, to identify the first receive virtual stream as the virtual stream to be paused by the first link partner; transmitting the first flow-aware pause frame to only the first link partner utilizing the 802.3 processing element; receiving, at the Ethernet device, a second flow-aware pause frame transmitted from the second link partner utilizing the 802.3 processing element; decoding bits in the reserved field of the second flow-aware pause frame, using the 802.3 processing element, to identify a first transmit virtual stream included in a transmit group of virtual streams, with the Ethernet device including a plurality of TxFIFOs and with each TxFIFO corresponding to a virtual stream of the transmit group of virtual streams; and stopping scheduling of transmission of traffic from the TxFIFO in the Ethernet device corresponding to the first transmit virtual stream of the transmit group of virtual streams.