Patent ID: 7072970
Filing Date: 2006-07-04
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A system for converting network communications data between multiple communications protocols, the system comprising: a high speed interconnect; a plurality of programmable processors, each processor having multiple hardwired thread units, each said hardwired thread unit being capable of fully executing programs, wherein an inbound processor is pipelined with an outbound processor through said interprocessor high-speed interconnect, wherein the hardwired thread units are operable for performing communications protocol conversion of data frames, and wherein the processors perform the protocol conversion processing and data frame routing to another of said plurality of processors in parallel with at least one of said inbound processor and said outbound processor if a data frame is not related to a data frame currently being processed in a given processor, if the work queue of a given processor is above a threshold, or if a free memory list of a given processor is empty; a hardwired logic front end connected to a network interface for receiving and transmitting data, said hardwired logic performing time critical operations and communicating received data to and data to be transmitted from said plurality of programmable processors; and wherein the protocol conversion of data frames is performed such that related data frames are dispatched to the same hardwired thread unit.