Patent ID: 8635619
Filing Date: 2014-01-21
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A device for scheduling virtual interfaces, the device comprising: a virtual interface scheduler, wherein the virtual interface scheduler is a hardware component of the device; a virtual interface context cache; and a pipeline having one or more processing units, wherein each of the one or processing units is a hardware component; wherein the virtual interface scheduler is configured to send a lock request for a respective virtual interface to the virtual interface context cache; wherein the virtual interface context cache is configured to lock a virtual interface context of the respective virtual interface and to send a lock token to the virtual interface scheduler; wherein the virtual interface context cache is configured to hold a current lock token for the respective virtual interface context and to unlock the virtual interface context responsive to a determination that a lock token of an unlock request received from the pipeline matches the held current lock token; and wherein the virtual interface scheduler is configured to request a lock token for a respective virtual interface from the virtual interface context cache dependent on a resynchronization request received from a processing unit of the pipeline, before the virtual interface scheduler attaches a scheduling element to a scheduling queue responsive to the virtual interface scheduler triggering an unlock request for the respective virtual interface to the virtual interface context cache in a previous scheduling cycle.