Patent ID: 7974291
Filing Date: 2011-07-05
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method performed by a reorder engine connected to a reorder buffer and a reorder pointer, the reorder buffer including a plurality of entries in which to store information associated with one or more data items, each data item, of the one or more data items, including a sequence number that indicates a relative order that each data item was transmitted, where the reorder pointer stores a pointer value that corresponds to a rearmost active entry, of a plurality of active entries, associated with a plurality of sequence numbers, the method comprising: receiving, by the reorder engine, information associated with a particular data item of the one or more data items and a particular sequence number, of the plurality of sequence numbers, associated with the particular data item; classifying, by the reorder engine, the particular data item as too late, as on time, or as too early based on the particular sequence number, and the pointer value; ignoring the information associated with the particular data item when the particular data is classified as too late; performing, when the particular data item is classified as on time, a storage operation on the information associated with the particular data item to determine an entry, of the plurality of entries, in which to store the information associated with the particular data item; shifting, when the particular data item is classified as too early the pointer value by a particular quantity of active entries, based on the particular sequence number; and performing, based on the shifted pointer value, another storage operation on the information associated with the particular data item to determine another entry, of the plurality of entries, in which to store the information associated with the particular data item.