Patent ID: 6356962
Filing Date: 2002-03-12
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
A method of controlling flow of data arranged in frames in a data-based network comprising the steps of:generating a watermark interrupt from a FIFO memory of a network device when the data in the FIFO memory has crossed a watermark threshold, the FIFO memory including a transmit FIFO memory; transferring a data burst from a host system through a direct memory access unit to the FIFO memory; verifying that the data burst is complete by checking a direct memory access flag indicative that the data burst is complete; checking a look ahead watermark flag at the FIFO memory to determine if sufficient memory space exists inside the FIFO memory for an additional data burst; and transferring an additional data burst through the direct memory access unit to the FIFO memory, wherein the direct memory access unit is operable for transferring data into the transmit FIFO based on a continuation-of-packet (COP) event corresponding to a watermark event.