Patent ID: 7469267
Filing Date: 2008-12-23
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for transferring control information from a host processor for a host computing system to a network processor for a network interface card operationally coupled to a network, the host computing system communicating with the network via the network interface card, comprising: detecting when data is being written by a host cache controller in a host cache; wherein a snooping module coupled to a memory bus detects if data is being written to the host cache; composing a message with at least a data block and a status block, wherein the host processor composes the message; invalidating the data block in a network cache of the network interface card, after the host processor composes the message; invalidating the status block in the network cache after the message is posted; sending a message to a network interface scheduler for transferring control from the host processor to the network processor; and transferring control information from the host processor to the network processor, wherein the network interface scheduler passes control from the host processor to the network processor.