Patent ID: 6574231
Filing Date: 2003-06-03
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of storing received data in a memory of a network switch, comprising the steps of:retrieving first and second memory address pointers from a plurality of available memory address pointers specifying respective storage locations in a memory, each storage location having a prescribed storage size; receiving at least a portion of a data frame from a network media; writing at least a first portion of the received data frame into a first storage location specified by the first memory address pointer; and if the entire data frame has a size that exceeds the prescribed storage size of the specified memory location: (1) writing a second portion of the received data frame into a second storage location specified by the second memory address pointer; and (2) writing header information identifying the second memory address pointer into the first storage location specified by the first memory address pointer; writing a length of the data frame into the first storage location when two or more storage locations are required to store the data frame and after the data frame has been fully stored within the two or more memory locations.