Patent ID: 6654811
Filing Date: 2003-11-25
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A line interface card apparatus comprising:a data bus; a control bus; a packet queue memory for storing a plurality of data packets; a physical layer having first and second buffers, said physical layer being connected to said packet queue memory by said data bus and being adapted to be connected to a plurality of links to transmit data from said first and second physical layer buffers on the links; a queue manager connected to said packet queue memory and to said physical layer by said control bus; wherein, said queue manager is responsive to said physical layer transmitting to said queue manager via said control bus, a request for a first particular data packet, by instructing said packet queue memory to transfer the first particular data packet to said physical layer via said data bus, the first particular data packet being transferred from said packet queue memory to said physical layer in one or more packet fragments, the packet fragments being stored in one of said first and second buffers for transmission on the certain link, and upon the last fragment of the first particular data packet being transferred to the certain link said queue manager locates a new packet to be transferred to a link in response to a further request.