Patent ID: 6757746
Filing Date: 2004-06-29
Classification: G06F,H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
A method of transferring data of a message from a network interface device into a host memory of a host computer, the host computer having an operating system, the network interface device being coupled to receive the message from a packet-switched network, the network interface device being coupled such that the network interface device can write into the host memory, the message consisting of a first packet and a plurality of subsequent packets, each of the plurality of subsequent packets containing a header portion and a data portion, the method comprising:(a) the network interface device supplying at least a portion of the first packet to the operating system of the host computer, the operating system using the at least a portion of the first packet to obtain a destination in the host memory for the data of the message, the operating system obtaining this destination without being supplied by the network interface device any portion of any of the subsequent packets, the operating system communicating an indication of the destination to the network interface device; and (b) the network interface device using the indication of the destination to write the data portion of each of the plurality of subsequent packets into the destination in the host memory, the network interface device writing the data portions from the plurality of subsequent packets into the destination without writing a header portion of any of the subsequent packets into the destination.