Patent ID: 8412864

Claim:
An information processing apparatus for reading data in packet units from a plurality of queues provided in a memory in accordance with DMA (Direct Memory Access), the information processing apparatus comprising: generation means for generating groups of descriptors associated with corresponding ones of the queues; means for assigning, to corresponding registers, values identifying the descriptors within the generated descriptor groups, the registers being associated with corresponding ones of the queues; reading means for obtaining descriptors from the descriptor groups based on corresponding register values, the obtained descriptors identifying data associated with corresponding ones of the queues; DMA means for extracting position information from a selected one of the descriptors and for reading data in packet units from the memory in accordance with DMA on the basis of the extracted position information, wherein an interrupt processor performs a predetermined interrupt process when the interrupt processor is notified of the completion of the DMA from an interrupt controller; and transmission means for transmitting a plurality of pieces of transmission data in such a manner as to correspond to a transmission rate and a priority that are set in each piece of transmission data, wherein: the means for assigning comprises (i) a first means for assigning values to a first one of the registers associated with a corresponding first queue, and (ii) a second means for assigning values to a second one of the registers associated with a corresponding second queue, a priority of data associated with the first queue exceeding a priority of data associated with the second queue; the first assigning means comprises a hardware controller configured to assign the values to the first register at predetermined intervals; and the second assigning means assigns the values to the second register in response to information indicating the generation of a descriptor group associated with the second queue.