Patent ID: 7797438

Claim:
Data reception apparatus for receiving and processing a data stream including a stream of data units, the data reception apparatus comprising: a buffer comprising a first pointer indicating the next address in the buffer from which data units are to be read and processed, and a second pointer indicating an address in the buffer beyond which the first pointer may not pass; a data reception controller configured to receive data units from the data stream, storing received data units in the buffer, and generate an interrupt in response to each determination that a valid and complete data unit is received and stored in the buffer; and a processor including an interrupt handler which is responsive to a first one of the interrupts to: a) disable further interrupts with respect to receipt and storage of valid and complete data units in the buffer; and b) enable further interrupts after all stored valid and complete data units have been read from the buffer; wherein the processor activates a routine in response to the first interrupt to repeatedly read the data units from the buffer until all the valid and complete data units in the buffer have been processed; and wherein the routine updates the first pointer after each valid and complete data unit is read from the buffer, with the repeated read terminating when the first pointer meets the second pointer indicating that no unread valid and complete data units are available in the buffer, and wherein the second pointer is updated to point to the address in the buffer of a most recently received determined valid and complete data unit.