Patent ID: 7742412

Claim:
An Ethernet network interface, comprising: an interface unit to a data processing unit with which the network interface communicates; a multi-channel transmitting direct memory access (DMA) receiving signals from the interface unit; a multi-channel receiving DMA sending signals to the interface unit; a packet manipulation module receiving signals from the multi-channel transmitting DMA; a packet classification module sending signals to the multi-channel receiving DMA; an Ethernet MAC layer receiving signals from the packet manipulation module and sending signals to the packet classification module; an Ethernet PHY layer coupled to an Ethernet switch; a congestion status detector for detecting whether there is traffic congestion between the network interface and the data processing unit; and a congestion status information generator for generating an IEEE 802.3x compliant frame containing congestion status information for at least two different network interface traffic classes independently at substantially the same time, and sending the IEEE 802.3x compliant frame containing the congestion status information to the Ethernet switch.