Patent ID: 8918562

Claim:
A method comprising: a) initializing a plurality of registers including (i) an interface with a plurality of connections, (ii) a memory buffer including a plurality of locations for storing a last accessed timestamp by setting a status property of the locations to inactive, and (iii) a memory pointer, the memory pointer initialized by setting it to point to one of the plurality of locations; b) performing a timestamp analysis by: i) when the status property of the location of the memory pointer is active A) reading a last accessed timestamp corresponding to the location of the memory pointer; B) determining whether a timeout has occurred based on the last accessed timestamp, a current timestamp and a stored time out value; and C) if a timeout has occurred and the location of the memory pointer is active, notifying a higher communication layer and updating the status property of the location of the memory pointer to inactive; and ii) incrementing the memory pointer; and c) if an incoming data packet is received, handling the packet by: i) processing the incoming data packet with an incoming data handler configured to process the incoming data packet in the higher communication layer; ii) updating the status property of the location to active and setting the last accessed timestamp in one of the plurality of locations in the memory buffer.