Patent ID: 7849243

Claim:
A method comprising: transmitting a first packet from a transmitter to a receiver along an interconnect, the first packet including a header indicating a payload length of a first size; and terminating transmission of the first packet at a packet disconnect boundary when the transmitter does not have sufficient credits to transfer data to a next packet disconnect boundary, the transmitter cannot guarantee streaming data to the next packet disconnect boundary, or the transmitter has insufficient data stored to the next packet disconnect boundary, the packet disconnect boundary corresponding to an allowable packet disconnect boundary for an extension to a communication protocol of the interconnect and having a length less than the payload length, wherein the packet transmission is terminated after transmission of a first portion of a payload corresponding to the payload length of the first size, and wherein the communication protocol requires the transmitter to guarantee that the payload length is less than or equal to available credits at the receiver and to guarantee no stall of packet transfer.