Patent ID: 7936772

Claim:
A network endpoint system for receiving and sending network data of varying priority on behalf of a data consumer operating at the application layer of a network protocol stack implemented by said network endpoint system, comprising: a network interface controller operable to receive network frames containing inbound network data; plural network data handling channels each having an associated priority; priority processing logic operable to transfer said inbound network data from said network interface controller to said plural data handling channels on a prioritized basis according to said network data priority; said data consumer also acting as a network data source and said priority processing logic being further operable to transfer outbound network data from said plural data handling channels to said network interface controller on a prioritized basis according to said network data priority; said network interface controller being operable to send on a prioritized basis network frames containing said prioritized outbound network data; said plural network data handling channels comprising plural ring buffers containing buffer descriptors corresponding to said inbound and outbound network data; said plural ring buffers including plural receive ring buffers for said buffer descriptors corresponding to said inbound network data and plural transmit ring buffers for said buffer descriptors corresponding to said outbound network data; said priority processing logic being implemented by priority mapping logic in said network interface controller operable to inspect said network frames and deliver said buffer descriptors corresponding to said inbound network data to said plural receive ring buffers on a prioritized basis according to said network data priority; said priority processing logic being further implemented by ring buffer selection logic in a network interface controller device driver in said system operable to process said buffer descriptors in said plural receive ring buffers on a prioritized basis according to said network data priority; and said priority processing logic being further implemented by said priority mapping logic in said network interface controller being operable to process said buffer descriptors corresponding to said outbound network data that are in said plural transmit ring buffers on a prioritized basis according to said network data priority.