Patent ID: 7483449

Claim:
A network interface controller for triggering data communication between communications devices of an asynchronous network having guaranteed delivery times, comprising: a counting device for generating a signal in response to counting a predetermined number of counts; a transmit trigger generator for receiving the signal from said counter and, in response, generating a transmit trigger signal; a transmit memory device, for storing data to be transmitted; a transmit memory manager for receiving the transmit trigger signal from said transmit trigger generator and, in response, directing at least a portion of said data stored in said memory device to a transmission device for transmission of said data; a receive trigger generator for receiving the signal from said counter and, in response, generating a receive trigger signal; a receive memory device, for storing received data; and a receive memory manager for receiving the receive trigger signal from said receive trigger generator and, in response, directing received data to a location within said receive memory device.