Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to computer networks and to interface devices for connecting host computers to networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to the conservation of power consumption by network interface cards in network connected systems based upon dynamic clock control. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Computer systems include network interfaces that support high speed data transfer between the host computer and the data network. These network interfaces are typically always on, because of the need to detect traffic on the connected networks, and to detect activity of the host computer which requires service of the network interface card. Thus, in systems for which power conservation is important, the network interface can consume significant power even when it is not downloading packets from the host, transmitting packets on the network, receiving packets from the network or uploading packets to the host. 
     Network interface cards usually include circuitry that is responsive to a number of different clocks, which are usually asynchronous. For example, a host bus clock, a network receive clock and a network transmit clock are necessary for interfacing with external communication paths. The interface card may also include an internal clock for a variety of logical functions. In order for the network interface to be in a condition to react to activity on its inputs, all of these clocks are left running in the circuitry. Thus, there are many signal transitions consuming power even when the interface card is in an idle state. 
     Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a network interface card that consumes less power, but remains ready to react efficiently to events on its inputs to transmit and receive data packets, and to react to other commands associated with management of the network interface. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a system and method for connecting constantly running clocks to a small amount of logic on the network interface card. The logic is used to monitor activity on the network interface card, and in response to events enable the clocks for functional blocks within the chip, on an as needed basis. Through dynamically controlled clocks, power consumption can be reduced significantly, and the network interface card remains in a state that is able to react efficiently to external events related to transmission of packets, reception of packets and functions related to the management of the network interface. 
     Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for managing power consumption on a network interface which manages transfer of data packets between a host processor operating in response to a host clock and a network operating in response to a network clock. The method includes monitoring activity on a first port coupled to the host processor and on a second port coupled to the network, and supplying the host clock and the network clock to circuitry in the network interface on an as needed basis, according to the activity on the first and second ports. 
     In embodiments in which the network interface includes transmit circuitry responsive to a transmit clock signal and receive circuitry responsive to a receive clock signal, the method includes supplying the transmit clock to circuitry in the transmit path circuitry in response to an event at the first port indicating the transmit sequence, and supplying the receive clock signal to circuitry in the receive path circuitry in response to an event at the second port indicating a receive sequence. The events at the first port indicating a transmit sequence are detected by decoding bus transactions using a decoder that receives a constantly running clock. The events at the second port indicating a receive sequence are detected by filtering packets received from network medium in circuitry which receives a constantly running clock, such as recovering the clock signal from the network. 
     Some embodiments include an interface between the host processor and a network interface card which comprises a bus operating in response to a bus clock, and the network interface card includes a bus master circuitry and bus slave circuitry. The bus clock is supplied to the bus slave circuitry in response to the detection of an event indicating a bus slave transaction. The bus clock is supplied to the bus master circuitry in response to the detection of an event indicating a bus master transaction. 
     In another aspect of the invention, for a network interface card including an internal clock, the internal clock is enabled in response to events on the input of the network interface card which can require the resources that rely on the internal clock. In for example, when the transmit circuitry includes a transmit first-in-first-out buffer that receives input data in response to the internal clock and, and supplies output data in response to the transmit clock, the internal clock is enabled in circuitry associated with the first-in-first-out buffer upon detection of events indicating a transmit sequence. 
     The present invention also provides a computer system which operates more efficiently, and consumes less power, that includes a network interface card with dynamically controlled clocks as described above. In addition, the present invention provides an integrated circuit for use in a network interface card including the logic resources and clock resources associated with dynamically controlled clocks for the functional blocks within the integrated circuit. 
     Thus, the present invention improves over the state-of-the-art by providing constantly running clocks only in small logic blocks which monitor host processor and network activities. The clocks on bus slave related logic are turned off when there are no bus transactions directed to the network interface. The clocks for the transmit packet buffer and the related download and transmit logic are turned off when there is no packet being downloaded or transmitted. Clocks to the receive packet buffer and the related receive/upload logic are turned off when there is no packet being received or uploaded. The clocks in the medium access controller MAC transmitter are turned off when there is no packet being transmitted to the network. The clocks in the MAC receiver are turned off when there is no packet being received. Overall, power consumption in the network interface card, and in the computer system employing the network interface card are reduced by the use of dynamically controlled clocks among the functional blocks of the network interface card. 
     Other aspects and advantages of the present invention can be seen upon review of the figures, the detailed description, and the claims which follow. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
     FIG. 1 is as simplified block diagram of a computer system including a network interface having reduced power consumption according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a more detailed block diagram of one embodiment of a network interface supporting power conservation according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a more detailed functional block diagram of PCI slave circuitry and monitor logic for use in the system of FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 4 is a logic diagram of the PCI slave pipeline of FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 5 is an illustration of the PCI slave decoder in the system of FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating operation of the PCI slave monitor of FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 7 is a more detailed functional block diagram of the transmit path circuitry in the network interface card. 
     FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the operation of the download/transmit clock control block in the system of FIG.  7 . 
     FIG. 9 is a more detailed functional block diagram of the receive path circuitry in the network interface card. 
     FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the operation of the receive/upload clock control block of FIG.  9 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1 provides a basic diagram of a computer system having a host CPU  10  coupled to a bus system  11 , such as a PCI bus. The bus  11  interconnects a plurality of PCI clients, including client  12  and the network interface card  13  shown with expanded functional blocks. The network interface card  13  includes an application specific integrated circuit ASIC  14 . The ASIC  14  includes network interface functions for an Ethernet interface in this embodiment. Other embodiments provide interfaces to other types of the network media. In addition to the ASIC  14 , other components are interconnected by and supported by the circuit board of the network interface card  13 . For example, a BIOS ROM (not shown), an EEPROM (not shown) and an RJ45 connector  17  are on the circuit board. 
     The ASIC  14  includes a MAC transmitter  20 X for the transmit path and a MAC receiver  20 R for the receive path coupled to media interface circuitry  21 , which is coupled to the connector  17 . The MAC transmitter  20 X is also coupled to a transmit packet buffer  22  (usually a FIFO) which is driven by a download engine  23  on the ASIC  14 . The download engine  23  is coupled to a PCI bus controller  24 . The PCI bus controller  24  is also coupled to an upload engine  25 . The upload engine  25  is coupled to a receive packet buffer  26  (usually a FIFO) which is connected to the MAC receiver  20 R for the receive path. PCI slave circuitry  37  is coupled to the bus  11 , and performs logic functions associated with operation of the network interface card  13 . Thus, the illustration of the ASIC  14  includes basic elements of a network interface controller chip. 
     In addition, the ASIC  14  includes clock control circuitry  35 ,  36  which controls enabling of clock signals to the receive path circuitry, the transmit path circuitry, the PCI master circuitry  24  and the PCI slave circuitry  37 . Network activity monitoring resources  30  coupled to the receive path clock control circuitry  36  are used for control of the enablement of the receive clock or clocks. PCI bus monitoring resources  31  which control enabling of the transmit clock or clocks are coupled to the PCI/transmit clock control circuits  35 . The PCI bus monitoring resources  31  also control enabling the clocks for circuitry in the PCI bus controller, including the PCI slave circuits and master circuits. 
     In this example, the ASIC receives a raw PCI clock  40  from the host bus used for circuits synchronized with the host bus, a raw ASIC clock  41  from on chip clock circuits used for internal ASIC circuits like the receive FIFO input and the transmit FIFO output, a raw transmit clock  42  from on chip clock circuits used for clocking packets transmitted to the network from the transmit FIFO, and a raw receive clock  43  which is recovered from incoming frames at the network interface circuitry  21 . The clock control circuitry  35 ,  36  produces enabled clock signals MS EN for the master PCI related circuits, SLV EN for the slave PCI related circuits, ASIC EN for the internal circuits, TX EN for the transmit related circuits, and RX EN for the receive related circuits. These clocks are distributed to the resources in the chip on an as needed basis, in response to the monitoring of bus and network activity. In this manner, resources on the chip which are not needed, do not consume power in idle states due to clock transitions. Other embodiments of the present invention will provide for more or fewer enabled clock signals, and receive more or fewer raw clock signals, depending the particular implementations and the level of granularity of control desired. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a more detailed diagram of one preferred embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a network interface card  100  is coupled to a network medium  101 , such as an ethernet network operating at 100 Mbits, or 1 Giga-bits for example. A host processor  103  is coupled to a host bus  102 , which in this example comprise a PCI host and a PCI bus. 
     The network interface card  100  includes a PCI master interface  104 , a PCI slave interface  105 , and a PCI slave clock control unit  106 , all of which are coupled to the PCI bus  102 . The PCI master interface  104  receives all of the signals on the PCI bus relevant to bus master operations. The PCI slave interface  105  receives the address signals, byte enable signals and other control signals such as IDSEL from the PCI bus  102 . The PCI slave clock control unit  106 , receives the PCI bus clock as well as other signals from the PCI bus  102 . 
     The network interface card  100  includes a physical layer interface  107  for the particular network medium  101  in use. The physical layer interface  107  recovers a receive clock from the incoming data packets which is distributed within the chip as discussed in more detail below. A transmit clock generated on chip is used for transmitting network packets. 
     The functional blocks of the network interface card  100  can be characterized as receive path circuitry, transmit path circuitry, PCI slave circuitry, and PCI master circuitry. The PCI master circuitry is closely integrated with the receive path circuitry and transmit path circuitry. 
     The PCI slave circuitry includes the PCI slave interface  105 , PCI slave clock control  106 , a variety of on chip registers  108 , and download control logic  109 . 
     Receive path circuitry includes the physical interface  107 , the MAC receiver circuitry  110 , the receive packet buffer  111 , and the PCI master interface  104 . 
     Transmit path circuitry includes the PCI master interface  104 , transmit packet buffer  112 , MAC transmitter circuitry  113 , and the physical layer interface  107 . 
     The PCI master circuitry includes the PCI master interface  104 , and the PCI master clock control circuit  114 , which is coupled to the download control logic  109 , and a MAC receiver monitor  115 . 
     The network interface card  100  is used to connect various host devices to a network, providing communication paths for message passing or information access. On the transmit side, packets are downloaded from the bus to a transmit packet buffer  112 . The packets are forwarded to the MAC transmitter  113 , which converts in the packets to conform with the data link layer protocol (e.g. IEEE 802.3) of the particular network. These packets finally go through the physical layer interface  107  to be transmitted onto the wire or other medium. On the receive side, the packets being received from the wire, or other medium, go through the physical interface  107  and the MAC receiver  110  before being written into the receive packet buffer  111 . 
     The PCI interface in this example consists of a PCI slave  105  and a PCI master  104 . The PCI slave  105  operates to determine whether to accept a transaction initiated from the PCI host  103 . These transactions are used for initializing registers  108  in the network interface card, checking status, handling interrupts and controlling data movement. The function of the PCI master  104  is to download packets from the PCI bus to be transmitted on the network, and upload packets to the PCI bus from the network. 
     In this embodiment, each packet can consist of multiple fragments which can reside in different chunks of host memory. Data downloading is initiated by fetching address and length information for each fragment, followed by downloading the fragments of packet data from the host memory to the transmit packet buffer  112 . This process repeats until all the fragments within a packet and all the packets in the queue are downloaded. The data flow direction for uploading is reversed. After the packet has been received into the receive packet buffer  111 , fragment address and length information is provided, and the data is uploaded into the allocated memory locations. 
     The clocks in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 which are provided to the network interface card include the following: 
     pciClkRaw: This is the host bus clock which is provided to the PCI slave clock control  106 , and the PCI master clock control  114 . In this embodiment, the host bus clock is a 33 MHz constantly running clock. 
     asicClkRaw: This is an internal clock generated on the integrated circuit. In this embodiment, the internal clock is a 25 MHz constantly running clock. 
     txClkRaw: This is a 25 MHz constantly running transmit clock generated on the integrated circuit. 
     rxCLKRaw: This is the receive clock recovered at the physical interface  107 , and constitutes a 25 MHz recovered network clock for a 100 Mb ethernet interface. 
     The PCI slave clock control unit  106  is responsive to signals on the PCI bus  102  to produce a slave PCI clock slvPciClk on the PCI slave interface  105  and related circuitry. This is described in more detail with respect the FIGS. 3-6. 
     The PCI master clock control block  114  is responsive to a variety of signals indicating transmit and receive activity, including logic signal dpdNotEmpty from the download control logic  109  indicating that a download packet descriptor is not empty, a signal tpbEmpty from the transmit packet buffer  112  indicating that the transmit packet buffer is empty, a signal rpbEmpty from the receive packet buffer  111  indicating that the receive packet buffer is empty, a signal XmitDone from the MAC transmitter circuitry  113  indicating that the transmit of a particular packet is done, and signals startFrame, frameReceiving from the MAC receiver monitor  115  indicating a start frame sequence and a frame receiving sequence are occurring on the physical interface  107 . The PCI master clock control block  114  is described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 7-10, and operates to enable the host bus clock, the internal clock and the network clocks to circuitry within the transmit path circuitry, receive path circuitry and PCI master interface. 
     The clocks enabled by the PCI master clock control unit  114  on an as needed basis include the following: 
     msPciClk: This is the PCI clock for the PCI master interface  104 . 
     rcvPciClk: This is the PCI clock for the receive packet buffer  111 . 
     rcvAsicCLk: This is the internal clock for the receive packet buffer  111  and the MAC receiver  110 . 
     rcvRxClk: This is the network receive clock for the MAC receiver  110 . 
     xmitPciClk: This is the PCI clock for the transmit packet buffer  112 . 
     xmitAsicClk: This is the internal clock for the transmit packet buffer  112  and MAC transmitter  113 . 
     xmitTxClk: This is the network transmit clock for the MAC transmitter  113 . 
     FIG. 3 illustrates the PCI slave clock control block of FIG.  2 . The PCI slave clock control block consists of circuitry including a PCI slave pipeline  200 , a PCI slave decoder  201 , and a PCI slave monitor  202 . This circuitry is used to control enabling the clocks to PCI slave function blocks in the network interface card upon detecting an access to the network interface card requiring slave functions. The clocks remain enabled until access is completed. If no new access is detected at that time, clocks are disabled to save power. 
     Inputs to the circuitry of FIG. 3 include the FRAME signal, the address signals, the byte enable signals and the control signal IDSEL from the PCI bus  102  in this embodiment. Also, the bus clock is received by the circuit. The PCI slave pipeline  200  latches the address, byte enable and IDSEL signals, and provides them as input to the PCI slave decoder  201 . The PCI slave decoder  201  determines whether an event has occurred on the bus which is relevant to the slave circuitry, and asserts a control signal to the PCI slave monitor  202 . The PCI slave monitor  202  receives the FRAME signal as well as the output of the PCI slave decoder  201 , and in response generates a clock enable signal for the PCI slave circuitry. The clock enable signal is supplied to a clock enable circuit, such as AND-gate  204 , which also receives the bus clock has input. The output of the clock enable circuit is supplied as the PCI clock for the slave interface circuitry  105 . The slave interface circuitry  105  asserts a signal indicating the end of the slave cycle, for use by the PCI slave monitor  202 . Also, the PCI slave interface supplies register values which are used by the PCI slave decoder  201 . 
     The values which are supplied to the PCI slave decoder  201  in this example include the following: 
     CfgRomEn: This is a parameter indicating access to the BIOS ROM is enabled. 
     CfgMemEn: This is a parameter indicating access to memory space registers in the network interface card is enabled. 
     CfgIoEn: This is a parameter indicating that I/O register space access is enabled. 
     CfgRomBase[ 31 : 17 ]: This is the base address for the BIOS ROM. 
     CfgMemBase[ 31 : 7 ]: This is the base address for the accessible memory space registers on the network interface card. 
     CfgIoBase[ 31 : 7 ]: This is the base address for the I/O space registers on the network interaface card. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates the PCI slave pipeline  200 . It includes a plurality of registers, including a first register set  210  for the address bits AD[ 31 : 0 ], a second register set  211  for the byte enable signals CBE[ 3 : 0 ], and a third register set  212  for the control signal IDSEL. The registers in the plurality of registers are clocked by the raw host bus clock pciClkRaw, and are therefore always running. The outputs of the registers are supplied as inputs to the PCI slave decoder  201 . 
     FIG. 5 illustrates the logic of the PCI slave decoder. Basically, the cycles are identified as I/O cycles, memory cycles or configuration cycles in response to the byte enable signals. The memory cycles are classified as ROM memory cycles or register memory cycles, as I/O cycles or as configuration cycles addressed to the particular network interface card in response to matching of the base addresses, and the parameters enabling access to the respective memory areas, with the incoming address and other control signals on the bus. In response to recognition of any of these types of cycles addressed to the particular network interface card on which the decoder is found, a “my cycle” signal is issued for use by the PCI slave monitor  202 . 
     FIG. 6 illustrates the function of the PCI slave monitor  202 . The slave monitor includes an idle state  220  in which the PCI slave clock enable signal is set at logic 0. When a frame is detected on the PCI bus, the logic transitions to a check access state  221 . In the check access state  221 , the PCI clock enable is set to value of a flag which is it set as described below. In the check access state  221 , the presence of the “my cycle” signal is tested at block  222 . If the “my cycle” signal is not detected, then the circuitry loops back to the idle state  220 . If a “my cycle” signal is detected at block  222 , then the logic transitions to an enable slave clock state  223 . In this state, the PCI slave clock enable signal is set to logic 1. The circuitry remains in the enable slave clock state  223  until a slave cycle done signal is asserted by the PCI slave circuitry. On assertion of the slave cycle done signal, the circuitry transitions to a parity check state  224 . The parity check state  224  keeps the clock enabled to allow parity checking to complete. In this state, the slave clock enable signal remains at logic 1, and the flag is set to logic 1. If during this state, a frame is detected, then the algorithm loops to the check access state  221 . If a new frame is not detected in state  224 , the algorithm proceeds to a parity error state  225  in which the PCI slave clock enable signal remains logic 1 allowing for the PCI slave circuitry to remain enabled for parity error detection. If the frame signal remains asserted that point, then the algorithm them loops to block  221 . If at that point no frame signal is asserted, then the logic proceeds to the disable slave clock state  226 . In this state, the PCI slave clock enable signal is set to logic 0, and a signal to clear the flag is set to logic 1 in order to clear the flag to a logic 0 state. At that point, the algorithm loops back to the idle state  220 . 
     The PCI master clock control  114  of FIG. 2, consists of three blocks in this example. A first block is for data transmit path circuitry as illustrated in FIGS. 7-8. A second block is for the data receive path circuitry as illustrated in FIGS. 9-10. The third block is for PCI bus arbitration and data transfer control. The clocks for each of the transmit path circuitry and the receive path circuitry are enabled if the corresponding block is active. The clocks for the PCI bus arbitration and data transfer control block are enabled if either of the first two blocks is active. Accordingly, no separate clock control logic is required for the PCI bus arbitration and data transfer control block. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates the clock control for the transmit path circuitry in the network interface card. The components shown in FIG. 7 include a PCI download engine  250 , the transmit packet buffer  251 , a MAC transmitter  252 , and the physical layer interface  107 . The PCI download engine  250  is coupled to the PCI bus  102 . The physical layer interface  107  is coupled to the network medium  101 . The download transmit clock control block  253  receives the raw PCI clock, the internal clock, and the raw transmit clock as inputs and supplies clocks to the download engine  250 , the transmit buffer  251 , and a MAC transmitter  252  in response to a signal dpdNot Empty on line  254  indicating that the download packet descriptor is not empty, indicating that there remain packets to be transmitted in a queue managed by the host, and in response to a signal tpbEmpty indicating that the transmit packet buffer  251  is empty. The clock signal names have been described above with respect FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 8 illustrates the operation of the download/transmit clock control unit. The control unit operation begins in an idle state  260 . In this state, the download transmit clock enable signal is set to a logic 0. Upon reception of a dpdNotEmpty signal, the circuitry transitions to a download transmit enable state  261 . In this state, the download transmit clock enable signal is set to a logic 1. The control signal dpdNotEmpty indicating whether the download packet descriptor is present is tested a block  262 . If the signal is asserted indicating that a descriptor remains available, then the algorithm loops back to state  261 . If in state  262 , the control signal indicating presence of the download packet descriptor is not asserted, then the process proceeds to a wait until transmit packet buffer is empty state  263 . In this state, the download transmit clock enable signal remains a logic 1. In this state, if the logic indicates that another download packet descriptor has been stored on the chip, then the process loops back to state  261 . If the download packet descriptor signal indicates that no descriptors are available, then the signal tpdEmpty from the transmit packet buffer indicating that it is empty is tested. If the transmit packet buffer is not empty, then the process loops back to state  263 . If the download packet buffer is empty, then the process proceeds to a wait until MAC done state  265 . The download transmit clock enable signal remains a logic 1 in this state. If a new download packet descriptor is to available during this state, the process loops back to state  261 . If not, then the process awaits assertion of the transmit done signal XmitDone by the MAC transmitter circuit as indicated by block  266 . If the transmit done signal is not asserted, then the process loops back to state  265 . If the transmit done signal is asserted before another download packet descriptor has been made available, then the process loops back to the idle state  260 . 
     Thus, the transmit circuitry which includes the download from the host and transmit out on the network medium, operates in response to a download descriptor structure in host memory. The host driver sets up the download descriptor structure, and a control signal dpdNotEmpty is loaded into a DMA control register on the chip. Upon detecting his condition, the clocks for the PCI bus master download and transmit blocks are enabled. This path stays enabled until the signal dpdNotEmpty becomes false, indicating that all packets have been downloaded to the transmit packet buffer, and until the last byte is transmitted out of the MAC transmitter onto the network. At that point, clocks to the PCI master download block, transmit packet buffer and other circuitry associated with the transmit path are disabled. 
     FIG. 9 illustrates functional blocks of the receive path circuitry, including a PCI upload engine  280  coupled to the PCI bus  102 , the receive packet buffer  281  coupled to the PCI upload engine  280 , a MAC receiver  282  coupled to the receive packet buffer  281 , and a destination address pipeline  283  coupled to the MAC receiver  282  and to the physical interface  107 . A MAC receiver monitor and address filter block  284  is coupled to the physical interface  107 . An address filter register  285  and a station address register  286  are coupled to the MAC receiver monitor and address filter  284 . The receive upload clock control block  287  receives control signals from the MAC receiver monitor/address filter  284  and the raw receive clock which is recovered from the incoming packet data at the physical interface  107 . The receive upload clock control block  287  also receives a control signal rpbEmpty from the receive packet buffer indicating whether it is empty. The receive upload clock control block  287  takes the host bus clock, the internal ASIC clock and the raw receive clock as inputs and provides internal clocks to various units of the receive path circuitry. The signals illustrated in FIG. 9 are discussed above with respect to FIG.  2 . Exceptions include the destination address pipeline which receives the raw receive clock rxClkRaw and receive data rxData [ 7 / 3 : 0 ] from the physical interface  107 , and the address filter components of the MAC receiver monitor which receive the raw receive clock rxClkRaw, the receive data valid signal rxDataValid and the receive packet data rxData [ 7 / 3 : 0 ] from the physical interface  107 . 
     FIG. 10 illustrates the operation the receive/upload clock control block  287  and the MAC receiver monitor/address filter  284  of FIG.  9 . The receive/upload clock control block logic begins in an idle state  290 . In this state, it waits until a start frame delimiter is detected as indicated by the startFrame signal received from the MAC receiver monitor. Upon detection of the beginning of a frame, the process transitions to the address filter state  291 . The address filter compares the incoming six bytes of the destination address with the station address filter  286  and receive address filter  285 . An address match signal is asserted if a match is detected. If during this process the frameReceiving signal becomes logic 0, indicating a runt packet, the algorithm loops back to the idle state  290 . Otherwise, an address match is awaited as indicated at block  292 . If no match is detected, the process loops to the wait end of frame state  293 , and remains in state  293  until the frameReceiving signal is de-asserted. If at block  292 , an address match is detected, the process transitions to the enable receive and upload clock state  294 . In this state, the receive and upload clocks are enabled and stay enabled until the receive packet buffer is empty and the frameReceiving signal is inactive. Thus, at block  292 , the receive packet buffer signal and the frame receiving signals are monitored. As long as either the receive packet buffer is not empty or the frame receiving signal remains active, the process loops back to block  294 . If the receive packet buffer is empty, and the frame receiving signal is not active, then the process either loops to the idle state  290  or to the address filter state  291 , depending on the presence or not of a startFrame signal. 
     In operation, for control of the receive and upload clocks, receive packet data is constantly monitored, and a frame start signal is generated as soon as the start frame delimiter is detected. The signal is used to invoke address filter logic. If an end of frame condition signal is detected during an address comparison, a collision may have occurred. Control transfers back to the idle state in this case, to wait for the next start frame delimiter. Upon the completion of the destination address cycle, a total of six bytes, if there is no address match, clocks to the receive and upload path are not enabled. Instead, control goes back to the idle state to begin waiting for the next start frame delimiter. If an address match is detected indicating that the incoming frame should be received and uploaded, clocks for the receive and upload functional blocks in the receive path circuitry are enabled. At this point, the destination address pipeline register already has the destination address for the incoming packet, and the remainder of the packet including the source address, the type/length fields, and the frame data are loaded into the receive packet buffer and then uploaded to PCI memory. Clocks for the receive and upload circuitry stay enabled as long as the receive packet buffer is not empty, or the frame receiving signal is true. When the receive packet buffer becomes empty, and there is no active incoming frame, the clocks are disabled. In this event, control is transferred to the idle state so long as there is no start frame delimiter being detected. If the start frame delimiter is being detected at this time, the idle state is skipped, and the address filter state is entered directly. 
     In conclusion, the present invention provides a method and system that minimizes power consumption by network interface cards. Clocks are kept running on a very small amount of logic enabling the monitoring of activity on the network and on the host bus. Clocks for the functional blocks are enabled on an as needed basis depending on the type of activity detected. When the detected activity goes away, clocks are turned off. Using the advanced power management techniques of the present invention, overall quality is improved, and power budgets can be more easily met in advanced personal computer systems and other systems coupled to networks. 
     While the present invention is disclosed by reference to the preferred embodiments and examples detailed above, it is to be understood that these examples are intended in an illustrative rather than in a limiting sense. It is contemplated that modifications and combinations will readily occur to those skilled in the art, which modifications and combinations will be within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

Technology Category: 3