Maintaining network services across multiple physical interfaces

摘要

In one embodiment, the present invention includes an apparatus having a central processing unit (CPU) to execute instructions, a hub coupled to the CPU, and multiple physical devices coupled to the hub. The physical devices may each correspond to a different network communication protocol, and may each include a physical unit to forward packets to the hub while the system is in a low power mode. The hub may remain enabled during the low power mode and may include media access control functionality for handling incoming packets of different physical devices. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

主权项

1. An apparatus comprising:
a central processing unit; and a memory controller hub coupled to the central processing unit and a plurality of physical network interface devices, the memory controller hub to, during a low power mode of the apparatus:
receive an incoming packet from a particular physical network device of the plurality of physical network interface devices;in response to receiving the incoming packet, determine whether a particular service associated with the incoming packet is registered as available in the low power mode, wherein the particular service is associated with the particular physical network device of the plurality of physical network interface devices;in response to a determination that the particular service associated with the incoming packet is registered as available in the low power mode, transmit a response to the incoming packet without exiting the low power mode of the apparatus,wherein each of the plurality of physical network devices is to receive and forward a plurality of incoming packets to the memory controller hub while the apparatus is in the low power mode, the plurality of physical network interface devices including at least two different types of network interfaces.