Methods and system to offload data processing tasks

摘要

Via use of a shared data bus, a processor system offloads processing tasks. For example, a processor system communicates over a respective data bus with a data communication controller. After notifying the data communication controller of a particular block of data to retrieve, the processor system relinquishes control of the respective data bus so that the data communication controller can control the data bus and store a block of data in a specified memory location using direct memory access techniques. Upon receiving a notification of completion of storing the data block by the data communication controller, the processor system regains control of the respective data bus and notifies a data forwarding circuit to: i) partition the block of data into data packets, ii) apply respective headers to the data packets based on the header information received from the processor system, and iii) forward the data packets to the respective destination.

主权项

1. A method for offloading a task of forwarding information, the method comprising steps of:
receiving a command for delivery of data to a respective destination; in response to receiving the command, transmitting a message to initiate execution of a first remote process that retrieves a block of the data and stores the block of data in a memory location specified in the message; relinquishing control of a respective data bus to enable the first remote process to utilize the respective data bus and store the block of data in the memory location specified in the message, the first remote process initiating a parallel transfer of the block of data to the memory location, the memory location being accessible by a second remote process; and forwarding header information as well as the memory location specified in the message to the second remote process that: i) partitions the block of data into data packets, ii) applies respective headers to the data packets based on the header information, and iii) forwards the data packets to the respective destination.