METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE FAIR AND EFFICIENT TRANSFER OF VARIABLE LENGTH PACKETS USING FIXED LENGTH SEGMENTS

摘要

A method for the fair and efficient transfer of variable length packets using fixed length "segments" utilizes a modified UTOPIA interface (12) with three additional signals (14,16,18) added, i.e. start of packet (SOP), end of packet (EOP), and most significant byte (MSB). Packets are broken into "segments" of fixed length. The start of a segment is marked by a pulse on the UTOPIA start of cell (SOC) signal line. The start of a packet is marked by a pulse on the SOP signal line (14). The end of a packet is marked by a pulse on the EOP signal line (16). When a packet ends with a single byte on the bus, the MSB signal line (18) is asserted to distinguish it from a packet which ends with two bytes on the bus. The invention can be expanded to accommodate buses wider than 16-bits by making the EOP a multiple bit signal.