Method and apparatus for reordering frames

摘要

A method and apparatus for reordering frames of a packet received at a node in an order other than the order in which the frames were transmitted. The node includes a port having a frame manager for providing an entry in memory for each frame received non-consecutively with respect to a previously received frame. A list of memory entries associated with a given packet provides a reassembly table. In one embodiment, each memory entry includes a sequence count identifying the previously received frame, a pointer to a memory location at which data associated with a set of one or more prior consecutively received frames are stored, and a data length value corresponding to a length of data associated with the set of prior consecutively received frames. The frames of the packet are reordered by processing entries in the reassembly table in ascending sequence count order.