Circular Buffer Producer List for Concurrent Network Adapter Processing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Accessing transmit or receive buffers in network adapters can create bottlenecks, limiting data transfer speed, especially in high-speed networks with multiple processors.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for efficient buffer management in network adapters, involving a buffer with a producer list for concurrent processing of data transmission requests, where space is allocated based on request size, and the producer list is updated to signal completion of data writing, enabling multiple processors to supply data to the buffer without interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If buffers are used to handle network traffic in high-speed network adapters, then data transfer capacity is improved, but buffer access becomes a bottleneck limiting transfer speed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the buffer management into multiple independent producer lists, where each list can be accessed by different processors concurrently. This segmentation eliminates the bottleneck by allowing parallel access to buffer spaces without requiring centralized locking, thus maintaining high data transfer capacity while improving transfer speed through concurrent operations.
2Productivity
If multiple processors supply data to the buffer, then processing parallelism is improved, but buffer access coordination becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The buffer is divided into multiple segments managed by separate producer lists, with each processor assigned to specific lists. This segmentation enables processors to operate independently on their assigned lists without complex coordination, reducing the complexity of buffer access coordination while maintaining high processing parallelism.
Solution Approach 2:
Each processor independently manages its assigned producer lists without requiring synchronization with other processors. The self-service approach allows processors to autonomously allocate and manage buffer spaces in their assigned lists, eliminating the need for complex inter-processor coordination mechanisms while preserving parallelism.
3Device complexity
If buffer access is centralized for management, then coordination is simplified, but data transfer speed is limited due to bottleneck
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments buffer management into multiple independent producer lists that can be accessed concurrently by different processors. This segmentation distributes the management workload across multiple access points, simplifying coordination at each point while collectively achieving high data transfer speeds through parallel operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for concurrent processing transmit requests uses transmit queue including a circular buffer and a queue state including a producer index, a consumer index, and a producer list. Producer processes write to the circular buffer concurrently. The producer list signals which portion of the circular buffer are allocated to each of the producer processes.