Multi-Port Network Interface Controller Bandwidth Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional network interface devices, such as Gigabit Ethernet NICs, often underutilize available bandwidth due to inefficient data communication speeds, particularly when using PCI Express interfaces, resulting in significant bandwidth wastage during network communication.
Innovation Solution
A network interface controller with multiple physical network ports, media access controllers, and data path circuits that manage packet transmission and reception based on destination addresses, utilizing buffers for temporary storage and a host interface controller to optimize data transfer through a PCI Express interface, thereby improving communication efficiency and bandwidth utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single network port corresponds to a single network controller, then the device structure is simple, but the bandwidth utilization is low
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple network ports (first network port and second network port) and their corresponding physical layer circuits and media access controllers into a single network interface device, allowing multiple network links to be processed simultaneously through a shared data path circuit and host interface controller, thereby improving bandwidth utilization while maintaining manageable device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The network interface device is designed with multi-functionality to handle multiple network ports, multiple physical layer circuits, and multiple media access controllers within a single device architecture, enabling the device to perform multiple network communication functions simultaneously through a unified data path and host interface
2Productivity
If multiple lanes are combined in PCI Express interface, then the interface bandwidth increases, but the network communication speed remains lower due to network surroundings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple network port data streams through a unified data path circuit that can simultaneously process data from multiple media access controllers, fully utilizing the available PCI Express interface bandwidth by eliminating the bottleneck of single-port processing and reducing bandwidth wastage
Solution Approach 2:
The data path circuit is designed with dynamic data selection capability, allowing it to flexibly route data from different network ports based on destination addresses and transmission rules, optimizing data flow to maximize bandwidth utilization across multiple network links
Data Source
AI summary
The invention discloses a single network interface device with multi-ports, the network interface device supports two or more physical network transmission routes to transmit and receive data, and upload the received data into a host through a host interface or download the data waiting to be transmitted to network from the host through the host interface. Therefore, the present invention increases network communication speed and improves host interface bandwidth.