AND APPARATUS FOR USING MULTIFREE FIFO (FIFO) WITH IMPROVED FLOW CONTROL AND ROUTING IN A COMMUNICATION RECEIVER

摘要

The present invention provides a method for using at least one FIFO (Buffer) in parallel with a primary FIFO and at least one secondary FIFO that simplifies flow control and routing in packet communication operations associated with a plurality of receiving nodes or components in a receiving node, To an associated device.;The present invention simultaneously applies received packets at the receiver of the packet communication link to the primary FIFO and all associated secondary FIFOs. After receiving the packet, the packet is removed from the secondary FOFO corresponding to the receiver node or component to which the packet was routed. If the packet is stored in each associated secondary FIFO without overflow, the packet is also removed from the primary FIFO for all receiving nodes or components to which the packet was routed. If the secondary FIFO has overflowed due to the storage of the received packet, the packet is removed from the overflowed FIFO and the packet remains stored in the primary FIFO for further processing. Flow control signals are generated and applied to the required transmission source according to the status of the primary FIFO. The secondary FIFOs are not directly related to the flow control logic. When the secondary FIFO overflows, the receiving component corresponding to each secondary FIFO sets the next packet for processing by examining the associated secondary FIFO as well as the primary FIFO. The method and apparatus simplify the flow and routing control at the packet communication receiver.