Data transmission memory

1. A method of controlling a data transmission memory for the transmission of data packets between subscribers comprising the steps of storing, for each subscriber in a pointer address memory, a chained subscriber-pointer address list with address pointers for addressing data memory blocks of a data memory, wherein each said data memory block comprises a plurality of data memory cells; and storing said subscriber-pointer address list, a beginning address pointer to the last memory block, the number of data memory blocks and a filling level of the last data memory block in a subscriber state register; and said controlling the transmission of data packets between the subcribers based on stored information in the memory.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which, in a reception operating mode, reception data packets are received from various source subscribers via a reception data bus and are stored in data memory cells of a data memory block addressed by the subscriber-pointer address list.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , in which each reception data packet contains destination information data for identifying a destination subscriber for which the reception data packet is intended.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , in which, in the reception operating mode, a last received reception data packet is written according to a stored filling state into a next free memory cell of a last data memory block of the destination subscriber, identified by the reception data packet.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , in which, after the reception data packet has been written into the last data memory block of the destination subscriber, a filing state is incremented in a associated state register.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which, in a transmission operating mode, output data packets are in each case read out from a data memory block and sent to an associated destination subscriber via an output data bus.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which a memory size of a data memory cell corresponds to the size of an input data packet and a memory size of a data memory block preferably corresponds to the size of an output data packet.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which a pointer address list of the free pointer addresses is stored in the pointer address memory, so that the pointer address memory forms a reproduction of the data memory.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which the chained subscriber-pointer address list is extended by adding a chained address pointer for addressing a further data memory block if all memory cells of a last data memory block of the destination subscriber are filled after a writing operation.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which, in a transmission operating mode, a first data memory block of the destination subscriber is sent as an output data packet.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , in which, after the first memory data block has been sent, the chained subscriber-pointer address list is shortened by removing a beginning address pointer, pointing to the first data block.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which a reception operating mode for writing reception data packets into the data transmission memory has priority over a transmission operating mode for sending output data packets from the data transmission memory.

13. A data transmission memory for the transmission of data packets between subscribers with a pointer address memory for storing chained subscriber-pointer address lists, comprising pointer addresses, for each subscriber; a plurality of subscriber state registers, which store the state of an associated subscriber-pointer address list; a data memory for storing data blocks which can be addressed by the pointer addresses; and with a memory controller for controlling the pointer address memory the data memory, a beginning address pointer to the last memory block, the number of data memory blocks and a filling level of the last data memory block in a subscriber state register.

14. The data transmission memory as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the data memory is a SRAM.

15. The data transmission memory as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the pointer address memory is an SRAM.

16. The data transmission memory as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the memory controller is connected to source subscribers via a reception data bus and to subscribers via a transmission data bus.

17. The data transmission memory as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the transmission data bus and reception data bus are bidirectional buses for bidirectional data transmission.

18. The data transmission memory as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the transmission data bus and reception data bus are Ethernet buses.