Method of encoding a data packet
View Patent ↗The invention provides a method of encoding a data packet for encapsulation in one or more frames for communication from a transmitter to a receiver in a network interface. The method includes dividing the data packet into one or more data chunks and determining the length of a data chunk as the lesser of the number of bytes available in a current frame, the number of bytes remaining in the data packet, or a predetermined number of bytes. The method includes determining if the data chunk is the end-of-the-packet (EOP) and when the data chunk is not the EOP, the method includes prepending the data chunk with a control character representing the length of the data chunk and non-EOP.
1. A method of encoding a data packet for encapsulation in one or more frames for communication from a transmitter to a receiver in a network interface, comprising:
dividing the data packet into one or more data chunks;
determining the length of a data chunk as the lesser of the number of bytes available in a current frame, the number of bytes remaining in the data packet, or a predetermined number of bytes;
determining if the data chunk is the end-of-the-packet (EOP); and
when the data chunk is not the EOP, prepending the data chunk with a control character representing the length of the data chunk and non-EOP prior to insertion of the data chunk into a current frame.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
when the data chunk is the EOP, determining if there is an error in communication of the plurality of data chunks; and
when there is not an error in communication of the plurality of data chunks, prepending the data chunk with a control character representing the length of the data chunk and EOP.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
when there is an error in communication of the plurality of data chunks, prepending the data chunk with a control character representing the length of the data chunk, EOP, and error in communication (ERR).
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the number of bytes remaining in the current frame; and
when the number of bytes remaining in the current frame is equal to one, inserting a pad character to the current frame.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
when the number of bytes remaining in the current frame is not equal to one, inserting a data chunk into the current frame.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining if there is a gap in the data packet; and
when there is a gap in the data packet, inserting one or more characters represent pad in the current frame.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining if there is a mode change in the communication of the one or more frames; and
when there is a mode change,
determining if the number of bytes remaining in the current frame is less than a second predetermined number, and
when the number of bytes remaining in the current frame is not less than the second predetermined number, inserting a control character representing the mode change in the current frame.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising checking upon a mode change if the frame should be truncated, and if so, truncating the frame so the mode change information is immediately transmitted to the receiver.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising truncating the frame while maintaining alignment in the network interface.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prepending the frame with a control byte representing the beginning-of-frame (BOF).
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the control byte representing BOF indicates mode of transmission and depth information for a complementary receiver on a same side of the network interface.
12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
prefixing another control byte representing the BOF that is identical to the other control byte representing BOF.