Granted Patent B2

US 9,913,076 · App. 14/564,770 · Granted Mar 6, 2018

Abstract

Claims (63)

1. A networking device, comprising

a processing enabled host module,

a network communications interface comprising a physical layer, PHY, part and a medium access control, MAC, part and operably connected to the processing enabled host module to provide data communication service to one or more applications executed thereat; and

a multi-MAC manager operably connected to the MAC part and the PHY part and comprising a storage for storing several MAC instances, wherein each MAC instance has a network identity for being exposed via the communications interface on a communication medium, wherein the network identities are different from each other,

wherein the MAC manager is configured to:

receive a first request issued in the context of a MAC instance;

determine the MAC instance to which the first request relates;

determine whether the PHY part is available for allocation or already allocated to the MAC instance;

if the PHY is available, allocate at least the PHY part of the communications interface to the MAC instance, pass the received first request to the PHY part of the communications interface for further processing thereat, and release at least the allocated PHY part of the communications interface once a service requested by the received first request is completed;

receive a second request to acquire the network identify of a MAC instance;

determine whether the PHY part is available for allocation or already allocated to the MAC instance:

if the PHY part is available, allocate at least the PHY part of the communications interface to the second requested MAC instance, wherein the allocated PHY part of the communications interface is exclusively available for communications transactions relating to the acquired network identity of the MAC instance until released in response to receipt of a request to release;

receive a request to release an acquired MAC instance; and

release the acquired PHY part of the communications interface upon reception of the request to release the acquired network identity.

2. The networking device of claim 1 ,

wherein the PHY part is available for allocation if the PHY part is not allocated to another MAC instance, the PHY part is not acquired by a network identity of another MAC instance or the network communications interface currently performs an idle operation.

3. The networking device of claim 1 ,

wherein the communications interface is configured to listen on the communication medium for data destined for one of the MAC instances in idle operation.

4. The networking device of claim 1 , comprising:

a database configured to store MAC instances, wherein the database comprises settings records, each of which relates to one of the MAC instances; and

a switching unit configured to retrieve a settings record in accordance with a MAC instance and to provide the retrieved settings record to at least the PHY part for configuring thereof upon allocation.

5. The networking device of claim 1 ,

wherein the multi-MAC manager is further configured to provide settings data to one or more components of at least the PHY part of the communications interface upon allocation thereof.

6. The networking device of claim 1 ,

wherein the multi-MAC manager is part of the medium access control, MAC, part of the communications interface.

7. The networking device of claim 1 ,

wherein from a point of view of an application carried out at the networking device, the MAC instances are available for concurrent use,

wherein from network point of view, the communications interface exposes only one network identify corresponding to the allocated MAC instance at the same time.

8. The networking device of claim 1 ,

wherein each MAC instance is part of a separate and individual protocol stack providing the data communications service to one or more applications carried out at the networking device.

9. The networking device of claim 1 ,

wherein the MAC manager is further configured to

analyze the received first request;

determine whether the received first request relates to a new MAC instance, which is not part of the stored MAC instances; and

if the received first request relates to a new MAC instance, create a new MAC instance on the basis of information obtained from the received first request.

10. The networking device of claim 9 ,

wherein the MAC manager is further configured to

if the received first request relates to a MAC instance being part of the stored MAC instances, update the stored MAC instance on the basis of information obtained from the received first request.

11. A method of operating a networking device, comprising:

receiving, at a multi-MAC manager of a communication interface of a networking device, a first request issued in the context of a medium access control, MAC, instance,

wherein the network communications interface comprises a physical layer, PHY, part and a medium access control, MAC, part and is operably connected to a processing enabled host module of the networking device to provide data communications service to one or more applications executed thereat;

determining the MAC instance, to which the first request relates among several MAC instances stored at a storage of the MAC manager, wherein each MAC instance has a network identity for being exposed via the communications interface on a communication medium, wherein the network identities are different from each other;

determining whether the PHY part is available for allocation or already allocated to the MAC instance;

if the PHY is available, allocating at least the PHY part of the communications interface to the MAC instance, passing the received first request to the PHY part of the communications interface for further processing thereat, and releasing at least the allocated PHY part of the communications interface once a service requested by the received first request is completed;

receiving a second request to acquire the network identify of a MAC instance; and

determining whether the PHY part is available for allocation or already allocated to the MAC instance;

if the PHY part is available, allocating at least the PHY part of the communications interface to the second requested MAC instance, providing exclusively the allocated PHY part of the communications interface for communications transactions relating to the acquired network identity of the MAC instance until released in response to receipt of a request to release;

receiving a request to release an acquired MAC instance; and

releasing the acquired PHY part of the communications interface upon reception of a request to release the acquired network identity.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising

listening on the communication medium for data destined for one of the MAC instances during the communications interface being in idle operation.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the allocating of at least the PHY part of the communications interface further comprises

retrieving settings from the storage, wherein each of the MAC instances stored at the storage comprises settings relating to the respective MAC instance;

configuring at least the PHY part on the basis of the retrieved settings.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising

analyzing the received first request;

determining whether the first request relates to a new MAC instance, which is not part of the stored MAC instances; and

if the first request relates to a new MAC instance, creating a new MAC instance on the basis of information obtained from the received first request.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising

if the first request relates to a MAC instance being part of the stored MAC instances, updating the stored MAC instance on the basis of information obtained from the received first request.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising

if the PHY part is unavailable, emulating a busy response; and

transmitting the emulated busy response to the source of the first request.

Assignments (11)