WO2009157138A1

WO2009157138A1 - Communication protocol processing method and communication terminal

Info

Publication number: WO2009157138A1
Application number: PCT/JP2009/002454
Authority: WO
Inventors: 平重喜; 横井伸浩; 江端智一; 中野隆裕; 森拓郎
Original assignee: 株式会社日立製作所
Priority date: 2008-06-25
Filing date: 2009-06-02
Publication date: 2009-12-30
Also published as: JPWO2009157138A1; JP5038496B2

Abstract

The speed of processing to search for registration applicable to received packets from communication information is increased. The method has steps (S17‑S19), wherein a processor sets network addresses and communication service numbers of a terminal and the other communicating end in an associative memory, and steps (802‑807), wherein said processor provides the network addresses and communication service numbers of the destination and the transmission source extracted from received packet to the associative memory and searches the data. There is also a step (809), wherein said processor determines the memory region corresponding to said received packet from said data search result and stores the data being received that were extracted from said received packet in said corresponding memory region, and steps (S808‑S810), wherein said processor determines the processing corresponding to said received packet. In this way, the speed of search processing can be increased.

Description

Communication protocol processing method and communication terminal

The present invention relates to a communication protocol processing method and a communication protocol processing circuit for a communication terminal, which can efficiently process a communication protocol, and a technique effective when applied to a communication terminal.

There is an appeal to increase the number of partners with whom one communication terminal can communicate simultaneously. For example, when building a service that can simultaneously handle 100 clients, 10 servers are required if the server can simultaneously respond to 10 clients, but any server that can simultaneously respond to 100 or more clients can be used. One is enough.

When a communication terminal communicates with many other parties, a process that links received packets to communication information held in the communication terminal, that is, a long processing time is generally required. For example, as a typical method for forming a communication information table in a RAM (Random Access Memory), which is a general memory, and searching for a registration corresponding to a received packet from the table, linear search or a table ordering tree And table hashing. If the number of registered tables is N, these methods asymptotically require processing times proportional to N, log N, and 1 to N, respectively.

As a technique for speeding up a search time in communication processing, a technique is known in which fragment numbers of divided received packets are registered in an associative memory and searched from the associative memory in order of the fragment numbers for reassembly (for example, Patent Documents). 1).

JP 2007-274056 A

When the inventor of the present application examined the above-described conventional technology, when the communication terminal communicates with many other parties, it takes time to search for registration corresponding to the received packet from the communication information. It has been found that there is a risk of interfering with the communication. For example, when the communication terminal communicates with a larger number of other parties, not only the processing corresponding to the increase in the number of communication partners increases linearly, but also the registration corresponding to the received packet is searched from the communication information held in the communication terminal. The processing time per process also increases, and these become products and affect the processing time. As a result, the processing to be performed by the communication terminal is imminent, the communication performance is reduced, or it is difficult to communicate with a larger number of other parties, and as a result, it is difficult to realize a service provided on the communication. become. Furthermore, an increase in processing time exceeding the linearity with respect to an increase in the number of communication partners means consumption of electric energy exceeding the linearity, so that improvement is also desired from the viewpoint of energy efficiency.

An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for speeding up a process of searching for a registration corresponding to a received packet from communication information when a communication terminal communicates with many other parties.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

A typical one of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.

That is, in a communication protocol processing method in a communication terminal having an associative memory and a processor, the processor sets a network address and a communication service number of the terminal itself and a communication partner in the associative memory, and the processor The associative memory is provided with a step of performing a data search by giving the destination extracted from the received packet, the network address of the transmission source, and the communication service number. Further, the processor determines a memory area corresponding to the received packet from the data search result, stores the reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding memory area, and the processor And a step of determining a process corresponding to the received packet to achieve a high speed search process.

The following is a brief description of the effects obtained by the representative inventions disclosed in the present application.

That is, when the communication terminal communicates with many other parties, it is possible to provide a technique for speeding up the process of searching for registration corresponding to the received packet from the communication information.

It is a block diagram of a configuration example of a communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an explanatory view of the relationship between allocation of storage areas in the content addressable memory and the general memory included in the communication terminal. It is explanatory drawing about allocation of the field regarding the registration data on the content addressable memory contained in the said communication terminal. It is a flowchart of the initialization procedure in the said communication terminal. It is a flowchart of the registration procedure in the said communication terminal. It is a flowchart of the registration deletion procedure in the said communication terminal. It is a flowchart of the transmission processing procedure in the said communication terminal. It is a flowchart of the reception protocol processing procedure in the said communication terminal. It is another structural example block diagram of the communication terminal concerning embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of allocation of the field regarding the registration data on the content addressable memory in another example of a structure of the communication terminal concerning embodiment of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Communication terminal 11 Processor 12 Peripheral interface 13 Magnetic disk drive 14

Network interface

15, 15A, 15B General memory 16

Associative memory

21, 22, 23 Communication partner 91 Communication protocol processing circuit 301 Self network address area 302 Communication partner network 303 Communication service state region

1. Representative Embodiment First, an outline of a typical embodiment of the invention disclosed in the present application will be described. The reference numerals in the drawings referred to with parentheses in the outline description of the representative embodiments merely exemplify what are included in the concept of the components to which the reference numerals are attached.

[1] A communication protocol processing method according to a typical embodiment of the present invention is a communication protocol processing in a communication terminal (10) having an associative memory (16) and a processor (11) capable of accessing the associative memory. It is said to be a method. In this communication protocol processing method, the processor sets the network address and communication service number of the terminal itself and the communication partner in the associative memory (S17 to S19), and the processor receives the associative memory from the associative memory. And a step (802 to 807) for performing a data search by giving a destination extracted from the packet, a network address of the transmission source, and a communication service number. Further, the processor determines a memory area corresponding to the received packet from the result obtained by the data search, and stores the reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding memory area (809). And a step in which the processor determines a process corresponding to the received packet (S808 to S810).

According to the above configuration, the processor sets the network address and communication service number of the terminal itself and the communication partner in the associative memory, and the processor transmits the destination extracted from the received packet and the transmission to the associative memory. A data search is performed by giving an original network address and a communication service number, and further, the processor determines a memory area corresponding to the received packet from the result obtained by the data search and extracts it from the received packet. The reception target data is stored in the corresponding memory area. This achieves a high-speed processing for searching for registration corresponding to the received packet from the communication information when the communication terminal communicates with many other parties.

[2] Further, in the communication protocol processing method in the communication terminal (10) having the associative memory (16) and the processor (11) capable of accessing the associative memory, the processor is connected to the network address of the terminal itself and the communication partner. And a network data registration number and a communication service number are set in the associative memory, and the processor provides the associative memory with the destination and source network address extracted from the received packet, and the first data Performing a search. Further, the processor determines a registration number of the extracted destination and the network address of the transmission source from the result obtained in the first data search, and the determined destination and the transmission source for the associative memory. A second data search by providing a registration number of the network address, a destination extracted from the received packet, and a communication service number of the transmission source, and a result obtained by the processor in the second data search Determining a memory area corresponding to the received packet, and storing data to be received extracted from the received packet in the corresponding memory area. The processor includes a step of determining a process corresponding to the received packet.

Even in such a configuration, when the communication terminal communicates with many other parties by performing a data search by giving the destination extracted from the received packet, the network address of the transmission source, and the communication service number to the associative memory, It is possible to speed up the process of searching for registration corresponding to the received packet from the communication information.

[3] Further, in a communication protocol processing method in a communication terminal (10) having an associative memory (16) and a processor (11) that can access the associative memory, the processor is connected to the network address of the terminal itself and the communication partner. And setting the communication service number in the associative memory, and the processor performing a data search by providing the address, the network address of the transmission source extracted from the received packet, and the communication service number to the associative memory. A step in which the processor determines a first memory area corresponding to the received packet from a result obtained by the data search and refers to data in the determined first memory area; Determining a second memory area corresponding to the received packet from the data obtained by the reference, and storing the reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding second memory area. . The processor further includes a step of determining a process corresponding to the received packet.

[4] When a communication terminal is configured including the associative memory (16) and a communication protocol processing circuit (91) that performs communication protocol processing with reference to information in the associative memory, the communication protocol processing circuit A setting unit (91A) capable of setting the network address and communication service number of the communication terminal itself and the communication partner in the associative memory, the destination extracted from the received packet, the network address of the transmission source, and the communication service for the associative memory A search unit (91E) for searching for a number and a result obtained by the data search determine a memory area corresponding to the received packet, and the reception target data extracted from the received packet is stored in the corresponding memory area. A storage unit (91E) for storing and a processing unit (91E) for determining a process corresponding to the received packet are included.

[5] When a communication terminal is configured including the associative memory (16) and a communication protocol processing circuit (91) that performs communication protocol processing with reference to information in the associative memory, the communication protocol processing circuit The network address of the communication terminal itself and the communication partner, the setting unit that can set the network address registration number and the communication service number in the associative memory, and the address and source network address extracted from the received packet for the associative memory And a first search unit for performing a first data search. Further, a registration number of the extracted destination and source network address is determined from the result obtained in the first data search, and the determined destination and source network address are determined with respect to the associative memory. A second search unit that performs a second data search by giving a registration number, a destination extracted from the received packet, and a communication service number of the transmission source, and a result obtained by the second data search, the received packet And a storage unit for storing the reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding memory region and a processing unit for determining a process corresponding to the received packet.

[6] When a communication terminal is configured including the associative memory (16) and a communication protocol processing circuit (91) that performs communication protocol processing with reference to information in the associative memory, the communication protocol processing circuit includes: A setting unit that sets the network address and communication service number of the communication terminal itself and the communication partner in the associative memory, and the data extracted by giving the address and source network address and communication service number extracted from the received packet to the associative memory. And a search unit to perform. Further, from the result obtained by the data search, a first memory area corresponding to the received packet is determined, a reference unit for referring to the data of the determined first memory area, and the reference obtained. A storage unit for determining a second memory area corresponding to the received packet from the data and storing the reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding second memory area; and a process corresponding to the received packet And a processing unit for determining

2. Next, the embodiment will be described in more detail.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The communication terminal 10 shown in FIG. 1 is not particularly limited, but is connected to the first communication partner 21, the second communication partner 22, and the third communication partner 23 via the communication network 30, so that the communication terminal 10 Mutual data communication between them is possible. The communication terminal 10 is configured as follows.

The communication terminal 10 includes a microprocessor (also simply referred to as “processor”) 11, a peripheral interface 12, a network interface 14, a general memory 15, and an associative memory (Content Addressable Memory; CAM) 16. The microprocessor 11, the peripheral interface 12, the network interface 14, the general memory 15, and the associative memory 16 are coupled to each other via a common bus 17 so that signals can be exchanged.

The processor 11 controls the overall operation of the communication terminal 10 by executing predetermined software (program). The software executed by the processor 11 manages device drivers and system resources for providing an application with an interface abstracted by controlling specific hardware, and manages the exchange of hardware and software components. Included are kernels and applications that are software designed for specific purposes. The kernel includes communication protocol processing software.

The peripheral interface 12 mediates exchange of various information between the magnetic disk drive 13 and the processor 11. A magnetic disk, which is a storage medium, is mounted on the magnetic disk drive 13. Various programs and various data are stored in the magnetic disk.

The network interface 14 mediates input / output of various information performed between the communication terminal 10 and the communication network 30.

In the associative memory 16, data can be written by giving an address and data. In addition, when an address is given, data corresponding to the address can be read. Further, when data is given, an address matching the data can be searched. As a bit field, there are a binary associative memory (Binary CAM) that allows only logical values “0” and “1”, and a ternary associative memory (Ternary CAM) that allows don't care in a data field. In this example, the ternary associative memory is simply referred to as an associative memory, and a data field that is not specified is searched as don't care. In this example, the associative memory 16 stores communication information data 161.

The general memory 15 is a non-associative memory, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that can be randomly accessed by the processor 11. The general memory 15 is provided with an address and data and can write data, and is provided with an address and can read corresponding data. The general memory 15 stores software data 151, working data 152, and communication information data 153.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the storage area allocation in the associative memory 16 and the storage area allocation in the general memory 15.

When the communication protocol processing software in the kernel 112 is executed by the processor 11, the maximum data search width of the associative memory 16 and the registered size of the related information on the general memory 16 are respectively stored in the associative memory 16 and the general memory 15. The amount of data is allocated.

The general memory 15 and the associative memory 16 are assigned their own

network address areas

201 and 301, communication partner

network address areas

202 and 302, and communication

service status areas

203 and 303 so as to correspond to each other. The network address of itself (here, the communication terminal 10) is registered in the own network address area 301 of the associative memory 16, and the own network address related information on the general memory 15 is stored in the corresponding own network address area 201 of the general memory 15. Is registered. The network address of the communication partner (here,

communication partners

21, 22, and 23) is registered in the communication partner network address area 302 of the associative memory 16, and the general memory 15 stores the network address in the communication partner network address area 202 corresponding thereto. The communication partner network address related information above is registered. The communication service state is registered in the communication service state area 303 of the associative memory 16, and the communication state related information in the general memory 15 is registered in the communication service state area 203 corresponding to the communication service state in the general memory 15. Here, the network address means an IP (Internet Protocol) address. A communication information table is formed by areas corresponding to each other between the general memory 15 and the associative memory 16. In the communication protocol processing in the communication terminal 10, the communication information table is searched. Data to be searched is assigned to the associative memory 16. If the amount of data is less than the data search width of the associative memory, the data not to be searched may be allocated to the associative memory 16 together. Further, the remaining data that is not a search target is allocated to the general memory 15. If the amount of data to be registered is sufficient for the allocation of the associative memory 16, the allocation to the general memory 15 is unnecessary.

In the associative memory 16 and the general memory 15, the Nth registration data is stored at a memory address calculated by the following equation.

That is, in the associative memory 16, “memory offset address of the area in the associative memory + (N−1) × data search width of the associative memory−memory offset address of the area in the associative memory + N × data search of the associative memory Stored in the memory address obtained by "width-1".

Further, in the general memory 15, “memory offset address of the area in the general memory + (N−1) × registered size of the related information in the general memory to memory offset address of the area in the general memory + N × general It is stored in the memory address obtained by “the registered size-1” of the related information on the memory.

Incidentally, if the memory address obtained by the data search of the associative memory is back-calculated by the above formula, the registration number N of the stored registration data can be obtained.

FIG. 3 shows assignment of fields related to registration data on the associative memory 16. Here, the field means a position indicating each attribute in the registration data.

In FIG. 3, although not particularly limited, the maximum registration number in the own network address area is 4 (registration numbers 1 to 4), the maximum registration number in the communication partner network address area is 7 (registration numbers 1 to 7), The maximum number of registrations in the communication service state area is 11 (registration numbers 1 to 11).

The own network address area 301 stores own network address information, the communication partner network address area 302 stores communication partner network address information, and the communication service state area 303 stores communication service state information. These pieces of information include “area identification information”, “valid flag”, “search target”, and “others” feeds in order from the left side of the page. Although not particularly limited, the area identification information field in its own network address area 301 is set to “1”, the area identification information field in the communication partner network address area 302 is set to “2”, and the area identification information field in the communication service status area 303 By setting “3” to “3”, the region can be identified. When the valid flag in each information is “1”, the registration information is valid, and when it is “0”, the registration information is invalid.

The search subject field in the own network address area 301 includes an own network address field and a reference number field. The search subject field in the communication partner network address area 302 includes a communication partner network address field and a reference number field. On the other hand, the search subject field in the communication service status area 303 includes a self network address registration number field 303-1, a communication partner network address registration number field 303-2, a self service number field 303-3, a communication partner service. A number field 303-4 is included. In the own network address registration number field 303-1, the registration number of the own network address is stored. In the other party network address registration number field 303-2, the registration number of the other party network address is stored. The own service number is stored in 303-3, and the communication partner service number is stored in the communication partner service number field 303-4. Here, the service number means a port number of TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) or UDP (User Datagram Protocol).

In other fields in the above-described areas 301 to 303, information that should be provided in accordance with each table in processing the communication protocol can be appropriately assigned. For example, in the other fields of the communication service status table, in addition to information indicating the communication status with the communication partner (connection status, transmission sequence number, reception response number, etc. in the case of the TCP protocol), reference or reception as transmission data The memory address, the original area size, and the transferred size of the working data area on the general memory 15 where the data is extracted and stored can be assigned. Also, assign the application identification number (process number), the identification number in the application, the last processing time, the time to be processed next, the registration number to be processed immediately before and the registration number to be processed next, etc. Can do.

A time to be processed next assigned to the communication status area 303 is allocated on the associative memory 16, a value indicating the communication status area in the area identification information field, a value indicating validity in the valid flag field, and a time field to be processed next. If the current time is given to the search, the communication information to be processed at present corresponds to the search result, and it is possible to perform the processing. If there are a plurality of hits, processing may be performed continuously on them. If there is no match, search again at the next time. In order to prevent the time from passing while processing is performed, a counter that increases by 1 when a pseudo time, that is, an order to be processed next and an instruction is given, may be used instead of the actual time. Good.

When a registration number to be processed immediately before and a registration number to be processed next are assigned to the communication state table, a logical queue is formed in the order of processing. Thereby, the registration number to be processed next can be known without searching the associative memory. These are merely examples, and the registration number to be processed next can be grasped elsewhere.

In addition, the position of each field between each region may be different. There are no other restrictions as long as the area identification information fields of the associative memory are aligned to some extent so that each table can be distinguished. For example, the area identification information fields of the own network address table and the communication partner network address table are each 2 bits, their field positions are aligned, and the respective values are “00” and “01”. Of the 2 bits at the same field in the communication status table, only the left 1 bit, which is 0 in the other table, is set to 1 as the area identification information field, and the remaining 1 bit is the valid flag. It is used as a field. Even in this case, in the data search with respect to the associative memory 16, it is possible to distinguish and search each table.

FIG. 4 shows a communication information (table) initialization procedure by the kernel 112.

First, as shown in FIG. 2, the network address area, the communication partner network address area, and the communication service status area are allocated to the associative memory 16 and the general memory 15 respectively, and the same across the associative memory 16 and the general memory 15. The name area is regarded as a table (S41). That is, the own network address table is formed by the own network address area of the associative memory 16 and the general memory 15, and the communication partner network address table is formed by the communication partner network address area of the associative memory 16 and the general memory 15. The communication service state table is formed by the communication service state area between the memory 16 and the general memory 15.

Next, the area identification information field in the associative memory 16 is set with area identification information enabling identification of the area, and the valid flag field is set with a value indicating invalidity (S42).

Then, the registered number of each table of its own network address, communication partner network address, and communication service status is set to “0” (S43). The working data 152 in the general memory 15 is also set to “0”.

Thus, the initialization procedure according to this flowchart is completed.

FIG. 5 shows a registration procedure to each table (own network address table, communication partner network address table, communication service state table) by the kernel 112 given the registration target data. For example, registration in the own network address table is performed as follows.

First, it is determined whether or not the number of registrations in the own network address table is 1 or more (S501). In this determination, if it is determined that the registered number of the own network address table is 1 or more, the area identification information of the own network address table, a value indicating validity, and the search target data are given to the associative memory 16. Data search is performed (S502). Then, as a result of the search in step S502, it is determined whether or not the corresponding data exists (S503). In this determination, if it is determined that the corresponding data does not exist, the number of registered network address tables is checked (S504). In the determination in step S504, if it is determined that the registered number of the own network address table is less than the maximum number of the table, the area identification information and invalidity of the table are indicated to the associative memory 16. Data search is performed by giving a value (S505). Then, with respect to the address of the associative memory 16 of the search result in step S505, the area identification information of the table, a value indicating validity and search target data are set in the search result address (S506). Thereafter, data that is not the search target is set for the address of the general memory corresponding to the registration number obtained from the search result of the associative memory 16 (S507). Then, the number of registrations in the own network address table is increased by 1, the fact of registration and the registration number derived from the search result address are returned to the reading source (S508), and the registration procedure according to this flowchart is terminated.

If it is determined in step S501 that the number of registrations in the table is not 1 or more, that is, 0, an area corresponding to the registration number 1 in the associative memory 16 is stored. Information, a value indicating validity, and search target data are set (S511). Then, data that is not a search target is set for the address corresponding to the registration number 1 in the general memory 15 (S512). Then, the registration number of the own network address table is increased by 1, the fact of registration and the registration number 1 are returned to the reading source (S513), and the registration procedure according to this flowchart is terminated.

Furthermore, if it is determined in step S503 that the corresponding data exists, the fact that the data has been registered and the registration number derived from the search result address are returned to the reading source (S509). ), The registration procedure according to this flowchart is completed.

If it is determined in step S504 that the number of registrations in the table has reached the maximum number, the fact that it can no longer be registered is returned to the caller (S510), and registration according to this flowchart is performed. The procedure is finished.

As described above, the registration to the own network address table by the kernel 112 to which the registration target data is given has been described, but the registration to other tables, that is, the communication partner network address table and the communication service state table is performed in the same manner.

Thus, the kernel 112 registers one or a plurality of own network addresses in the own network address table after the communication information initialization procedure. One specific method for deriving the value of its own network address uses a predetermined fixed value as the static network address. The other method uses a communication protocol processing software as a dynamic network address to inquire the network that a network address is to be generated, receives a response transmission from another device, and receives the response from the received packet. It uses its value to generate its own network address. In this registration, the reference number field is set to zero. Information registered by the above procedure can be deleted by the following procedure.

FIG. 6 shows a registration deletion procedure from each table (own network address table, communication partner network address table, communication service state table) by the kernel 112 given the registration deletion target number. For example, registration deletion from the own network address table is performed as follows.

First, it is determined whether or not the number of registered network address tables is 1 or more (S61). In this determination, when it is determined that the number of registrations in the network address table is 1 or more, data is referred to the associative memory 16 address obtained from the registration deletion target number (S62). Then, as a result of the data reference in step S62, it is determined whether the valid flag is valid or invalid (S63). In this determination, if it is determined that the valid flag is valid, the area identification information in the network address table and a value indicating invalidity are set for the address of the associative memory obtained from the registration deletion target number. (S64). Then, the number of registrations in the own network address table is reduced by 1, and the fact that the registration has been deleted is returned to the caller (S65), and the registration deletion procedure according to this flowchart is terminated.

In the determination in step S61, if it is determined that the number of registered network address tables is not 1 or more, that is, 0, or in the determination in step S63, the validity flag is invalid. If it is determined, the registration deletion procedure according to this flowchart is terminated without deleting the registration.

Although the registration deletion from the own network address table has been described above, the registration deletion from other tables, that is, the communication partner network address table and the communication service status table is performed in the same manner.

FIG. 7 shows a transmission processing procedure by the kernel 112 when an application identification number, a transmission target communication service state registration number, and transmission target data are given.

First, data is referenced from the address of the communication service state area in the associative memory 16 and the general memory 15 corresponding to the transmission target communication service state registration number (S71). Then, as a result of the data reference in step S71, it is determined whether the valid flag is valid or invalid (S72). In this determination, if it is determined that the status of the valid flag is valid, it is determined whether the application identification number is the same as or different from the given application identification number as a result of the data reference in step S71. Is performed (S73). If it is determined in step S73 that the application identification number is the same as the given application identification number, the self-network address area of the associative memory 16 corresponding to the referenced self-network address registration number is determined. The own network address is referred to from the address 301 (S74). Then, the communication partner network address is referenced from the address of the communication partner network address area 302 in the associative memory 16 corresponding to the referenced communication partner network address registration number (S75). Thereafter, a transmission packet is generated from the referenced data and the transmission target data, and is transmitted to the communication partner via the network 30 (S76). Then, the communication information in each table is updated as necessary (S77), the transmitted fact is returned to the caller (S78), and the transmission process according to this flowchart is terminated. Further, when it is determined in the determination in step S72 that the state of the valid flag is invalid, or in the determination in step S73, it is determined that the application identification number is different from the given application identification number. In this case, after the fact that the transmission is invalid is returned to the caller (S79), the transmission process according to this flowchart is terminated.

FIG. 8 shows a reception protocol processing procedure by the kernel 112.

When a packet is received by the communication terminal 10 via the network 30, the packet is analyzed, and a destination, a network address of a transmission source, and a service number are extracted (S801). Then, the associative memory 16 is provided with region identification information in the own network address table, a value indicating validity, and a destination (own candidate) network address, and a data search is performed (S802).

Then, as a result of the data search in step S802, it is determined whether or not the corresponding data exists (S803). In this determination, if it is determined that the corresponding data exists, the area identification information of the communication partner network address table, the value indicating validity, and the transmission source (communication partner) network address are stored in the associative memory 16. Given this, a data search is performed (S804). Then, as a result of the data search in step S804, it is determined whether or not the corresponding data exists (S805). In this determination, if it is determined that the corresponding data exists, the area identification information of the communication service state table and the value indicating validity are registered in the associative memory 16 and the own network address obtained by the search. The number, the communication partner network address number, the destination (self candidate), and the service number of the transmission source (communication partner) are given, and data search is performed (S806). Then, as a result of the data search in step S806, it is determined whether or not the corresponding data exists (S807). In this determination, if it is determined that the corresponding data exists, the reception target data is extracted from the reception packet as necessary, and is written in the general memory 15 and passed to the application 113 (S808). . Moreover, the communication information of the communication information table of each table is updated as needed (S809). Further, if necessary, the process is passed to the corresponding application 113 (S810), and the reception protocol process according to this flowchart is terminated.

If it is determined in step S803 that the corresponding data does not exist, the corresponding processing is performed as necessary (S811), and then the reception protocol processing according to this flowchart is terminated. .

If it is determined in step S805 that no corresponding data exists, a new communication service is started from the network address and service number of the destination (self candidate), the transmission source (communication partner) It is determined whether or not (S812, S813). In this determination, when it is determined that a new communication service is started, the reference field for registering the own network address is incremented by 1, and the transmission source network address is registered in the communication partner network address table as the reference number 1. (S815). Then, after the network address registration number and the service number of itself and the communication partner are registered in the communication service state table (S816), the process proceeds to step S808.

If it is determined in step S813 that the new communication service is not started, the process proceeds to step S811.

Further, if it is determined in step S807 that there is no corresponding data, a new communication service is started from the network address and service number of the destination (self candidate), the transmission source (communication partner). It is determined whether or not to perform (S817, S818). If it is determined in this determination that a new communication service is to be started, the own network address registration and the communication partner network address reference field are incremented by one (S819), and the network address registration number of itself and the communication partner is increased. And the service number are registered in the communication service state table (S820), the process proceeds to step S808. If it is determined in step S817 or S818 that a new communication service is not started, the process proceeds to step S811.

According to the above reception protocol processing, it is possible to achieve the processing for searching the registration corresponding to the received packet from the communication information at high speed.

Further, according to the above reception protocol processing, the data field to be searched is close to the data search width of the associative memory per one, and even if a set of such data fields is the original search object, It was shown that it was feasible. For example, the network address and service number of the communication partner and the communication partner determine the communication service, that is, the search target, but when performing communication with IPv6 (IP Version 6) using TCP, the IPv6 address is 128 bits and the TCP port The number is 16 bits and the set to be searched is 288 bits, whereas the associative memory currently implemented has a data search width of 144 bits at most. Even if such an associative memory is used, this example can be implemented.

According to the above example, the following effects can be obtained.

The processor 11 sets the network address and communication service number of the terminal itself and the communication partner in the associative memory, and the processor 11 stores the destination extracted from the received packet and the network address of the transmission source in the associative memory. A data search is performed by giving a communication service number. Further, the processor 11 determines a memory area corresponding to the received packet from the result obtained by the data search, and receives the reception target data extracted from the received packet. Store in the corresponding memory area. With such a processing procedure, when the communication terminal communicates with many other parties, it is possible to achieve a process for searching for a registration corresponding to the received packet from the communication information at high speed. As a result, communication performance can be improved and the number of communicable parties can be increased, and as a result, services provided through communication can be expanded. In addition, the processing load of the processor of the communication terminal and the access load of the shared bus can be reduced, and services other than communication provided by the communication terminal and low power consumption can be achieved.

<Embodiment 2>
FIG. 9 shows another configuration example of the communication terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The communication terminal 10 shown in FIG. 9 is greatly different from that shown in FIG. 1 in that a communication protocol processing circuit 91 is provided, and the communication protocol processing circuit 91 performs communication protocol processing. Is a point. In the communication terminal 10 shown in FIG. 9, the communication protocol processing is performed by the communication protocol processing circuit 91. As a result, the communication protocol processing by the kernel 112 is not performed.

The communication protocol processing circuit 91 can be constituted by a CPU or a logic gate.

General memories

15A and 15B are provided, and software data 252 and working data 152 are stored in the general memory 15A. Communication information data 153 is stored in the general memory 15B. The associative memory 16 and the general memory 15B are coupled to the communication protocol processing circuit 91. The communication protocol processing circuit 91 includes an initialization unit 91A, a registration processing unit 91B, a registration deletion processing unit 91C, a transmission processing unit 91D, and a reception processing unit 91E. The initialization unit 91A performs initialization processing according to a procedure similar to the procedure shown in FIG. The registration processing unit 91B performs the registration process according to the same procedure as that shown in FIG. The registration deletion processing unit 91C performs the registration deletion processing according to the same procedure as shown in FIG. The transmission processing unit 91D performs transmission processing according to the same procedure as shown in FIG. The reception processing unit 91E performs reception processing according to the same procedure as shown in FIG.

According to the configuration shown in FIG. 9, since the communication protocol processing circuit 91, which is a circuit dedicated to communication protocol processing, is provided separately from the processor 11, the processing load on the processor 11 can be reduced.

<Embodiment 3>
In the configuration shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 9, when the registerable data width can be sufficiently wide due to the configuration of the associative memory 16, the field assignment for the registered data in the associative memory 16 is shown in FIG. It is good to do so. According to the field assignment example shown in FIG. 10, the valid flag, the search target, and others are assigned in this order. Then, as the search target, the network address of the communication partner and the service number of the communication partner are allocated. In this way, each registration number is assigned a valid flag, a search target, and the like corresponding thereto, so that the number of data searches using the associative memory 16 can be reduced. That is, in the case of field assignment shown in FIG. 3, for example, in the reception protocol processing, as shown in FIG. 8, three searches (steps S802, S804, and S806) are required. In the case of field assignment shown in FIG. 10, since necessary data can be obtained by one data search, it is possible to speed up the search.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, and it goes without saying that various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, a relatively small number of registrations, for example, the own network address table, are allocated on the general memory in the first embodiment without using an associative memory, and a register is allocated and searched for in the second embodiment. May be.

Data link address table so-called ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) table, routing table, IPv4 (IP Version 4) table, IPv6 table, encrypted communication information table for communication partner IP address, service reception table (passive communication service number table), multi A table showing the relationship between communication information and memory segments and processor numbers in memory terminals and multiprocessor terminals, a table showing the relationship between memory segments and processor numbers and applications, and a plurality of associative memories may be used. . In that case, when one table spans multiple associative memories, a data search for that table is performed for each of those associative memories, and the results of the search are not found or there is no match. Get what you have. Further, the associative memory to which only one table is allocated does not require the area identification information field.

In the above description, the case where the invention made by the present inventor is mainly applied to the communication terminal which is the field of use behind the present invention has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto.

The communication protocol processing method, communication protocol processing circuit, and communication terminal of the present invention include authentication and communication data conversion (content conversion) on a network including a server device, a PC (Personal Computer), and an AV (Audio / Visual) device. Can be used for network compatible devices such as proxy devices and gateway devices.

Claims

A communication protocol processing method in a communication terminal having an associative memory and a processor capable of accessing the associative memory,
The processor sets the network address and communication service number of the terminal itself and the communication partner in the associative memory;
The processor performs a data search with respect to the associative memory by giving a destination extracted from a received packet, a network address of a transmission source, and a communication service number;
The processor determines a memory area corresponding to the received packet from the result obtained by the data search, and stores the reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding memory area;
And a step of determining the processing corresponding to the received packet by the processor.
A communication protocol processing method in a communication terminal having an associative memory and a processor capable of accessing the associative memory,
The processor sets the network address of the terminal itself and the communication partner, the registration number of the network address, and the communication service number in the associative memory;
The processor provides the content addressable memory with a destination extracted from a received packet and a network address of a transmission source to perform a first data search;
The processor determines a registration number of the extracted destination and source network address from the result obtained in the first data search, and determines the destination and source network determined in the associative memory. Performing a second data search by providing a registration number of the address, a destination extracted from the received packet, and a communication service number of the transmission source;
The processor determines a memory area corresponding to the received packet from the result obtained in the second data search, and stores the reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding memory area;
And a step of determining the processing corresponding to the received packet by the processor.
A communication protocol processing method in a communication terminal having an associative memory and a processor capable of accessing the associative memory,
The processor sets the network address and communication service number of the terminal itself and the communication partner in the associative memory;
The processor provides the associative memory with the destination extracted from the received packet, the network address of the transmission source and the communication service number, and performs a data search;
The processor determines a first memory area corresponding to the received packet from the result obtained by the data search, and refers to the data of the determined first memory area;
The processor determines a second memory area corresponding to the received packet from the data obtained by the reference, and stores the reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding second memory area. When,
And a step of determining the processing corresponding to the received packet by the processor.
A communication terminal including an associative memory and a communication protocol processing circuit that performs communication protocol processing with reference to information in the associative memory,
The communication protocol processing circuit includes a setting unit capable of setting a network address and a communication service number of the communication terminal itself and a communication partner in the associative memory,
A search unit that searches the associative memory for data extracted from a destination extracted from a received packet, a network address of a transmission source, and a communication service number;
A storage unit that determines a memory area corresponding to the received packet from the result obtained by the data search, and stores reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding memory area;
And a processing unit for determining a process corresponding to the received packet.
A communication terminal including an associative memory and a communication protocol processing circuit that performs communication protocol processing with reference to information in the associative memory,
The communication protocol processing circuit includes a setting unit capable of setting a network address of a communication terminal itself and a communication partner, a network address registration number, and a communication service number in the content addressable memory,
A first search unit that performs a first data search by giving a destination extracted from a received packet and a network address of a transmission source to the associative memory;
From the result obtained in the first data search, a registration number of the extracted destination and source network address is determined, and the determined destination and source network address registration number is stored in the associative memory. And a second search unit that performs a second data search by giving a destination extracted from the received packet and a communication service number of the transmission source,
A storage unit for determining a memory area corresponding to the received packet from the result obtained in the second data search, and storing reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding memory area;
And a processing unit for determining a process corresponding to the received packet.
A communication terminal including an associative memory and a communication protocol processing circuit that performs communication protocol processing with reference to information in the associative memory,
The communication protocol processing circuit is configured to set a network address and a communication service number of the communication terminal itself and a communication partner in the associative memory;
A search unit for performing a data search by giving a destination address extracted from a received packet, a network address of a transmission source, and a communication service number to the associative memory;
A reference unit that determines a first memory area corresponding to the received packet from a result obtained by the data search, and refers to data of the determined first memory area;
A storage unit for determining a second memory area corresponding to the received packet from the data obtained by the reference, and storing the reception target data extracted from the received packet in the corresponding second memory area;
And a processing unit for determining a process corresponding to the received packet.