JPH0589009A - Network controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the throughput and the processing speed of a network by providing a data compressing function on a network controller. CONSTITUTION:Function circuits such as a data compressing circuit 102, compressed data restorage circuit 103, data deciding logic 104 and internal register 105 for setting data showing whether data are compressed or not, etc., are provided on the network controller. In the case of transmission, raw data or data passing through the compressing circuit is outputted to a transceiver 108 by referring to contents set to the internal register 105. In the case of reception, data received through a receiver 109 are fetched into the inside as raw data or after passing through the restoring circuit according to the contents decoded by the deciding logic 104.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network controller for transmitting / receiving compressed data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Advances in semiconductor technology have made it possible to supply microprocessors, memory LSIs, peripheral control LSIs, etc. at a very low cost, and by combining these elements appropriately, a relatively high performance personal computer can be constructed. It became so.

The performance of this type of personal computer has not changed in comparison with conventional medium-sized machines. Further, in the field of personal computers, further miniaturization has progressed, and laptop types, which are small, lightweight, and easy to carry, and notebook types have become popular.

In the field of OA (office automation), each person has a personal computer as a low-end machine, and a large-capacity file or high-performance printer is connected as a server via a LAN (local area network) line to control them. In order to do this, the usage forms such as relatively high-performance distributed processing or using personal computers have been increasing. In terms of performance,
It is also reasonably priced.

By the way, in the case of the above-mentioned LAN connection, since the data transfer speed is high, there are few cases where data is compressed and transferred. Moreover, even when compressing, it was realized by software. However, recently, as the performance of personal computers is improved (the processing speed is increased) or the number of LAN connection terminals (personal computers) is increased, the traffic amount is increased, the throughput per terminal is decreased, and the processing speed is started to be decreased.

[0006]

Data compression can be considered as a method of reducing the above-mentioned traffic volume. However, when data compression is performed by software, the CPU (microprocessor) of the personal computer main body is used for data compression.
Does not lead to an improvement in processing speed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a network controller with a compression function that realizes an improvement in network throughput and processing speed by providing a network controller with a data compression function. To aim.

[0008]

As shown in FIG. 1, a network controller of the present invention includes an internal register 105 in which information as to whether or not transmission data should be compressed is set,
The compression circuit 102 for compressing the transmission data, the raw data internally generated and the compression data supplied via the compression circuit are input, and either one is output to the terminal according to the contents set in the register 105. First selector 1
06, a determination circuit 104 that determines whether or not the received data is compressed data, and a decompression circuit 103 that decompresses the received data.
And the received data obtained from the terminal and the received data obtained via the restoration circuit are input.
The second selector 107 is provided for incorporating one of them according to the contents instructed by 4.

[0009]

The present invention is provided with a data compression circuit, a compressed data decompression circuit, a data determination logic, and a register on which data indicating whether or not to compress data is set on the network controller, and the register is set at the time of transmission. By referring to the contents, the raw data or the data via the compression circuit is output to the transceiver, and when receiving, the data received via the receiver is read as raw data or via the decompression circuit according to the contents decoded by the judgment logic. And take it in. As a result, the throughput and processing speed of the network are improved.

With the above network controller configuration of the present invention, traffic on the network can be reduced and throughput can be improved. Further, since the work performed by the main body CPU is performed by the hardware (network controller), the original performance (processing speed) of the main body CPU can be fully utilized.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, specifically showing the internal structure of a network controller. In the embodiment of the present invention, a relatively high performance desktop type personal computer is assumed as the network controller. It is assumed that a laptop computer is connected to this network controller as a terminal via a LAN line.

In the figure, reference numeral 101 is a bus interface, which controls the interface between the network controller and an external circuit. Reference numeral 102 is a compression circuit, which compresses transmission data. Reference numeral 103 is a decompression circuit, which decompresses the compressed received data into normal data. Reference numeral 104 is a determination logic, which determines whether the received data is compressed data and transmits the result to the reception selector 107 via the line 110. Code 1
Reference numeral 05 denotes an internal register, and the CPU determines whether or not to compress the transmission data and sets a value to transmit the content to the transmission selector 106 via the line 111.

Reference numeral 106 denotes a transmission selector (SEL), which selects which of the data from the bus interface 101 and the compression circuit 102 is to be transmitted according to the result indicated by the line 111. Reference numeral 107 is a reception selector (SEL), which selects the data from the receiver 109 or the data to be received according to the result indicated by the line 110.

Reference numeral 108 is a transceiver (TX), and the data output from the transmission selector 106 is L (not shown).
It is transmitted to a personal computer connected as a terminal via an AN cable.

Reference numeral 109 is a receiver (RX), which is L
Capture the data on the AN cable into the network controller.

Reference numeral 110 is a line to which the reception select signal is transferred, and transmits the judgment result of the judgment logic 104 to the selector 107. Reference numeral 111 is a line to which the transmission select signal is transferred, and informs the selector 106 of the content designated by the internal register 105. Reference numeral 112 is a transmission data line, which is an internal bus to which transmission data is transferred. Reference numeral 113 is a compressed transmission data line,
It is an internal data bus to which compressed data is transferred.
Reference numeral 114 is a received data line. Reference numeral 115 is a data line to which the restored data is transferred, and the restoring circuit 1
The data restored in 03 is output.

A CPU and a memory, which are control centers of the system, are connected to the outside of the above-mentioned network controller via a bus interface 101.

The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below.

First, the transmission operation will be described.

When transmission is performed, whether to compress or not is written in the internal register 105 from the outside of the control, that is, the CPU (not shown) before starting the transmission.

When the start of transmission is instructed, the bus interface 101 takes out the transmission data from the outside of the controller and places it on the line 112. The data transferred on line 112 is provided to both compression circuit 102 and transmit selector 106.

The data that has entered the compression circuit 102 is compressed by the compression circuit 102, and the compressed data is output to the line 113. At this time, the compression presence / absence information designated by the internal register 105 has already been transmitted via the line 111 to the transmission selector 106.
Have been told to.

When the transmit selector 106 is designated as having compression, the data from the line 113 is received by the transceiver 1
The transceiver 10 outputs the raw data output via line 112 when output to 08 and specified without compression.
Output to 8.

The transceiver 108 outputs the transmitted data to the LAN cable.

Next, the receiving operation will be described.

The receiver 109 takes in the data on the LAN cable and places it on the line 114. The line 114 is the decision logic 104, the restoration circuit 103, the reception selector 1
It is connected to 07. Here, the determination logic 104
The received data is analyzed (inspects the compression flag on the frame) to determine whether the received data is compressed data, and the determination result is output to line 110.

The restoration circuit 103 restores the data on the line 114 and outputs the restored received data to the line 115. The reception selector 107 transfers the data from the line 115 when the data transferred on the line 110 indicates the compressed data, and the data from the line 114 when the data transferred on the line 110 indicates the normal data. Output to. The bus interface 101 transfers the data from the reception selector 107 to a memory outside the network controller.

As described above, the data compression circuit 102 and the compressed data decompression circuit 10 are provided on the network controller.
3, a data determination logic 104, a functional circuit such as an internal register 105 for setting data as to whether or not to compress the data is provided, and at the time of transmission, by referring to the contents set in the internal register 105, raw data or The data transmitted via the compression circuit is output to the transceiver 108, and at the time of reception, the data received via the receiver 109 is fetched internally as raw data or via the decompression circuit according to the contents decoded by the determination logic 104, thereby making the network Throughput and processing speed can be improved.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, traffic on the network can be reduced and throughput can be improved. Further, since the work performed by the main body CPU is performed by the hardware (network controller), the main body CPU can perform another process, and the processing speed can be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of Codes] 101 ... Bus Interface, 102 ... Compression Circuit, 10
3 ... Restoring circuit, 104 ... Judgment logic, 105 ... Internal register, 106 ... Transmission selector (SEL), 107 ... Reception selector (SEL), 108 ... Transceiver (T
X), 109 ... Receiver (RX).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A register in which information as to whether or not transmission data should be compressed is set, a compression circuit for compressing transmission data, raw data internally generated, and the data are supplied via the compression circuit. A first selector that inputs compressed data and outputs either one to the terminal according to the contents set in the register, a determination circuit that determines whether the received data is compressed data, and a decompression that decompresses the received data A second selector for inputting the received data obtained from the terminal and the received data obtained via the restoration circuit, and taking in either one according to the contents instructed by the judgment circuit. Network controller characterized by.