US 8060644

Analysis of U.S. Patent 8,060,644

Date of Analysis: May 1, 2026

This report provides a concise summary of United States Patent 8,060,644, including its key bibliographical data, abstract, and a plain-language interpretation of its independent claims. A search of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) dockets for the year 2026 was conducted, and no litigation related to this patent was found as of the date of this analysis.

I. Bibliographic Information

• Title: Intelligent network adaptor with end-to-end flow control
• Assignee: Chelsio Communications, Inc.
• Inventors: Dimitrios Michailidis, Wael Noureddine, Felix A. Marti, Asgeir Thor Eiriksson
• Filing Date: May 11, 2007
• Issue Date: November 15, 2011
• Abstract: A host is coupled to a network via an intelligent network adaptor. The host is executing an application configured to receive application data from a peer via the network and the intelligent network adaptor using a stateful connection according to a connection-oriented protocol. The intelligent network adaptor performs protocol processing of the connection. Application data is copied from host memory not configured for access by the application (possibly OS-associated host memory) to host memory associated with the application (application-associated host memory). The application data is received from the peer by the intelligent network adaptor and copied to host memory not configured for access by the application. The operating system selectively provides, to the intelligent network adaptor, information of the memory associated with the application. At least one portion of the application data for the connection is provided directly from the intelligent network adaptor to the memory associated with the application.

II. Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims

U.S. Patent 8,060,644 has two independent claims: claim 1 and claim 5. Below is a simplified explanation of what each of these claims protects.

Independent Claim 1:

This claim describes a method for an "intelligent" network adapter to manage the flow of data to a computer. Essentially, the network adapter is smart enough to handle some of the communication tasks that the computer's main processor would normally handle.

The core of this claim is about a more direct and efficient way of getting data to the software application that needs it. Instead of the network adapter just dumping all incoming data into a general-purpose memory area managed by the operating system (which would then require the computer's processor to copy it to the application's specific memory), this method allows the adapter to place the data directly into the application's designated memory buffer.

Crucially, the claim states that the "receive window" – which is a signal sent back to the data sender telling them how much more data they can send – is increased only when the application has actually used up some of the data in its buffer, freeing up space. This creates an "end-to-end" flow control, meaning the data flow is dictated by the application's actual ability to process the data, not just by the network adapter's capacity to receive it. This prevents the computer's memory from being flooded with data that the application isn't ready for.

Independent Claim 5:

This claim also describes a method for an intelligent network adapter to manage data flow, building on the concepts of the first claim. The key distinction in this claim is how it handles situations where an application needs a very large amount of memory for receiving data – more than the standard communication protocol allows for in its flow control mechanism.

To solve this, the claim outlines a method where the host computer exposes only a portion of the application's large memory buffer to the network adapter at any given time. This "exposed" portion is within the size limits of the protocol's flow control. As the application consumes data and frees up space in this window, the window can be conceptually "slid" to a new portion of the larger buffer.

The claim also specifies that the network adapter receives a direct indication from the host computer when the application has "consumed" data from its buffer. This information is then used to update the "receive window" sent to the data sender. This method allows for efficient, end-to-end flow control even when dealing with very large data transfers that exceed the standard buffer limits of the communication protocol.