Embodiments herein describe a SoC that includes a NoC that supports both strict and relax ordering requests. That is, some applications may require strict ordering where requests transmitted from the same ingress logic to different egress logic blocks are performed sequentially. However, other applications may not require strict ordering, such as interleaved writes to memory. In those applications, relax ordering can be used were the same ingress logic block can transmit multiple requests to different egress logic blocks in parallel. For example, an ingress logic block may receive a first request that is indicated as being a relaxed ordered request. After transmitting the request to an egress logic block, the ingress logic block may receive a second request. The ingress logic block can transmit the second request to a different egress logic block without waiting for a response for the first request.

A method, computer program product, and computing system for defining a queue. The queue may be based on a linked list and may be a first-in, first-out (FIFO) queue that may be configured to be use used with multiple producers and a single consumer. The queue may include a plurality of queue elements. A tail element and a head element may be defined from the plurality of elements within the queue. The tail element may point to a last element of the plurality of elements and the head element may point to a first element of a plurality of elements. An element may be dequeued from the tail element, which may include determining if the tail element is in a null state. An element may be enqueued to the head element, which may include adding a new element to the queue.

A method and apparatus for handling incoming data frames within a network interface controller. The network interface controller comprises at least one controller component operably coupled to at least one memory element. The at least one controller component is arranged to identify a next available buffer pointer from a pool of buffer pointers stored within a first area of memory within the at least one memory element, receive an indication that a start of a data frame has been received via a network interface, and allocate the identified next available buffer pointer to the data frame.

A multicast rule is represented in a hierarchical linked list with N tiers. Each tier or level in the hierarchical linked list corresponds to a network layer of a network stack that requires replication. Redundant groups in each tier are eliminated such that the groups in each tier are stored exactly once in a replication table. A multicast replication engine traverses the hierarchical linked list and replicates a packet according to each node in the hierarchical linked list.

Methods and apparatus for dynamically resizing circular buffers are described wherein circular buffers are dynamically allocated arrays from a pool of arrays. The method comprises receiving either a request to add data to a circular buffer or to remove data from a circular buffer. If the request is an addition request and the circular buffer is full, an array from the pool is allocated to the circular buffer. If, however, the request is a removal request and removal of the data creates an empty array, an array is de-allocated from the circular buffer and returned to the pool. Any arrays that are not allocated to a circular buffer may be disabled to conserve power.

A multicast rule is represented in a hierarchical linked list with N tiers. Each tier or level in the hierarchical linked list corresponds to a network layer of a network stack that requires replication. Redundant groups in each tier are eliminated such that the groups in each tier are stored exactly once in a replication table. A multicast replication engine traverses the hierarchical linked list and replicates a packet according to each node in the hierarchical linked list.

A method, computer program product, and computing system for defining a queue. The queue may be based on a linked list and may be a first-in, first-out (FIFO) queue that may be configured to be use used with multiple producers and a single consumer. The queue may include a plurality of queue elements. A tail element and a head element may be defined from the plurality of elements within the queue. The tail element may point to a last element of the plurality of elements and the head element may point to a first element of a plurality of elements. An element may be dequeued from the tail element, which may include determining if the tail element is in a null state. An element may be enqueued to the head element, which may include adding a new element to the queue.

A method and apparatus of accessing queue data is provided. According to the method, a double-layer circular queue is constructed, where the double-layer circular queue includes one or more inner-layer circular queues established based on an array, and the one or more inner-layer circular queues constitute an outer-layer circular queue of the double-layer circular queue based on a linked list. A management pointer of the outer-layer circular queue is set. Data accessing is performed on the inner-layer circular queues by using the management pointer.

Embodiments herein describe a SoC that includes a NoC that supports both strict and relax ordering requests. That is, some applications may require strict ordering where requests transmitted from the same ingress logic to different egress logic blocks are performed sequentially. However, other applications may not require strict ordering, such as interleaved writes to memory. In those applications, relax ordering can be used were the same ingress logic block can transmit multiple requests to different egress logic blocks in parallel. For example, an ingress logic block may receive a first request that is indicated as being a relaxed ordered request. After transmitting the request to an egress logic block, the ingress logic block may receive a second request. The ingress logic block can transmit the second request to a different egress logic block without waiting for a response for the first request.

A multicast rule is represented in a hierarchical linked list with N tiers. Each tier or level in the hierarchical linked list corresponds to a network layer of a network stack that requires replication. Redundant groups in each tier are eliminated such that the groups in each tier are stored exactly once in a replication table. A multicast replication engine traverses the hierarchical linked list and replicates a packet according to each node in the hierarchical linked list.