Abstract: PCIe devices and corresponding methods are provided wherein a length of data to be transferred is aligned to a multiple of a double word length.

Abstract: PCIe devices and corresponding methods are provided wherein a length of data to be transferred is aligned to a multiple of a double word length.

Abstract: A network processor system includes a network processor 1, which is provided with a number of interfaces 9, 11, 13, 15, 19, including one or more Ethernet interfaces 9, 11 and a UART interface 19, which can be used to load a software package into the network processor 1. The software package can thus be modified when required, or when the software package previously stored in the network processor system is corrupted. The Ethernet data packets received on the Ethernet interfaces 9, 11 are in a special format, which the network processor 1 can recognize, to distinguish them from conventional Ethernet packets. Thus, the network processor 1 does not have to be programmed to handle the full range conventional Ethernet data packets. The network processor 1 is provided with a second external non-volatile data storage device 7 in the form of a EEPROM memory 7. The EEPROM memory 7 provides a writable extension of the internal ROM memory of the network processor.

Abstract: There is provided an apparatus and method for transferring data packets from a peripheral module to a memory via a memory-controller. When a given peripheral module requests that it send a data packet to the memory via the memory-controller, the memory-controller sends an acknowledgement indicating that the peripheral module can send the data packet, whether or not there is a descriptor for the data packet. If there is a descriptor, the memory-controller receives the data packet from the peripheral module and stores it in the memory. If there is not a descriptor, the memory-controller discards the data packet as it receives it. Thus, whether or not there is a descriptor available for the data packet, the peripheral module still sends the data packet to the memory-controller. The data packets may be assigned classifications and each classification may be assigned a dedicated space in the memory.