Abstract: A time aware network having an inherent time reference that enables the sharing of network resources in a network environment wherein the transfer of synchronized time information is not required is provided. The internal time reference is established using absolute time values which are time coordinates extracted from a GPS signal. The absolute time values and a defined clock parameter block, coordinate how the time-aware devices use the internal time reference and are further used to establish a network domain. Devices capable of meeting the network clock domain timing requirements may participate in the domain. Upon joining a network clock domain, a client may access a shared resource through a locking authority which maintains the data coherency of the shared resource. The client, locking authority and shared resource are all time aware devices participating in the same network clock domain communicating using the internal time reference.

Abstract: A system and method for interfacing TCP Offload Engines (TOE) into an operating system to improve system performance and reduce CPU utilization. The system and method places an interposed filter before the generic user space socket library near the top of the TCP stack to intercept at the earliest possible layer a user application network socket request. The interposed filter determines whether an I/O request is targeted for a generic network adapter or a full TOE network adapter. For I/O requests that are targeted to a full TOE network adapter, the request is formatted to meet the requirements of the full TOE driver and sent directly to that driver, bypassing the operating system's generic user space socket library and socket driver in kernel space. This system and method takes full advantage of the capabilities offered by TOE hardware.