| US 7,571,269 B2 | ||
| Covert channel for conveying supplemental messages in a protocol-defined link for a system of storage devices | ||
| Brian K. Schmidt, Mountain View, Calif. (US); and James Gregory Hanko, Redwood City, Calif. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Silicon Image, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif. (US) | ||
| Filed on Dec. 20, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/314,162. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/711863, filed on Aug. 25, 2005. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0180172 A1, Aug. 02, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06F 13/42 (2006.01); G06F 13/38 (2006.01); G06F 13/36 (2006.01); G06F 3/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 710—105 [710/5; 710/74; 710/315] | 16 Claims |
| 1. A communication apparatus for conveying supplemental messages via a link between a host and a point within a system of
storage devices, the communication apparatus comprising:
a link interface configured to communicatively couple the communication apparatus to the link for accessing a data stream
passing through the link in accordance with a standardized protocol; and
a supplemental message interface configured to exchange a supplemental message with the data stream to establish a covert
communication channel in the link, the supplemental message interface including a supplemental message observer configured
to identify a supplemental downlink message in the data stream, the supplemental message observer including:
a downlink receiver configured to:
identify a portion of the supplemental downlink message, and
acquire the portion of the supplemental downlink message, the downlink receiver being responsive to a first protocol-compliant
message, and
a supplemental message composition buffer configured to compose the supplemental downlink message from a number of portions
of the supplemental downlink message;
wherein the supplemental message supplements the standardized protocol.
|