DATA QUEUE SYSTEM

A data queue system comprises plural memory blocks defined in memory, and a queue which comprises a number of memory blocks each including a link to the following block in the data queue. A queue descriptor includes identities which identify: the final block in the queue, the memory location where the most recent read commit occurred (and optionally an offset from a predetermined location in that block), the memory location where the most recent write commit occurred (and optionally an offset from a predetermined location in that memory block), the size of the blocks, the memory location the most recent write occurred, the number of unused blocks, the number of blocks which contain data to be read, the type of data queue, the memory location where the most recent read occurred and the number of blocks which have been read since the most recent read commit.