Apparatus and method transmitting packets

• US 10,257,076 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2016
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul National University R&DB Foundation (Seoul National University)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul National University R&DB Foundation (Seoul National University)
• Inventors: Han, Sungju, Lee, Jinho, Choi, Kiyoung, Seo, Woong
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu, Alpus
• Application Number:
  US15/132,663
• Publication Number:
  US 20170078189A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/44 Star or tree networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/121 by minimising delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/122 by minimising distances, e.g. by selecting a route with minimum of number of hops
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/20 Hop count for routing purposes, e.g. TTL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/109 Integrated on microchip, e.g. switch-on-chip
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric

Abstract

Provided is a multi network and method to transmit packets. The multi network includes a mesh network, a tree network, and a network interface connected to the mesh network and the tree network and configured to transmit, through the mesh network and the tree network, a packet generated by a processing unit, of a processing system having plural processing units, at a starting point to a destination point for another processing unit of the processing system and configured to selectively inject the packet into one of the mesh network and the tree network to transmit the packet to the other processing unit.

Claims

1. A multi network comprising:

a mesh network;

a tree network; and

a network interface connected between a processing apparatus having plural processing units, and each of the mesh network and the tree network, and configured to transmit, through the mesh network and the tree network, a packet generated by a processing unit of the processing apparatus, at a starting point to a destination point for another processing unit of the processing apparatus and configured to selectively inject the packet into one of the mesh network and the tree network to transmit the packet to said another processing unit;

wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, the network interface is configured to calculate a hop-count gain indicating a difference between a hop-count of the mesh network and a hop-count of the tree network, each of which are determined by the network interface based on a path from a node at the starting point to a node at the ending point, and the network interface is configured to select to inject the packet into the tree network based on a determination that the hop-count gain exceeds a threshold and to select to inject the packet into the mesh network when the hop-count gain does not exceed the threshold.

2. The multi network of claim 1, wherein the network interface is further configured to measure a latency of the packet for transitioning from the starting point to the destination point through the tree network and to update the threshold based on the measured latency.

3. The multi network of claim 1, wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, prior to the determination based on hop-gain count, the network interface is configured to select to inject the packet into the tree network when the packet is determined to be a broadcasting packet.

4. The multi network of claim 1, wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, prior to the determination based on hop-gain count, the network interface is configured to select to inject the packet into the tree network when the network interface determines that the packet would pass through a root node of the tree network on a path from a node at the starting point to a node at the destination point if the packet was injected into the tree network, and configured to select to inject the packet into the mesh network otherwise.

5. The multi network of claim 1, wherein the tree network comprises a root router at a first level, and wherein routers of a second level of the tree network, distinct from the root router, comprise only data paths from child nodes to a parent node and data paths from a parent node to child nodes.

6. The multi network of claim 1, wherein the tree network comprises two or more root nodes.

7. The multi network of claim 6, wherein each of the two or more root nodes comprises a data path to a same lower level node.

8. The multi network of claim 1, wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, the network interface is configured to select to inject the packet into the one of the mesh network and the tree network based on set criteria.

9. The multi network of claim 1, wherein the multi network is a Network on a Chip (NOC).

10. The multi network of claim 1, further comprising the processing apparatus having the plural processing units, wherein the multi network is a System of a Chip (SoC) or a reprogrammable processor.

11. A multi network comprising:

a mesh network;

a tree network; and

a network interface connected between a processing apparatus having plural processing units, and each of the mesh network and the tree network, and configured to transmit, through the mesh network and the tree network, a packet generated by a processing unit of the processing apparatus, at a starting point to a destination point for another processing unit of the processing apparatus and configured to selectively inject the packet into one of the mesh network and the tree network to transmit the packet to said another processing unit,

wherein the tree network comprises a root router at a first level, and the network interface is configured to monitor statuses of routers of a second level of the tree network, and

wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, the network interface is configured to control a number or proportion of packets that are injected to the tree network by updating a corresponding filtering ratio of one or more routers of a lowest level of the tree network based on a result of the monitoring,

wherein the lowest level is a level of the tree network below the first level, and the filtering ratio is a ratio of a number of packets to be injected into both the tree network and the mesh network, to a number of packets to be injected into the tree network.

12. A method of packet communication, comprising:

receiving a packet, from a first processing unit at a starting point, that is set to be transmitted to a destination point for a second processing unit;

determining which network, from among a mesh network and a tree network, to inject the packet into to transmit the packet to the destination point;

injecting the packet into the determined network; and

outputting the packet to the second processing unit at the destination point;

wherein the determining of which network to inject the packet into includes calculating a hop-count gain indicating a difference between a hop-count of the mesh network and a hop-count of the tree network, each said hop-count being determined based on a path from a node at the starting point to a node at the ending point, and determining to inject the packet into the tree network when the hop-count gain exceeds a threshold and to inject the packet into the mesh network when the hop-count gain does not exceed the threshold.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising measuring a latency of the packet for transitioning from the starting point to the destination point through the tree network and updating the threshold based on the measured latency.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining of which network to inject the packet into includes determining to inject the packet into the tree network when the packet is determined to be a broadcasting packet.

15. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon processor readable code to cause at least one processing device to implement a method of packet communication, the method comprising:

receiving a packet, from a first processing unit at a starting point of a chip, that is set to be transmitted to a destination point of the chip for a second processing unit;

determining which network, from among a mesh network and a tree network, to inject the packet into to transmit the packet to the destination point;

injecting the packet into the determined network; and

outputting the packet to the second processing unit at the destination point;

wherein the determining of which network to inject the packet into includes calculating a hop-count gain Indicating a difference between a hop-count of the mesh network and a hop-count of the tree network, each said hop-count being determined based on a path from;

a node at the starting point to a node at the ending point, and determining to inject the packet into the tree network when the hop-count gain exceeds a threshold and to inject the packet into the mesh network when the hop-count gain does not exceed the threshold.