Distributed switching system and method with time-based routing
First Claim
1. A system for transferring a plurality of scheduled data packets from at least one source to at least one destination, wherein the transfer of the scheduled data packets are provided during respective ones of a plurality of predefined time intervals, wherein each of the predefined time intervals is comprised of a plurality of predefined time frames, the system comprising:
- a virtual pipe comprising at least two switches interconnected in a path via communication links, each of said switches having plurality of input ports and plurality of output ports;
a common timing reference signal coupled to each of the switches;
wherein for each of the input ports of each switch there is an associated a predefined position within a first predefined time frame within which a scheduled data packet is transferred into the respective input port and an associated separate predefined position within a second predefined time frame within which the respective scheduled data packet is transferred from the output port out of the respective switch.
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Abstract
This invention describes a method for transmitting and forwarding packets over a switching network using time information. The network switches maintain a common time reference, which is obtained either from an external source (such as GPS—Global Positioning System) or is generated and distributed internally. The time intervals are arranged in simple periodicity and complex periodicity (like seconds and minutes of a clock). A data packet that arrives to an input port is switched to an output port based on its order or time position in the time interval in which it arrives at the switch. The time interval duration can be longer than the time duration required for transmitting a data packet, in which case the exact position of a data packet in its forwarding time interval is predetermined.
This invention provides congestion-free data packet switching for data packets for which capacity in their corresponding forwarding links and time intervals is reserved in advance. Furthermore, such data packets reach their destination, which can be one or more (i.e., multicast) in predefined time intervals, which guarantees that the delay jitter is smaller than or equal to one time interval.
100 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A system for transferring a plurality of scheduled data packets from at least one source to at least one destination, wherein the transfer of the scheduled data packets are provided during respective ones of a plurality of predefined time intervals, wherein each of the predefined time intervals is comprised of a plurality of predefined time frames, the system comprising:
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a virtual pipe comprising at least two switches interconnected in a path via communication links, each of said switches having plurality of input ports and plurality of output ports;
a common timing reference signal coupled to each of the switches;
wherein for each of the input ports of each switch there is an associated a predefined position within a first predefined time frame within which a scheduled data packet is transferred into the respective input port and an associated separate predefined position within a second predefined time frame within which the respective scheduled data packet is transferred from the output port out of the respective switch. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 21, 22, 23)
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14. A system for switching data packets from at least one source to at least one destination, wherein the transfer of the data packets is provided during respective ones of a plurality of predefined time frames with predefined time intervals, wherein each of the predefined time intervals is comprised of a plurality of the predefined time frames, and within a predefined position within the time frame, said system comprising:
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a plurality of switches with plurality of uniquely addressable input and output ports;
wherein the switches are interconnected via communication links;
a common time reference signal coupled to each of the switches;
wherein the common time reference is partitioned into respective ones of the time frames;
wherein a predefined number of contiguous ones of the time frames are grouped into a time cycle; and
wherein a predefined number of contiguous time cycles are grouped into a super cycle;
a time-based routing controller at the input port for determining uniquely to which of the output ports a data packet should be switched responsive to the time-frame of arrival (TOA) of said data packet at the input port, and position of said data packet within said time-frame of arrival (TOA);
a scheduling controller and transmit buffer for forwarding data packets out of the respective output port at a predefined scheduled time frame and position within said time frame. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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24. A method for transferring a plurality of scheduled data packets from at least one source to at least one destination, wherein the transfer of the scheduled data packets are provided during respective ones of a plurality of predefined time intervals, wherein each of the predefined time intervals is comprised of a plurality of predefined time frames, the method comprising:
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interconnecting as a virtual pipe comprising at least two switches in a path via communication links, each of said switches having plurality of input ports and plurality of output ports;
coupling a common timing reference signal to each of the switches;
associating a predefined position within a first predefined time frame within which a scheduled data packet is transferred into the respective input port and an associated separate predefined position within a second predefined time frame within which the respective scheduled data packet is transferred from the output port out of the respective switch, for each of the input ports of each switch. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification