Switch fabric with bandwidth efficient flow control
First Claim
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1. A method for managing congestion of traffic at a plurality of ports of a switch system, the switch system having at least a scheduler, said method comprising:
- (a) monitoring outgoing traffic at the ports of the switch to identify traffic conditions at each of the ports;
(b) notifying the scheduler of the switch system of the traffic conditions; and
(c) scheduling of traffic to the ports by the scheduler based in part on the traffic conditions provided to the scheduler by said notifying (b).
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Abstract
An improved approach for applying flow control within a switch system is disclosed. The improved approach makes use of scheduling operations performed by the switch system to implement receive-side flow control. Transmit-side flow control is independently provided. The improved approach of the invention enables the switch system to provide flow control in a bandwidth efficient manner.
102 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method for managing congestion of traffic at a plurality of ports of a switch system, the switch system having at least a scheduler, said method comprising:
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(a) monitoring outgoing traffic at the ports of the switch to identify traffic conditions at each of the ports;
(b) notifying the scheduler of the switch system of the traffic conditions; and
(c) scheduling of traffic to the ports by the scheduler based in part on the traffic conditions provided to the scheduler by said notifying (b). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for applying flow control to a multi-port switch system having at least a scheduler, said method comprising:
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detecting congestion at a particular port of the multi-port switch system;
notifying the scheduler of the detected congestion; and
restricting granting of requests to send additional data to the particular port of the multi-port switch system to ameliorate the detected congestion at the particular port.
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8. A method for managing congestion of traffic at a plurality of ports of a switch system, the switch system having at least a scheduler, said method comprising:
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monitoring outgoing traffic at the ports of the switch to identify traffic conditions at each of the ports;
determining whether flow control is desired based on the traffic conditions;
notifying the scheduler of the switch system of the traffic conditions when said determining determines that flow control is desired; and
altering scheduling of traffic to the ports based on the traffic conditions provided to the scheduler by said notifying. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for managing congestion of traffic at a plurality of ports of a switch system, the switch system having at least a scheduler, said method comprising:
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monitoring outgoing traffic at the ports of the switch to identify traffic conditions at each of the ports;
producing flow control information for each of the ports based on the traffic conditions at each of the ports; and
altering scheduling of traffic to the ports based on the flow control information. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A switch system, comprising:
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a switch unit that switches data through said switch system;
a scheduler that receives requests to transfer blocks of data through said switch system and selectively concurrently permits one or more of the requests to transfer blocks of data through said switch unit; and
a flow control manager that receives flow control information and alters the amount of or rate that requests to transfer blocks of data through said switch unit are permitted by said scheduler based on the flow control information. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A switch system, comprising:
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a switch unit that switches data through said switch system; and
a scheduler that receives requests to transfer blocks of data through said switch system, receives flow or traffic information, and selectively concurrently permits one or more of the requests to transfer blocks of data through said switch unit in accordance with the flow or traffic information such that the amount of or rate that requests to transfer blocks of data through said switch unit are altered dependent on the flow or traffic information.
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Specification