Switch with transparent and non-transparent ports

• US 20050105516A1
• Filed: 11/18/2004
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Topside Research LLC
• Inventors: Haywood, Chris, Stewart, Heath, de la Garrigue, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,454,552 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/360
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3009 Header conversion, routing tables or routing tags

Abstract

There are disclosed apparatus and methods for switching. Transparent and non-transparent ports are provided. Data units are transferred between the transparent ports, between the transparent and non-transparent ports, and between the non-transparent ports.

Claims

1. A switch with transparent and non-transparent ports comprising

a first transparent port for interfacing to a first device having a first address in a first shared address domain

a second transparent port for interfacing to a second device having a second address in the first shared address domain

a third port for interfacing to a third device having a third address in a second address domain, wherein the second address domain is isolated from the first address domain

logic for switching data units between the first transparent port, the second transparent port and the third port using mapped address I/O.

2. The switch with transparent and non-transparent ports of claim 1 wherein the first address domain and the second address domain are selected from the group comprising memory address domains and input/output address domains.

3. The switch with transparent and non-transparent ports of claim 1 wherein the data units are switched by the logic through one of direct memory translation with or without offsets, indirect memory translation through lookup registers or tables, a mailbox mechanism, and doorbell registers.

4. The switch with transparent and non-transparent ports of claim 1 wherein isolation comprises separation such that interaction does not take place.

5. The switch with transparent and non-transparent ports of claim 1 wherein the third port is selectable to interface to devices in the first address domain or the second address domain.

6. The switch with transparent and non-transparent ports of claim 1 having plural transparent ports and plural non-transparent ports.

7. A system comprising

the switch with transparent and non-transparent ports of claim 1

a first processor having a first address domain and connected to the first transparent port

a second processor having a second address domain and connected to the third port

wherein the first processor and the second processor can communicate with each other through the switch.

8. A process for switching data units, the method comprising

providing a switch having transparent and non-transparent ports

associating the transparent ports with a shared address domain

associating the non-transparent ports with non-shared address domains

transferring data units between the transparent ports, between the transparent and non-transparent ports, and between the non-transparent ports.

9. The process for switching data units of claim 8 wherein transferring data units between the transparent and non-transparent ports comprises

receiving data units through the transparent ports which are addressed to devices coupled to the non-transparent-ports, and transmitting the data units through the non-transparent ports to the addressed devices

receiving data units through the non-transparent ports which are addressed to devices coupled to the transparent-ports, and transmitting the data units through the transparent ports to the addressed devices.

10. The process for switching data units of claim 8 comprising

receiving data units from the transparent ports and the non-transparent ports

storing the received data units in a buffer

determining destination addresses of the received data units

if the destination addresses correspond to devices coupled to the non-transparent ports, then translating the destination addresses to the non-shared address domain associated with the devices prior to transfer through the non-transparent ports

if the data units are received from transparent ports and the destination addresses correspond to devices coupled to the transparent ports, then transferring the data units through the corresponding transparent ports without translating the destination addresses.