Replication of multicast data packets in a multi-stage switching system
First Claim
1. A multi-stage switch comprising:
- at least one ingress switching module to receive data packets, to generate frames from the data packets, and to form wavelength division multiplexed signals from the frames;
a core switching module operatively connected to receive the wavelength division multiplexed signal from the at least one ingress switching module and to switch the frames; and
at least one egress switching module to receive the wavelength division multiplexed signal from the core switching module, extract the data packets, and transmit the data packets, wherein said at least one ingress switching module and said at least one egress switching module are capable of replicating multicast data packets.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In general, in one aspect, the disclosure describes a multi-stage switch having at least one ingress switch module to receive data and to generate frames that are transmitted as a wavelength division multiplexed signal. The multi-stage switch further includes a core switch module operatively connected to receive the wavelength division multiplexed signal from the at least one ingress switch module and to switch the frames. The multi-stage switch additionally includes at least one egress switch module to receive the wavelength division multiplexed signal from the core switch module and to transmit data. The at least one ingress switching module and the at least one egress switching module are capable of replicating multicast data packets.
93 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A multi-stage switch comprising:
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at least one ingress switching module to receive data packets, to generate frames from the data packets, and to form wavelength division multiplexed signals from the frames;
a core switching module operatively connected to receive the wavelength division multiplexed signal from the at least one ingress switching module and to switch the frames; and
at least one egress switching module to receive the wavelength division multiplexed signal from the core switching module, extract the data packets, and transmit the data packets, wherein said at least one ingress switching module and said at least one egress switching module are capable of replicating multicast data packets. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method comprising:
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receiving data at a multistage switch, wherein the multistage switch includes a plurality of ingress switching modules, a core switching module operationally connected to the plurality of ingress switching modules, and a plurality of egress switching modules operationally connected to the core switch module, and wherein the data is received by the ingress switch modules and may include multicast packets that are destined for at least two destinations;
for multicast packets, replicating the multicast packet for the at least two destinations, wherein said replicating can be distributed between receiving ingress switching module and egress switching modules associated with the at least two destinations;
within the ingress switching modules, switching the data, aggregating the data destined for different egress switching module into frames, generating wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) optical signals from the frames, and transmitting the WDM optical signals to the core switching module;
switching the WDM optical signals through the core switch module via multiple channels;
within the egress switching modules, receiving the WDM optical signals, extracting frames from the WDM optical signals, switching the data, and transmitting the data to destinations. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A store and forward device comprising
a plurality of Ethernet cards to receive data from and transmit data to external sources; - and
a multistage switch to switch data between Ethernet cards, the multistage switch including at least one ingress switching module to receive data from the Ethernet cards, aggregate the data into frames, and generate wavelength division multiplexed signals from the frames;
a core switching module operatively connected to receive the wave division multiplex signals from the at least one ingress switching module and to switch the wavelength division multiplexed signals; and
at least one egress switching module to receive the wavelength division multiplexed signals from the core switching module and to transmit data to the Ethernet cards;
wherein said at least one ingress switching module and said at least one egress switching module are capable of replicating multicast data packets. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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Specification