ETHERNET APPARATUS AND METHOD OF ADJUSTING TRANSMISSION RATE THEREOF

• US 20110110253A1
• Filed: 11/05/2010
• Published: 05/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: AHN, Kye-Hyun, Kim, Kwangjoon
• Granted Patent: US 8,861,529 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/245 Link aggregation, e.g. trunking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A plurality of lanes are formed between an Ethernet apparatus and a remote Ethernet apparatus. The Ethernet apparatus determines a transmission rate for transmitting a packet and determines the number of lanes to transmit a packet among a plurality of lanes according to the determined transmission rate. The Ethernet apparatus activates the determined number of lanes of a plurality of lanes and transmits the packet to the remote Ethernet apparatus through the activated lanes. Further, the Ethernet apparatus sets the number of lanes for receiving a packet according to a transmission rate, activates the set number of lanes of a plurality of lanes in a state that can receive the packet according to the set number of lanes, and receives packets that are transmitted from the remote Ethernet apparatus through the activated lanes.

Claims

1. A method of adjusting a transmission rate when transmitting a packet stream from an Ethernet apparatus to a remote Ethernet apparatus, the method comprising:

determining, by the Ethernet apparatus, a transmission rate of the packet stream;

setting, by the Ethernet apparatus, the number of lanes to transmit the packet stream according to the determined transmission rate;

converting, by the Ethernet apparatus, a state of at least one lane to an activation state in which a packet can be transmitted according to the set number; and

transmitting, by the Ethernet apparatus, the packet stream to the remote Ethernet apparatus with the determined transmission rate through the activated lane.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the Ethernet apparatus and the remote Ethernet apparatus transmit and receive packets through a plurality of lanes,

the converting of a state of at least one lane comprises

converting a state of the set number of lanes of a plurality of lanes to an activation state in which a packet can be transmitted;

and

converting a state of the remaining lanes of a plurality of lanes to an inactivation state in which a packet cannot be transmitted.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transmitting of the packet stream comprises:

distributing packets that are included in the packet stream to lanes in the activation state;

inserting a marking packet between packets that are distributed to each lane in the activation state; and

transmitting packets into which the marking packet is inserted to the remote Ethernet apparatus through a corresponding lane.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the marking packet is a packet that indicates an alignment order between lanes.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the Ethernet apparatus, a lane state message comprising an identifier of activated lanes to the remote Ethernet apparatus.

6. A method of adjusting a transmission rate when an Ethernet apparatus receives packets from a remote Ethernet apparatus, the method comprising:

determining, by the Ethernet apparatus, the transmission rate;

setting, by the Ethernet apparatus, the number of lanes to receive packets according to the determined transmission rate;

converting, by the Ethernet apparatus, a state of at least one of lane to an activation state in which a packet can be received according to the set number; and

receiving, by the Ethernet apparatus, the packets with the determined transmission rate from the remote Ethernet apparatus through the activated lane.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the Ethernet apparatus and the remote Ethernet apparatus transmit and receive packets through a plurality of lanes,

the converting of a number state of at least one lane comprises

converting a state of the set number of lanes of a plurality of lanes to an activation state in which a packet can be received;

and

converting a state of the remaining lanes of a plurality of lanes to an inactivation state in which a packet cannot be received.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the receiving of the number of lanes in the activation state further comprises

receiving the packet from the lanes in the activation state;

and

aligning the received packets and combining the packets into one packet stream based on a marking packet that is included in packets that are received through each lane.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the marking packet comprises an alignment order of the packets.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising

receiving, by the Ethernet apparatus, a lane state message comprising an identified of activated lanes from the remote Ethernet apparatus according to a transmission rate that is determined by a remote Ethernet apparatus,

wherein the determining of the transmission rate comprises determining, by the Ethernet apparatus, the transmission rate based on the lane state message.

11. An Ethernet apparatus comprising:

a transmission rate controller that determines a transmission rate corresponding to packets to transmit and that determines the set number of lanes based on the determined transmission rate;

a lane state controller that converts a state of a plurality of lanes to one of an activation state in which a packet can be transmitted and an inactivation state in which a packet cannot be transmitted using the set number of lanes; and

a lane transmission processor that distributes the packets to lanes in an activation state and that transmits at least one packet to an external remote Ethernet apparatus through a corresponding lane.

12. The Ethernet apparatus of claim 11, wherein the transmission rate controller determines the number of lanes to a set number by decreasing or increasing the number of lanes corresponding to a present transmission rate according to whether a present transmission rate is higher or lower than the determined transmission rate.

13. The Ethernet apparatus of claim 11, wherein the lane state controller converts a state of a set number of lanes of a plurality of lanes to an activation state in which a packet can be transmitted and a state of the remaining lanes to an inactivation state in which a packet cannot be transmitted.

14. The Ethernet apparatus of claim 11, wherein the lane transmission processor inserts, when transmitting the at least one packet through a corresponding lane, a marking packet that indicates an alignment order of packets between packets that are transmitted through the corresponding lane.

15. An Ethernet apparatus comprising:

a lane state controller that sets the number of lines for receiving a packet according to a transmission rate for receiving the packet and that converts a state of a plurality of lanes to one of an activation state in which a packet can be received and an inactivation state in which a packet cannot be received based on the set number of lanes; and

a lane reception processor that receives at least one packet that is transmitted from a remote Ethernet apparatus through each lane in an activation state and that combines the received packets into one packet stream.

16. The Ethernet apparatus of claim 15, wherein the lane state controller receives a lane state message comprising a state of activated lanes from the remote Ethernet apparatus according to a transmission rate that is determined by the remote Ethernet apparatus, determines a transmission rate for receiving the packet based on the received lane state message, and determines the set number of lanes according to the determined transmission rate.

17. The Ethernet apparatus of claim 15, wherein the lane state controller converts a state of a set number of lanes of a plurality of lanes to an activation state in which a packet can be received and converts a state of the remaining lanes to an inactivation state in which a packet cannot be received.

18. The Ethernet apparatus of claim 15, wherein the lane reception processor aligns the received packets and combines the packets into one packet stream based on the inserted marking packet when receiving a packet in each lane.

19. The Ethernet apparatus of claim 15, wherein the marking packet comprises an alignment order of the packets.

20. A method of adjusting a transmission rate of a packet between an Ethernet apparatus and a remote Ethernet apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving, when transmitting a packet stream with a first transmission rate, by the Ethernet apparatus, a lane state message from the remote Ethernet apparatus, wherein the lane message comprises an identifier of at least one lane activated according to a second transmission rate that is determined by the remote Ethernet apparatus;

determining, by the Ethernet apparatus, the transmission rate from the first transmission rate into the second transmission rate based on the lane state message;

setting, by the Ethernet apparatus, the number of lanes to transmit the packet stream according to the second transmission rate;

converting, by the Ethernet apparatus, a state of at least one lane to an activation state in which a packet can be transmitted according to the set number;

transmitting, by the Ethernet apparatus, the packet stream to the remote Ethernet apparatus with the second transmission rate through the activated lane; and

receiving, by the remote Ethernet apparatus, the packets with the second transmission rate from the Ethernet apparatus through at least one lane in activation state in which a packet can be received according to the set number based on the second transmission rate.