ETHERNET-MOST GATEWAY APPARATUS

• US 20110149982A1
• Filed: 09/03/2010
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: HAN, Tae Man, HWANG, Hyun Yong
• Granted Patent: US 8,391,304 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle

Abstract

An Ethernet-MOST gateway apparatus for exchanging data between a MOST network transferring multimedia data within a vehicle and a packet network for a computer and Internet communications. The Ethernet-MOS gateway apparatus including: an Ethernet frame interface unit connected with a packet network to transmit and receive an Ethernet frame, and converting the Ethernet frame into a MOST frame; a MOST frame interface unit connected with a MOST network to transmit and receive the MOST frame, and converting the MOST frame into the Ethernet frame; and a switch fabric connecting the Ethernet frame interface unit and the MOST frame interface unit.

Claims

1. An Ethernet-MOS gateway apparatus comprising:

an Ethernet frame interface unit connected with a packet network so as to transmit and receive an Ethernet frame, and converting the Ethernet frame into a MOST frame;

a MOST frame interface unit connected with a MOST network to transmit and receive the MOST frame, and converting the MOST frame into the Ethernet frame; and

a switch fabric connecting the Ethernet frame interface unit and the MOST frame interface unit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the Ethernet frame interface unit comprises:

a physical layer and MAC layer processing unit performing physical layer and MAC layer processing on the Ethernet frame;

an Ethernet frame parser parsing the Ethernet frame; and

an Ethernet frame processor converting the Ethernet frame which has been parsed by the Ethernet frame parser into the MOST frame when the Ethernet frame is to be transmitted to the MOST network.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the Ethernet frame processor fragments data included in the parsed Ethernet frame, according to the length of the MOST frame, generates one or more MOST frames, each including the fragmented data, and outputs the same.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the Ethernet frame processor additionally has a function of analyzing Ethernet type information included in the Ethernet frame and determining whether to use an SDA (Synchronous Data Area) or an ADA (Asynchronous Data Area) of the MOST frame.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein each of the MOST frames comprises:

a preamble area in which information for the synchronization of the MOST frame is stored;

an SDA in which synchronous data is stored;

an ADA in which asynchronous data is stored;

a BD (Boundary Descriptor) area in which information for discriminating the SDA and the ADA is stored;

a CC (Control Channel) area in which command, status, and diagnosis information for controlling the MOST network is stored;

an FC (Frame Control) area in which information for controlling the MOST frame is stored; and

a PB (Parity Bit) area in which information for detecting a MOST frame error is stored,

wherein one of the SDA and the ADA stores data fragmented by the Ethernet frame processor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the MOST frame interface unit comprises:

a MOST physical layer processing unit performing physical layer processing on the MOST frame;

a framer framing the MOST frame to be transmitted to or received from the MOST network;

a MOST frame parser parsing the MOST frame; and

a MOST frame processor converting the MOST frame which has been parsed by the MOST frame parser into an Ethernet frame when the MOST frame is to be transmitted to the packet network.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the MOST frame processor generates one or more Ethernet frames by using one or more units of synchronous data and asynchronous data included in the one or more parsed MOST frames, and outputs the same.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein each of one or more of the Ethernet frames comprises:

a preamble area in which information for the synchronization of the Ethernet frame is stored;

an SFD (Start Frame Delimiter) area in which information indicating a start of the Ethernet frame is stored;

an SA (Source Address) area in which information indicating the address of a source is stored;

an Ethernet type (E-type) area in which information indicating that the parsed MOST frame is a frame having synchronous data or asynchronous data is stored;

a data area in which the synchronous data or the asynchronous data of the parsed MOST frame is stored; and

an FCS (Frame Check Sequence) area in which information for detecting an Ethernet frame error is stored.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein dummy information for adjusting the size of a minimum Ethernet frame is additionally stored in the data area.

10. A method for processing a frame of an Ethernet-MOST gateway apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving and parsing an Ethernet frame;

determining a network to which the Ethernet frame is to be transmitted;

when the Ethernet frame is to be transmitted to a MOST network, fragmenting data included in the Ethernet frame such that the fragmented data fits the length of a MOST frame; and

generating one or more MOST frames, each of the one or more generated MOST frames including the fragmented data, and outputting the same.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

analyzing Ethernet type information included in the Ethernet frame to determine whether to use an SDA (Synchronous Data Area) or an ADA (Asynchronous Data Area) of the MOST frame.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the MOST frames comprises:

a preamble area in which information for the synchronization of the MOST frame is stored;

an SDA in which synchronous data is stored;

an ADA in which asynchronous data is stored;

a BD (Boundary Descriptor) area in which information for discriminating the SDA and the ADA is stored;

a CC (Control Channel) area in which command, status, and diagnosis information for controlling the MOST network is stored;

an FC (Frame Control) area in which information for controlling the MOST frame is stored; and

a PB (Parity Bit) area in which information for detecting a MOST frame error is stored,

wherein one of the SDA and the ADA stores data fragmented by the Ethernet frame processor, instead of the synchronous data or the asynchronous data.

13. A method for processing a frame of an Ethernet-MOST gateway apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving and parsing a MOST frame;

determining a network to which the MOST frame is to be transmitted; and

when the MOST frame is to be transmitted to a packet network, generating one or more Ethernet frames by using one or more units of synchronous data and asynchronous data included in the MOST frame, and outputting the same.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the generating and outputting of one or more Ethernet frames comprises:

generating one or more Ethernet frames by using one or more units of synchronous data and asynchronous data included in the MOST frame; and

setting an E-type A or port information (UDP (User Datagram Protocol)) in the Ethernet frame which has been generated by using the synchronous data included in the MOST frame and setting an E-type B or port information (TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)) in the Ethernet frame which has been generated by using the asynchronous data included in the MOST frame.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein each of one or more of the Ethernet frames comprises:

a preamble area in which information for the synchronization of the Ethernet frame is stored;

an SFD (Start Frame Delimiter) area in which information indicating a start of the Ethernet frame is stored;

a DA (Destination Address) area in which information indicating the address of a destination is stored;

an SA (Source Address) area in which information indicating the address of a source is stored;

an Ethernet type (E-type) area in which information indicating that the parsed MOST frame is a frame having synchronous data or asynchronous data is stored;

a data area in which the synchronous data or the asynchronous data of the parsed MOST frame is stored; and

an FCS (Frame Check Sequence) area in which information for detecting an Ethernet frame error is stored.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the generating and outputting of one or more Ethernet frames comprises:

additionally storing dummy information for adjusting the size of a minimum Ethernet frame in the data area.