DATA BRIDGE

• US 20120106551A1
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: YOUSEFI, NARIMAN, KIM, YONGBUM, WALLEY, JOHN, CHEN, SHERMAN (XUEMIN), DIAB, WAEL W., ILYADIS, NICHOLAS
• Granted Patent: US 9,031,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/00 Electric propulsion with power supplied within the vehicle with power supply from force of nature, e.g. sun or wind, B60L8/00; for monorail vehicles, suspension vehicles or rack railways B60L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/023 for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/03 for supply of electrical power to vehicle subsystems or for circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0315 using multiplexing techniques multiplexing for transmission of signals G08C15/00; multiplexing for electrical communication in general H04J
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 19/03 characterised by material, e.g. composite B60R19/18 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4022 using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network G06F13/4009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/76 Arrangements for rearranging, permuting or selecting data according to predetermined rules, independently of the content of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/16 Anti-collision systems road vehicle drive control systems for predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision otherwise than by control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/10 Current supply arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/46 Interconnection of networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6275 : based on priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/76 : using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation requested by the user or requested by the network in response to changing network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/821 : Prioritising resource allocation or reservation requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 : Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 : specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 : Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 : Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/102 : characterised by the element, parameter or selection affected or controlled by the adaptive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 : for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 : for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 : Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/08 : Load balancing or load distribution transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 : for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 : for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 : for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 : Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 : using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 : based on priority criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 : Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A data bridge controls packet transfers between network fabrics forming a closed network, such as a vehicular network. The data bridge includes two or more sets of modules, each of which communicates with a different network fabric. When a packet is to be delivered between network fabrics, a first set of modules, which is used to communicate with a first network fabric, decides whether to accept the packet or discard it. If the packet is accepted, it is delivered to a second set of modules, which is used for communicating with a second network fabric. The second set of modules makes a second, independent decision about whether the packet will be sent to the second network fabric. Each set of modules can base its decision on packet content type, and may discard any packet not to be delivered to the other network.

Claims

1. A data bridge to control packet transfers between network fabrics of a closed network, the data bridge comprising:

a first set of modules to interface with a first network fabric of the network fabrics, the first set of modules including a first processing module;

a second set of modules to interface with a second network fabric of the network fabrics, the second set of modules including a second processing module;

a coupling circuit coupled to transfer packets between the first set of modules and the second set of modules;

the first processing module to determine, based on a packet content type, whether a packet received from the first network fabric is to be delivered from the first set of modules to the second set of modules via the coupling circuit; and

the second processing module to determine, based on the packet content type, whether the packet received from the first set of modules is to be delivered to the second network fabric.

2. The data bridge of claim 1, further comprising:

the second set of modules comprising;

a first gate module coupled to receive the packet from the first set of modules via the coupling circuit;

a buffer coupled to receive the packet from the gate module;

a network interface module coupled to receive the packet from the buffer and deliver the packet to the second network fabric;

the second processing module further to;

determine a packet priority; and

control transfer of packets between the gate module and the buffer based, at least in part, on the packet priority.

3. The data bridge of claim 1, further comprising:

the second processing module further to enable delivery of a high-priority packet regardless of whether delivery of a non high-priority packet is interrupted.

4. The data bridge of claim 1, further comprising

each of the first processing module and the second processing module to determine whether a packet is to be discarded based on a source of the packet.

5. The data bridge of claim 1, further comprising

each of the first processing module and the second processing module to determine whether a packet is to be discarded based on a destination of the packet.

6. The data bridge of claim 1, further comprising:

the first set of modules comprising a memory under control of the first processing module;

the first processing module further to;

determine if a packet includes a request to store information in the memory;

determine if a packet source is authorized to store information in the memory; and

store the information in the memory in response to determining that the packet includes a request and that that packet source is authorized.

7. The data bridge of claim 6, further comprising:

the first processing module to;

extract the information from the packet;

create a file in which to store the information;

add the information to the file; and

send an acknowledgement message to the packet source.

8. The data bridge of claim 1, further comprising:

a third set of modules to interface with a third network fabric of the network fabrics, the third set of modules including a third processing module;

the coupling circuit coupled to transfer packets among the first set of modules, the second set of modules, and the third set of modules;

the first processing module further to determine, based on a second packet content type, whether a second packet received from the first network fabric is to be delivered to the third set of modules; and

the third processing module to determine, based on the second packet content type, whether the second packet received from the first set of modules is to be delivered to the third network fabric.

9. The data bridge of claim 8, further comprising:

the first processing module further to prevent a third packet from being delivered to the third set of modules, but allow the third packet to be delivered to the second set of modules.

10. A method for use in a data bridge coupled to a plurality of network fabrics of a closed network, the method comprising:

making a first determination, based on packet content type, whether a packet is to be transmitted from a first network fabric of the plurality of network fabrics to a second network fabric of the plurality of network fabrics;

making a second determination, based on packet content type, whether the second network fabric will receive the packet; and

transmitting the packet when the first determination and the second determination are favorable.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

identifying a source of the packet; and

making a third determination whether the packet is to be discarded based on the source of the received packet.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

making a fourth determination whether the source is authorized to store data in the data bridge; and

storing the data in response to a favorable fourth determination.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

identifying a destination of the packet;

making a fifth determination whether the received packet is to be discarded based on the destination of the received packet; and

discarding the packet in response to a favorable fifth determination.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

making a first identification of the received packet as a first-network high-priority packet.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

making a second identification of the received packet as a second-network high priority packet; and

transmitting the packet the second network fabric when the first identification and the second identification are favorable.

16. A data bridge coupled to a plurality of network fabrics of a closed network, the data bridge comprising:

a plurality of interfaces operable for coupling to the plurality of network fabrics;

a processing module operable to;

make a first determination, based on packet content type, whether a packet is to be transmitted from a first network fabric of the plurality of network fabrics to a second network fabric of the plurality of network fabrics;

make a second determination, based on packet content type, whether the second network fabric will receive the packet; and

transmit the packet via at least one of the plurality of interfaces, when the first determination and the second determination are favorable.

17. The data bridge of claim 16, wherein the processing module is further operable to:

identify a source of the packet; and

make a third determination whether the packet is to be discarded based on the source of the received packet.

18. The data bridge of claim 17, wherein the processing module is further operable to:

make a fourth determination whether the source is authorized to store data in the data bridge; and

store the data in response to a favorable fourth determination.

19. The data bridge of claim 16, wherein the processing module is further operable to:

identify a destination of the packet;

make a fifth determination whether the received packet is to be discarded based on the destination of the received packet; and

discard the packet in response to a favorable fifth determination.

20. The data bridge of claim 16, wherein the processing module is further operable to:

make a first identification of the received packet as a first-network high-priority packet.

21. The data bridge of claim 20, wherein the processing module is further operable to:

make a second identification of the received packet as a second-network high priority packet; and

transmit the packet the second network fabric when the first identification and the second identification are favorable.