PRIORITY-BASED ROUTING

• US 20150188829A1
• Filed: 12/26/2013
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Satpathy, Sudhir, Kaul, Himanshu, Anders, Mark, Mathew, Sanu, Krishnamurthy, Ram, Chen, Gregory
• Granted Patent: US 9,699,096 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/30 Routing of multiclass traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2458 Modification of priorities while in transit
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/56 implementing delay-aware scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6275 based on priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/109 Integrated on microchip, e.g. switch-on-chip

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a router configured for priority-based routing. The router is configured to receive a plurality of packets, wherein each packet is assigned a priority value. The router includes an output circuit configured to select the packet with the highest priority value. The output circuit is configured to forward the priority value of the selected packet to a second router. The output circuit is configured to transfer the selected packet to the second router when the link between the first router and the second router is available.

Claims

1. A router comprising

an input port to receive a plurality of incoming packets, each of the plurality of packets to reference a priority;

priority logic coupled to the input port to select a particular incoming packet of the plurality of incoming packets with a particular priority that is to be a highest priority of the plurality of incoming packets; and

an output port coupled to the priority logic to update a current priority in the output port with the particular priority in response to the output port being in a congested state and to forward the particular priority towards a destination.

2. The router of claim 1, wherein output port is to forward the particular priority such that even when a particular incoming packet is to be blocked, the particular priority is forwarded towards a destination.

3. The router of claim 1, wherein the reference to a priority comprises a priority value, the router comprising arbiter logic to:

decode the priority value of each packet from the plurality of incoming packets;

select a subset of packets from the plurality of incoming packets based on the highest priorities; and

select a particular packet from the subset of packets using a round-robin scheme.

4. The router of claim 3, the arbiter logic to decode the priority of each packet from a binary code into a thermometer code.

5. The router of claim 1, wherein the reference to priority of each incoming packet is based on the distance between the packet'"'"'s source and the packet'"'"'s destination.

6. The router of claim 1, the router to dynamically change the reference to the priority of the selected packet based on the remaining distance to the packet'"'"'s destination.

7. The router of claim 1, the router to dynamically change the reference to priority of a packet based on the packet'"'"'s latency.

8. A method for priority-based routing, comprising:

receiving a plurality of incoming packets, each of the plurality of packets to reference a priority;

selecting a particular incoming packet of the plurality of incoming packets with a particular priority that is to be a highest priority of the plurality of incoming packets;

updating a current priority in the output port with the particular priority in response to the output port being in a congested state; and

forwarding the particular priority towards a destination.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

decoding the priority of each packet from the plurality of incoming packets;

selecting a subset of packets from the plurality of incoming packets based on the highest priorities; and

selecting a particular packet from the subset of packets using a round-robin scheme.

10. The method of claim 9, comprising decoding the priority of each packet from a binary code into a thermometer code.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the priority of each incoming packet is based on the distance between the packet'"'"'s source and the packet'"'"'s destination.

12. The method of claim 8, comprising dynamically changing the priority of the packet based on the remaining distance to the packet'"'"'s destination.

13. The method of claim 8, comprising dynamically changing the priority of the packet based on the packet'"'"'s latency.

14. A network-on-chip (NoC) with priority-based routing, comprising:

a plurality of processor cores communicatively coupled to a router, wherein the router comprises;

an incoming port to receive a high priority incoming packet comprising a priority value, control information, and at least one other value; and

an output port to forward the high priority value and control information ahead of the at least one other value in response to congestion at the output port based on the priority value to indicate a highest priority of a plurality of incoming packets.

15. The NoC of claim 14, the router comprising a priority logic to select the particular incoming packet with the highest priority.

16. The NoC of claim 14, the router comprising an arbiter circuit to:

decode the priority value of each packet from the plurality of incoming packets;

select a subset of packets from the plurality of incoming packets based on the highest priorities; and

select a particular packet from the subset of packets using a round-robin scheme.

17. The NoC of claim 16, the arbiter circuit to decode the priority of each packet from a binary code into a thermometer code.

18. The NoC of claim 14, wherein the priority value of each incoming packet is based on the distance between the packet'"'"'s source and the packet'"'"'s destination.

19. The NoC of claim 14, the router to dynamically change the priority of the packet based on the remaining distance to the packet'"'"'s destination.

20. The NoC of claim 14, the router to dynamically change the priority of the packet based on the packet'"'"'s latency.

21. A processor with a network-on-chip (NoC), comprising:

a plurality of processor cores communicatively coupled to a router, wherein the router comprises;

input logic to receive a high priority incoming packet comprising a priority value, control information, and at least one other value

an arbiter to decode the priority value of each packet from the plurality of incoming packets;

priority selection logic to select the particular incoming packet with the highest priority; and

output logic to update a current priority in the output port with the particular priority in response to a buffer being in a congested state and to forward the particular priority towards a destination.