APPARATUS AND METHOD TRANSMITTING PACKETS

• US 20170078189A1
• Filed: 04/19/2016
• Published: 03/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul National University R&DB Foundation (Seoul National University)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul National University R&DB Foundation (Seoul National University)
• Inventors: HAN, Sungju, LEE, Jinho, CHOI, Kiyoung, SEO, Woong
• Granted Patent: US 10,257,076 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/44 Star or tree networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/121 by minimising delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/122 by minimising distances, e.g. by selecting a route with minimum of number of hops
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/20 Hop count for routing purposes, e.g. TTL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/109 Integrated on microchip, e.g. switch-on-chip
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric

Abstract

Provided is a multi network and method to transmit packets. The multi network includes a mesh network, a tree network, and a network interface connected to the mesh network and the tree network and configured to transmit, through the mesh network and the tree network, a packet generated by a processing unit, of a processing system having plural processing units, at a starting point to a destination point for another processing unit of the processing system and configured to selectively inject the packet into one of the mesh network and the tree network to transmit the packet to the other processing unit.

Claims

1. A multi network comprising:

a mesh network;

a tree network; and

a network interface connected to the mesh network and the tree network and configured to transmit, through the mesh network and the tree network, a packet generated by a processing unit, of a processing system having plural processing units, at a starting point to a destination point for another processing unit of the processing system and configured to selectively inject the packet into one of the mesh network and the tree network to transmit the packet to the other processing unit.

2. The multi network of claim 1, wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, the network interface is configured to select to inject the packet into the one of the mesh network and the tree network based on a determined hop-count of the mesh network regarding the packet and a determined hop-count of the tree network regarding the packet.

3. The multi network of claim 2, wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, the network interface is configured to only inject the packet into the tree network when the determined hop-count of the tree network is less than the determined hop-count of the mesh network.

4. The multi network of claim 2, wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, the network interface is configured to calculate a hop-count gain indicating a difference between the determined hop-count of the mesh network and the determined hop-count of the tree network, and configured to select to inject the packet into the tree network based on a determination that the hop-count gain meets a critical threshold and to select to inject the packet into the mesh network when the determination indicates that the hop-count gain does not meet the critical threshold.

5. The multi network of claim 4, wherein the network interface is further configured to measure a latency of the packet for transitioning through the tree network and to update the critical threshold based on the measured latency.

6. The multi network of claim 1, wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, the network interface is configured to select to inject the packet into the tree network when the packet is determined to be a broadcasting packet.

7. The multi network of claim 1, wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, the network interface is configured to select to inject the packet into the tree network when the network interface determines that the packet would pass through a root node of the tree network on a path to the destination point if the packet was injected into the tree network, and configured to select to inject the packet into the mesh network otherwise.

8. The multi network of claim 1, wherein the network interface is configured to monitor statuses of routers of a second level of the tree network, and

wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, the network interface is configured to control a number or proportion of packets that are injected to the tree network by updating a corresponding filtering ratio of one or more routers of a lowest level of the tree network based on a result of the monitoring.

9. The multi network of claim 1, wherein routers of a second level of the tree network, distinct from a root level of the tree network, comprise only data paths from child nodes to a parent node and data paths from a parent node to child nodes.

10. The multi network of claim 1, wherein the tree network comprises two or more root nodes.

11. The multi network of claim 10, wherein each of the two or more root nodes comprises a data path to a same lower level node.

12. The multi network of claim 1, wherein, for the selective injecting of the packet, the network interface is configured to select to inject the packet into the one of the mesh network and the tree network based on set criteria instead of randomly injecting the packet into the mesh network or the tree network.

13. The multi network of claim 1, wherein the multi network is a Network on a Chip (NOC).

14. The multi network of claim 1, further comprising the processing system having the plural processing units, wherein the multi network is a System of a Chip (SoC) or a reprogrammable processor.

15. A method of transmitting a packet, the method comprising:

receiving a packet, from a first processing unit at a starting point, that is set to be transmitted to a destination point for a second processing unit;

determining which network, from among a connected mesh network and a connected tree network, to inject the packet into to transmit the packet to the destination point;

injecting the packet into the determined network; and

outputting the packet to the second processing unit at the destination point.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining of which network to inject the packet into is based on a determined hop-count of the tree network regarding the packet and a determined hop-count of the mesh network regarding the packet.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining of which network to inject the packet into includes determining to inject the packet into the tree network when a calculated hop-count gain, indicating a difference between the determined hop-count of the tree network and the determined hop-count of the mesh network, meets a critical threshold, and determining to inject the packet into the mesh network when the hop-count gain does not meet the critical threshold.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising measuring a latency of the packet for transitioning through the tree network and updating the critical threshold based on the measured latency.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining of which network to inject the packet into includes determining to inject the packet into the tree network when the packet is determined to be a broadcasting packet.

20. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon processor readable code to cause at least one processing device to implement the method of claim 15.