Method and apparatus for transmitting data through a switch fabric according to detected congestion
First Claim
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1. A port interface device (PID) system within a switching fabric for transmitting data packets to and from a switch plane, comprising:
- a plurality of PIDs for transmitting and received packets of data;
a PID logic unit for controlling the operation of the PIDs wherein each PID is coupled to transmit and receive data packets to and from memory buffers external to each PID within a switch fabric within the switch plane and coupled to an Ethernet plane to transmit and receive data packets to communication devices coupled to the Ethernet plane and further wherein the PID logic unit monitors the memory buffers to determine a congestion rating for each PID; and
wherein each PID receives and stores a congestion rating for each of the PIDs coupled to transmit and receive data through the switch fabric and wherein each PID evaluates a congestion rating for a destination PID and determines whether to transmit or discard the data packet based upon the congestion rating for the destination PID.
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Abstract
A switching system includes a switch fabric that includes groups of buffers for each port interface device that communicates with external communication devices through an Ethernet plane. The port interface device is formed to receive congestion ratings reflecting buffer usage within the switch fabric for each device coupled to transmit and receive packets through the switching fabric and to determine whether to route to the switching fabric or drop the packet based upon the congestion rating of the destination device and upon a quality of service rating for the packet.
57 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A port interface device (PID) system within a switching fabric for transmitting data packets to and from a switch plane, comprising:
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a plurality of PIDs for transmitting and received packets of data;
a PID logic unit for controlling the operation of the PIDs wherein each PID is coupled to transmit and receive data packets to and from memory buffers external to each PID within a switch fabric within the switch plane and coupled to an Ethernet plane to transmit and receive data packets to communication devices coupled to the Ethernet plane and further wherein the PID logic unit monitors the memory buffers to determine a congestion rating for each PID; and
wherein each PID receives and stores a congestion rating for each of the PIDs coupled to transmit and receive data through the switch fabric and wherein each PID evaluates a congestion rating for a destination PID and determines whether to transmit or discard the data packet based upon the congestion rating for the destination PID. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method within a port interface device for routing data to a switch fabric, comprising:
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receiving a congestion rating for data congestion within allocated memory buffers within the switch fabric corresponding to all port interface devices coupled to transmit and receive data through the switch fabric wherein the memory buffers are separate from the port interface devices;
receiving data for one or more destination port interface devices; and
determining a quality of service rating for the received data and determining whether to transmit data to the one or more destination port interface devices based upon the quality of service rating for the received data and the congestion rating that corresponds to the one or more destination port interface devices. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An Ethernet switching system coupled to transmit data packets to and from a switch fabric system and also coupled to transmit data packets to and from an Ethernet plane, the Ethernet switching system comprising:
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a switch processor (SWIP) for controlling the operation of the Ethernet switching system;
a plurality of port interface device groups, each group further comprising a plurality of port interface device transceiver ports (PIDs) coupled to transmit data packets to and from the Ethernet plane;
memory buffer separate from the PIDs for storing data for each PID in a memory area allocated for each PID;
a demultiplex device transceiver port for transmitting data packets to and from a demultiplex device; and
wherein the SWIP produces congestion ratings for each PID based upon contents of data within the memory buffer for each of the plurality of PIDs of each port interface device group and wherein each PID receives congestion ratings for each PID of the plurality of PIDs of each port interface device group and wherein each PID determines whether to transmit data based upon a congestion rating for a destination port interface device. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification