Multiplexed data stream circuit architecture

• US 8,837,492 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2011
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Fourcand, Serge Francois
• Primary Examiner(s): HOANG, THAI D
• Application Number:
  US13/162,803
• Publication Number:
  US 20110255402A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,187 Days
• Field of Search: 370532-541
• US Class Current: 370/395.4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/205 Quality of Service based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/351 for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9042 Separate storage for different parts of the packet, e.g. header and payload

Abstract

An apparatus comprising an ingress controller configured to receive a data frame comprising a high priority data and a low priority data, and an ingress buffer coupled to the ingress controller and configured to buffer the low priority data, wherein the high priority data is not buffered. Also disclosed is a network component, comprising an ingress controller configured to receive a data stream comprising high priority data and low priority data, and an ingress buffer coupled to the ingress controller and configured to receive, buffer, and send the low priority data, and further configured to receive a flow control indication, wherein the ingress buffer varies an amount of the low priority data sent from the ingress buffer in accordance with the flow control indication.

Claims

1. A network component, comprising:

a multiplexer configured to multiplex a plurality of data streams into a multiplexed data stream, wherein the multiplexed data stream comprises a plurality of timeslots;

a controller coupled to the multiplexer and configured to;

receive a timeslot map that indicates a level of data priority for data carried by each of the timeslots; and

control the multiplexing of the data streams by transmitting a plurality of control instructions to the multiplexer; and

a buffer coupled to the multiplexer and configured to store a low priority data stream,

wherein the control instructions determine the order the data streams are multiplexed into the multiplexed data stream, and

wherein the data streams comprise a high priority data stream and the low priority data stream.

2. The network component of claim 1, wherein the low priority data stream comprises a best effort packet (BEP) data, and the high priority data stream comprises a time division multiplexed (TDM) data, a high performance flow (HPF) data, or a combination of TDM data and HPF data.

3. The network component of claim 1, further comprising a second buffer coupled to the multiplexer and configured to store a second low priority data stream.

4. The network component of claim 3, wherein the low priority data stream and the second low priority data stream are data from different Ethernet payloads, and wherein the low priority data stream has a higher priority than the second low priority data stream.

5. The network component of claim 4, wherein the multiplexer is further configured to multiplex the second low priority data stream with the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream into the multiplexed data stream, wherein the control instructions determine the order of multiplexing the second low priority data stream with the high priority data stream and the low priority data stream, and wherein the high priority data stream is not buffered.

6. The network component of claim 1, wherein one of the data streams is a network clock reference data stream, and wherein the multiplexer is further configured to multiplex the network clock reference data stream into the multiplexed data stream.

7. The network component of claim 1, wherein the multiplexed data stream does not contain any encapsulated data.

8. The network component of claim 1, further comprising a physical layer processing component coupled to the multiplexer and configured to transmit the multiplexed data stream over at least one of an electrical medium, an optical medium, or a wireless medium.

9. The network component of claim 8 further comprising:

a stream partitioning component coupled to the multiplexer and configured to partition the multiplexed data stream; and

a framing component coupled to the stream partitioning component and configured to convert the partitioned data stream into a plurality of Ethernet packets,

wherein the stream partitioning component and the framing component are located between the multiplexer and the physical layer processing component.

10. The network component of claim 9, wherein the framing component is an Ethernet layer two framer configured to output an Ethernet layer two compatible data stream to the physical layer processing component.

11. The network component of claim 9, wherein at least some of the Ethernet packets are Jumbo Ethernet frames comprising a payload of between about 9,000 octets and 12,000 octets.

12. The network component of claim 1, wherein one of the data streams is a control data stream, wherein the control instructions instruct the multiplexer to multiplex the control data stream before other data streams, and wherein the control data stream is used to form the overhead section of the multiplexed data stream.

13. The network component of claim 1, wherein one of the control instructions inhibits the transmission of the data streams that are associated with one or more priorities for a specified period of time.

14. A method for multiplexing a plurality of data streams, wherein the method comprises:

receiving, at a multiplexer, the data streams;

receiving, at the multiplexer, a plurality of control instructions from a controller; and

multiplexing, at the multiplexer, the data streams into a multiplexed data stream in an order designated by the control instructions,

wherein the data streams comprise a plurality of high priority data streams and a plurality of low priority data streams,

wherein the control instructions select the data streams to be multiplexed based on a timeslot map received by the controller,

wherein the timeslot map maps the location of the low priority data streams and the location of the high priority data streams within the multiplexing data stream, and

wherein the low priority data streams are buffered before multiplexing the data streams.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the timeslot map is located within one of the data streams multiplexed into the multiplexed data stream, and wherein the timeslot map indicates a data type associated with the low priority data streams and the high priority data streams.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein one of the control instructions is a priority-based flow control (PFC) that inhibits transmission of data frames associated with one or more priorities for a specified period of time, and wherein the PFC inhibits transmission of the lower priority data streams, but not the transmission of the high priority data streams.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein a first low priority data stream and a second low priority data stream are data from different Ethernet payloads, and wherein the first low priority data stream has a higher priority than the second low priority data stream.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising multiplexing the second low priority data stream with at least one of the high priority data streams and the first low priority data stream into the multiplexed data stream, wherein the control instructions determine the order of multiplexing the second low priority data stream with the at least one of the high priority data streams and the first low priority data stream, and wherein the high priority data stream is not buffered.

19. A method for multiplexing a plurality of data streams, wherein the method comprises:

receiving the data streams;

receiving a plurality of control instructions from a controller;

multiplexing the data streams into a multiplexed data stream in an order designated by the control instructions,

wherein the data streams comprise a plurality of high priority data streams and a plurality of low priority data streams; and

buffering the low priority data streams before multiplexing the data streams,

wherein the timeslot map is located within one of the data streams multiplexed into the multiplexed data stream,

wherein the timeslot map indicates a data type associated with the low priority data streams and the high priority data streams,

wherein the low priority data streams are best effort packet (BEP) data streams, wherein some of the high priority data streams are time division multiplexed (TDM) data streams, wherein some of the high priority data streams are high performance flow (HPF) data streams, wherein the high priority data streams are not buffered, wherein the multiplexed data stream comprises an overhead and a payload, wherein some of the BEP data streams, the TDM data streams, and the HPF data streams are located within the payload of the multiplexed data stream, and wherein the timeslot map is located within the overhead of the multiplexed data stream.