Backplane interface adapter with error control and redundant fabric

• US 8,964,754 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2013
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Foundry Networks LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Ronak, Wong, Ming G., Lin, Yu-Mei, Chang, Andrew, Wong, Yuen Fai
• Primary Examiner(s): MEW, KEVIN D
• Application Number:
  US14/075,331
• Publication Number:
  US 20140133488A1
• Time in Patent Office: 473 Days
• Field of Search: 370230-232, 370235-236, 370358-360, 370362-367, 370/380, 370386-389, 370/392, 370/396, 370401-402, 370419-422, 370428-429, 370/463, 370/503, 370/507, 370/514
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6225 Fixed service order, e.g. Round Robin
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/153 ATM switching fabrics having parallel switch planes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/1538 Cell slicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/30 Peripheral units, e.g. input or output ports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3063 Pipelined operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/352 Gigabit ethernet switching [GBPS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/901 using storage descriptor, e.g. read or write pointers

Abstract

A backplane interface adapter with error control and redundant fabric for a high-performance network switch. The error control may be provided by an administrative module that includes a level monitor, a stripe synchronization error detector, a flow controller, and a control character presence tracker. The redundant fabric transceiver of the backplane interface adapter improves the adapter'"'"'s ability to properly and consistently receive narrow input cells carrying packets of data and output wide striped cells to a switching fabric.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

distributing, by a transmitter device, data blocks across a plurality of stripes in a round-robin fashion, wherein the data blocks originate from one or more streams comprising network packets, wherein each data block has a fixed size, and wherein the distributing comprises inserting, between the data blocks, control information in each stripe at a predetermined data block interval, the control information being operable for synchronizing the plurality of stripes at a receiver device; and

transmitting, by the transmitter device, the plurality of stripes in parallel to the receiver device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the distributing further comprises inserting, between the data blocks, state information in each stripe.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the state information in a stripe comprises one or more identifiers that are usable for classifying the data blocks in the stripe.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the one or more identifiers include a source or destination packet processor identifier.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the state information in a stripe comprises a payload state for the data blocks in the stripe.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of stripes are transmitted to the receiver device over a plurality of physical communication channels between the transmitter device and the receiver device.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein one or more of the plurality of physical communication channels are electrical communication channels.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein one or more of the plurality of physical communication channels are optical communication channels.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein each of the plurality of physical communication channels supports a throughput of at least 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps).

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the plurality of physical communication channels comprise at least four physical communication channels.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein each of the plurality of physical communication channels is a serial channel.

12. A network device comprising:

one or more hardware control components that distribute data blocks across a plurality of stripes in a round-robin fashion, wherein the data blocks originate from one or more streams comprising network packets, wherein each data block has a fixed size, and wherein the distributing comprises inserting, between the data blocks, control information in each stripe at a predetermined data block interval, the control information being operable for synchronizing the plurality of stripes at a receiver device; and

one or more hardware control components that transmit the plurality of stripes in parallel to the receiver device.

13. The network device of claim 12 wherein the distributing further comprises inserting, between the data blocks, state information in each stripe.

14. The network device of claim 13 wherein the state information in a stripe comprises one or more identifiers that are usable for classifying the data blocks in the stripe.

15. The network device of claim 14 wherein the one or more identifiers include a source or destination packet processor identifier.

16. The network device of claim 13 wherein the state information in a stripe comprises a payload state for the data blocks in the stripe.

17. The network device of claim 12 wherein the plurality of stripes are transmitted to the receiver device over a plurality of physical communication channels between the transmitter device and the receiver device.

18. The network device of claim 17 wherein one or more of the plurality of physical communication channels are electrical communication channels.

19. The network device of claim 17 wherein one or more of the plurality of physical communication channels are optical communication channels.

20. The network device of claim 17 wherein each of the plurality of physical communication channels supports a throughput of at least 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps).

21. The network device of claim 20 wherein the plurality of physical communication channels comprise at least four physical communication channels.

22. The network device of claim 17 wherein each of the plurality of physical communication channels is a serial channel.

23. A network device comprising:

means for distributing data blocks across a plurality of stripes in a round-robin fashion, wherein the data blocks originate from one or more streams comprising network packets, wherein each data block has a fixed size, and wherein the distributing comprises inserting, between the data blocks, control information in each stripe at a predetermined data block interval, the control information being operable for synchronizing the plurality of stripes at a receiver device; and

means for transmitting the plurality of stripes in parallel to the receiver device.