PACKET DATA TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT APPARATUS

• US 20180019955A1
• Filed: 09/28/2017
• Published: 01/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innovasic, Inc. (Analog Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Innovasic, Inc. (Analog Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Alsup, Andrew David, Wray, Taylor M., Coonrod, Kurt H.
• Granted Patent: US 10,425,359 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/13 in a LAN segment, e.g. ring or bus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/251 Cut-through or wormhole routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3009 Header conversion, routing tables or routing tags
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3018 Input queuing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3027 Output queuing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/351 for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches

Abstract

A packet data network traffic management device comprises a plurality of ports comprising at least a first port, a second port, and a third port; and a plurality of deterministic multi-threaded deterministic micro-controllers, each of the micro-controllers associated with a corresponding one of the ports to control packet data through the corresponding port; and the plurality of multi-threaded deterministic micro-controllers cooperatively operate to selectively communicate data packets between the plurality of ports.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A network traffic management device for coupling a host device to the packet data network, the traffic management device comprising:

a first network port interface and a second network port interface, wherein each network port interface includes a port input output (I/O) controller and port I/O controller firmware memory, and is operable to receive and transmit network frames of packetized information via the packet data network; and

a host interface including a host I/O controller and host I/O controller firmware memory, wherein the host interface is operable to transfer data between the packet data network traffic management device and a host device;

wherein the port and host I/O controllers are configured to operate according to a first specified type of Ethernet protocol when a first firmware is loaded into the port and host I/O controller firmware memories, and operate according to a second specified type of Ethernet protocol when a second firmware is loaded into the port and host I/O controller firmware memories.

3. The network traffic management device of claim 2, wherein the first and second specified types of Ethernet protocols are included in the group of Ethernet protocols comprising:

Modbus/TCP, the EtherNet/IP, PROFINET Class B, PROFINET Class C, ETHERCAT, SERCOS III, Ethernet POWERLINK, and IEC 61850.

4. The network traffic management device of claim 2, including a packet memory configured to store the first or the second firmware, wherein the host interface includes a control register configured to transfer the first or second firmware from the packet memory to the port and host I/O controllers in response to a reset of the packet data network management device.

5. The network traffic management device of claim 4, wherein the host interface includes a parallel bus operable to grant access by the host device to the packet memory and the control register as addressable memory when loading the first or second firmware into the packet memory.

6. The network traffic management device of claim 2, including:

a packet memory configured to store packet data received via a network port interface;

a packet memory circuit path that includes the packet memory between the first and second network port interfaces, the memory circuit path operable to forward an incoming network frame via the packet memory from a receiving network port to a non-receiving network port for transmitting on the network; and

a cut-through first-in first-out (FIFO) circuit path between the first and second network port interfaces operable to forward an incoming network frame directly from a receiving network port to a non-receiving network port for transmitting on the network;

wherein the port I/O controllers are operable to transfer a data packet between the first network port interface and the second network port interface using one or both of the cut-through FIFO circuit path or the packet memory circuit path according to the type of Ethernet protocol configured in the I/O controllers by the first or second firmware.

7. The network traffic management device of claim 6, wherein the first network port interface and the second network port interface include a retransmit circuit path, wherein the port I/O controllers are operable to retransmit a received data packet using the receiving port according to the type of Ethernet protocol configured in the I/O controllers by the firmware.

8. The network traffic management device of claim 2, wherein the port and host I/O controllers include a first hardware thread to process data packets received by the I/O controllers and a second separate hardware thread to process data packets to be transmitted by the I/O controllers.

9. The network traffic management device of claim 2, including:

a cut-through first-in first-out (FIFO) circuit path between the first network port interface and the second network port interface operable to forward an incoming network frame directly from a receiving network port to a non-receiving network port for transmitting on the network; and

wherein each port I/O controller includes a transmit queue and a receive queue, wherein a port I/O controller of a receiving port interface is operable to transfer a data packet from the receive queue of the port I/O controller directly to the transmit queue of the port I/O controller of the non-receiving port interface using the cut-through FIFO circuit path.

10. The network traffic management device of claim 2, wherein the port I/O controllers are operable to selectively modify data packets according to the type of Ethernet protocol configured in the port I/O controllers by the first or second firmware.

11. A method of controlling operation of a network traffic management device of a packet data network, the method comprising:

loading firmware into storage circuitry of the network traffic management device using at least one of a network port interface or a host interface of the network traffic management device; and

forwarding the firmware from the storage circuitry to firmware memory of a first network port input output (I/O) controller, a second network port I/O controller and a host I/O controller of the network traffic management device, wherein the port and host I/O controllers are configurable to operate according to a plurality of types of Ethernet protocols and the forwarded firmware configures the I/O controllers to operate according to a first specified type of Ethernet protocol of the plurality of types of Ethernet protocols.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the loading firmware into storage circuitry includes loading firmware into a packet memory configured to store packet data received via the network port interface, and wherein forwarding the firmware includes forwarding the firmware from the packet memory to the firmware memory of the first network I/O controller, the second network port I/O controller and the host I/O controller of the network traffic management device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the loading firmware includes granting access to the packet memory and a control register via the host interface as addressable memory space, and wherein forwarding the firmware includes forwarding the firmware from the packet memory to firmware memory according to a value stored in the control register in response to reset of the packet data network management device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the loading firmware into storage circuitry includes loading firmware into a storage register interface of the network traffic management device, and wherein forwarding the firmware includes forwarding the firmware from the storage register interface to the firmware memory of the first network I/O controller, the second network port I/O controller and the host I/O controller of the network traffic management device.

15. The method of claim 11, including:

operating the I/O controllers according to the first specified type of Ethernet protocol when a first firmware is loaded into firmware memory of the I/O controllers; and

operating the I/O controllers according to a second specified type of Ethernet protocol of the plurality of types of Ethernet protocols when a second firmware is loaded into the firmware memory of the I/O controllers.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein operating the I/O controllers according to the first and second specified types of Ethernet protocols includes operating the I/O controllers according to first and second types of Ethernet protocols included in the group of Ethernet protocols comprising:

Modbus/TCP, the EtherNet/IP, PROFINET Class B, PROFINET Class C, ETHERCAT, SERCOS III, Ethernet POWERLINK, and IEC 61850.

17. The method of claim 11, including transferring data packets between a first network port interface and a second network port interface according to a cut-through mode based on the type of Ethernet protocol configured by the firmware in the first and second network port I/O controllers, wherein in the cut-through mode the network port I/O controller of a receiving port interface is operable to transfer a data packet directly from a receive queue of the port I/O controller to a transmit queue of the port I/O controller of the non-receiving port interface via cut-through first-in first-out (FIFO) circuit path.

18. The method of claim 11, including selectively transferring data packets between a first network port interface and a second network port interface using a cut-through mode or selectively using both the cut-through mode and a store-and-forward mode according to the type of Ethernet protocol configured in the I/O controllers by the forwarded firmware.

19. The method of claim 11, including receiving a data packet at a receiving network port interface of the network traffic management device;

and selectively retransmitting the received data packet using the receiving port interface according to the type of Ethernet protocol configured by the firmware in the receiving network port I/O controller.

20. The method of claim 11, including executing multiple hardware threads in the port and host I/O controllers, including a first hardware thread to process data packets received by the port and host I/O controllers and a second separate hardware thread to process data packets to be transmitted by the I/O controllers.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein executing multiple hardware threads in the port I/O controllers includes the first and second hardware threads of the port I/O controllers selectively modifying data packets according to the type of Ethernet protocol configured in the I/O controllers by the first or second firmware.

22. A network traffic management device for coupling a host device to the packet data network, the traffic management device comprising:

means for loading firmware into a packet memory of the network traffic management device; and

means for forwarding the firmware from the packet memory to firmware memory of a first network port input output (I/O) controller, a second network port I/O controller and a host I/O controller of the network traffic management device, wherein I/O controllers are configurable to operate according to a plurality of types of Ethernet protocols and the forwarded firmware configures the I/O controllers to operate according to a first specified type of Ethernet protocol of the plurality of types of Ethernet protocols.

23. The network traffic management device of claim 22, including:

means for operating the I/O controllers according to the first specified type of Ethernet protocol when a first firmware is loaded into firmware memory of the I/O controllers; and

means for operating the I/O controllers according to a second specified type of Ethernet protocol of the plurality of types of Ethernet protocols when a second firmware is loaded into the firmware memory of the I/O controllers, wherein the first and second types of Ethernet protocols are included in the group of Ethernet protocols comprising;

Modbus/TCP, the EtherNet/IP, PROFINET Class B, PROFINET Class C, ETHERCAT, SERCOS III, Ethernet POWERLINK, and IEC 61850.