公开(公告)号：US06665733B1

公开(公告)日：2003-12-16

申请号：US08936072

申请日：1997-09-23

申请人： Michael L. Witkowski ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  William J. Walker ,  Kirk D. Roller ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Gary B. Kotzur

发明人： Michael L. Witkowski ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  William J. Walker ,  Kirk D. Roller ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Gary B. Kotzur

IPC分类号： G06F1516

CPC分类号： H04L12/467 ,  H04L49/201 ,  H04L49/205 ,  H04L49/254 ,  H04L49/351 ,  H04L49/354 ,  H04L69/14

摘要： A network communication device including port control circuitry for controlling packet flow between the ports of the device, where the port control circuitry includes a port manager that directs packets between the ports and port bonding circuitry that bonds two or more of the ports into a bonded port set. For each packet to be sent via the bonded port set, the port bonding circuitry selects one of the bonded ports for transmitting the packet. More than one bonded port set may be defined in a given communication device, and each bonded port set may include from two ports up to all the ports of the device, as long as each port is included in only one bonded port set. One or more port bonding registers are provided to identify which of the plurality of ports are bonded in each bonded port set. In one embodiment, the bonded ports are selected on a packet by packet basis so as to achieve a relatively even distribution of packets sent by each bonded port. In an alternative embodiment bonded ports are assigned to packet source identifiers so as to achieve a relatively even distribution of source identifiers among the bonded ports. If bonded ports are assigned to particular source identifiers, then the traffic is preferably monitored and the assignments are periodically adjusted to achieve even distribution of packet flow on the bonded link. The bonded ports may have different bandwidths, in which case traffic is distributed on a proportionate basis.

摘要翻译： 一种网络通信设备，包括用于控制设备端口之间的分组流的端口控制电路，其中端口控制电路包括端口管理器，该端口管理器在端口之间引导分组，以及将两个或多个端口绑定到绑定端口的端口绑定电路 组。 对于要通过绑定端口组发送的每个分组，端口绑定电路选择用于发送分组的绑定端口之一。 可以在给定的通信设备中定义多于一个的绑定端口组，并且每个绑定端口组可以包括直到设备的所有端口的两个端口，只要每个端口仅包括在一个绑定端口组中。 提供一个或多个端口绑定寄存器以识别在每个绑定端口组中绑定多个端口中的哪一个。 在一个实施例中，按照分组的方式选择绑定端口，以便实现每个绑定端口发送的分组的相对均匀的分布。 在替代实施例中，绑定端口被分配给分组源标识符，以便在绑定端口之间实现源标识符的相对均匀的分布。 如果绑定端口被分配给特定源标识符，则优选地监视业务并且周期性地调整分配以实现绑定链路上的分组流的均匀分布。 绑定端口可以具有不同的带宽，在这种情况下，业务量按比例分配。

公开(公告)号：US06260073B1

公开(公告)日：2001-07-10

申请号：US08774605

申请日：1996-12-30

申请人： William J. Walker ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  Michael L. Witkowski

发明人： William J. Walker ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  Michael L. Witkowski

IPC分类号： G06F1516

CPC分类号： H04L49/351 ,  H04L49/201 ,  H04L49/205 ,  H04L49/254 ,  Y10S370/911

摘要： A network switch including one or more network ports for receiving and transmitting data is disclosed. The network switch also includes a processor, a switch manager, and memory. Each port includes a network interface, a data bus interface, and a processor port interface. A data bus is coupled to the data bus interface of each of the ports and the switch manager. A processor bus is coupled to a processor, the switch manager, and to the processor port interface of each of the ports. A memory bus is coupled to the memory and the switch manager. The switch manager periodically polls each of the network ports to determine the status of each port. The switch manager controls the flow of data between the network ports and memory based on the port status. The separate processor bus allows the processor to perform overhead functions, such as monitoring, determining status and configuration, without consuming valuable data bus bandwidth.

摘要翻译： 公开了一种包括用于接收和发送数据的一个或多个网络端口的网络交换机。 网络交换机还包括处理器，交换机管理器和存储器。 每个端口包括网络接口，数据总线接口和处理器端口接口。 数据总线耦合到每个端口和交换机管理器的数据总线接口。 处理器总线耦合到处理器，交换机管理器以及每个端口的处理器端口接口。 存储器总线耦合到存储器和开关管理器。 交换机管理器定期轮询每个网络端口，以确定每个端口的状态。 交换机管理器根据端口状态控制网络端口和内存之间的数据流。 单独的处理器总线允许处理器执行开销功能，例如监视，确定状态和配置，而不消耗有价值的数据总线带宽。

公开(公告)号：US06233242B1

公开(公告)日：2001-05-15

申请号：US08774557

申请日：1996-12-30

申请人： Dale J. Mayer ,  Roger Richter ,  Michael L. Witkowski ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  William J. Walker

发明人： Dale J. Mayer ,  Roger Richter ,  Michael L. Witkowski ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  William J. Walker

IPC分类号： H04L1246

CPC分类号： H04L49/103 ,  H04L49/201 ,  H04L49/205 ,  H04L49/254 ,  H04L49/351

摘要： A network switch including a central memory that stores device identification information, port numbers, control information, and packet data received at the ports of the switch. The memory includes a packet section that stores packet data and a device identification section that stores identification entries, where each entry corresponds to a network device coupled to a port of the switch. The switch includes a switch manager to control data flow between the ports and the central memory. Each of the identification entries includes a unique network address to identify one of the network devices and a port number to identify one of the network ports. Each of the identification entries is located within the central memory at a hash address derived by hashing the unique network address. Hash logic receives and hashes each network address to determine a hash address, which is used to access the identification entries. The memory is organized into a chain structure to enable quick access of entries. The switch manager further includes a control memory for storing control registers, including a freepool control register for identifying a freepool chain of memory sectors, a receive control register for identifying a corresponding receive sector chain and a transmit control register for identifying a corresponding transmit packet chain for each of the ports.

摘要翻译： 一种网络交换机，包括存储在交换机的端口处接收的设备标识信息，端口号，控制信息和分组数据的中央存储器。 存储器包括存储分组数据的分组部分和存储标识条目的设备标识部分，其中每个条目对应于耦合到交换机的端口的网络设备。 交换机包括一个交换机管理器来控制端口和中央存储器之间的数据流。 每个标识条目包括用于识别网络设备之一的唯一网络地址和用于识别其中一个网络端口的端口号。 每个识别条目位于中央存储器内的哈希地址处，通过散列唯一的网络地址而导出。 散列逻辑接收和散列每个网络地址以确定用于访问标识条目的散列地址。 存储器被组织成链结构以便能够快速访问条目。 开关管理器还包括用于存储控制寄存器的控制存储器，包括用于识别存储器扇区的频带链的自由频控制寄存器，用于识别对应的接收扇区链的接收控制寄存器和用于识别对应的发送分组链的发送控制寄存器 为每个端口。

公开(公告)号：US6098109A

公开(公告)日：2000-08-01

申请号：US774601

申请日：1996-12-30

申请人： Gary B. Kotzur ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Michael L. Witkowski ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  William J. Walker

发明人： Gary B. Kotzur ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Michael L. Witkowski ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  William J. Walker

IPC分类号： G06F15/16 ,  G06F13/362 ,  G06F15/17 ,  G06F15/177 ,  H04L12/56 ,  G06F3/00 ,  H04L12/28

CPC分类号： H04L49/254 ,  H04L45/745 ,  H04L49/205 ,  H04L49/351 ,  Y10S370/911

摘要： A programmable arbitration system including control logic to select one of several arbitration schemes for selecting the ports of a network switch, a memory to store priority values indicating the relative priority of each of the ports, monitor logic to monitor each of the ports and to program the priority values in the memory based on a priority scheme selected by the control logic, and arbitration logic to select a port having the next highest priority. The arbitration schemes preferably include a round-robin priority scheme, a first-come, first-served (FCFS) priority scheme, a weighted priority scheme, or any other desirable priority scheme. The monitor logic includes polling logic to periodically poll the ports and to program a priority value of each port. The memory includes receive and transmit lists to indicate of which of the ports have indicated needing service and a corresponding priority value. The arbitration logic includes a receive arbiter and a transmit arbiter, each of which use a corresponding arbitration count.

公开(公告)号：US5862338A

公开(公告)日：1999-01-19

申请号：US774602

申请日：1996-12-30

申请人： William J. Walker ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Michael L. Witkowski ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Dale J. Mayer

发明人： William J. Walker ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Michael L. Witkowski ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Dale J. Mayer

IPC分类号： G06F13/00 ,  H04L12/403 ,  H04L12/56 ,  G06F17/00

CPC分类号： H04L49/351 ,  H04L49/254 ,  H04L49/354

摘要： A multiport polling system for a network switch including a plurality of network ports, each including receive and transmit buffers. Each port includes port status logic for providing status signals indicative of whether a corresponding port has received data from a network device and whether a corresponding port has available space to receive data to transmit to a network device. The network switch further includes a switch manager for controlling data flow between the ports. The switch manager includes polling logic for periodically polling the port status logic of each port for receiving the status signals, and a memory for storing values indicative of the status signals for each port. In this manner, all of the ports are simultaneously polled in a singe query and the receive and transmit status of each port is maintained in the memory. This facilitates arbitration and control logic, which continuously reviews the memory to determine when to retrieve data from a source port and when to transmit data to one or more destination ports. The ports are preferably implemented with quad cascade devices for providing multiplexed status signals.

摘要翻译： 一种用于包括多个网络端口的网络交换机的多端口轮询系统，每个网络端口包括接收和发送缓冲器。 每个端口包括端口状态逻辑，用于提供表示相应端口是否已经从网络设备接收到数据的状态信号，以及对应的端口是否具有用于接收数据以发送到网络设备的可用空间。 网络交换机还包括用于控制端口之间的数据流的交换管理器。 交换机管理器包括用于周期性地轮询每个端口的端口状态逻辑以接收状态信号的轮询逻辑，以及用于存储指示每个端口的状态信号的值的存储器。 以这种方式，所有端口同时轮询单个查询，并且每个端口的接收和发送状态保持在存储器中。 这有助于仲裁和控制逻辑，其不断地审查存储器以确定何时从源端口检索数据以及何时将数据发送到一个或多个目的地端口。 这些端口优选地用用于提供多路复用状态信号的四级级联装置来实现。

公开(公告)号：US07333485B2

公开(公告)日：2008-02-19

申请号：US10667649

申请日：2003-09-22

申请人： Michael L. Witkowski ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  William J. Walker ,  Kirk D. Roller ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Gary B. Kotzur

发明人： Michael L. Witkowski ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  William J. Walker ,  Kirk D. Roller ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Gary B. Kotzur

IPC分类号： H04L12/28

CPC分类号： H04L12/467 ,  H04L49/201 ,  H04L49/205 ,  H04L49/254 ,  H04L49/351 ,  H04L49/354 ,  H04L69/14

摘要： A network communication device including port control circuitry for controlling packet flow between the ports of the device, where the port control circuitry includes a port manager that directs packets between the ports and port bonding circuitry that bonds two or more of the ports into a bonded port set. For each packet to be sent via the bonded port set, the port bonding circuitry selects one of the bonded ports for transmitting the packet. More than one bonded port set may be defined in a given communication device, and each bonded port set may include from two ports up to all the ports of the device, as long as each port is included in only one bonded port set. One or more port bonding registers are provided to identify which of the plurality of ports are bonded in each bonded port set. In one embodiment, the bonded ports are selected on a packet by packet basis so as to achieve a relatively even distribution of packets sent by each bonded port. In an alternative embodiment bonded ports are assigned to packet source identifiers so as to achieve a relatively even distribution of source identifiers among the bonded ports. If bonded ports are assigned to particular source identifiers, then the traffic is preferably monitored and the assignments are periodically adjusted to achieve even distribution of packet flow on the bonded link. The bonded ports may have different bandwidths, in which case traffic is distributed on a proportionate basis.

摘要翻译： 一种网络通信设备，包括用于控制设备端口之间的分组流的端口控制电路，其中端口控制电路包括端口管理器，该端口管理器在端口之间引导分组，以及将两个或多个端口绑定到绑定端口的端口绑定电路 组。 对于要通过绑定端口组发送的每个分组，端口绑定电路选择用于发送分组的绑定端口之一。 可以在给定的通信设备中定义多于一个的绑定端口组，并且每个绑定端口组可以包括直到设备的所有端口的两个端口，只要每个端口仅包括在一个绑定端口组中。 提供一个或多个端口绑定寄存器以识别在每个绑定端口组中绑定多个端口中的哪一个。 在一个实施例中，按照分组的方式选择绑定端口，以便实现每个绑定端口发送的分组的相对均匀的分布。 在替代实施例中，绑定端口被分配给分组源标识符，以便在绑定端口之间实现源标识符的相对均匀的分布。 如果绑定端口被分配给特定源标识符，则优选地监视业务并且周期性地调整分配以实现绑定链路上的分组流的均匀分布。 绑定端口可以具有不同的带宽，在这种情况下，业务量按比例分配。

公开(公告)号：US06233246B1

公开(公告)日：2001-05-15

申请号：US08774553

申请日：1996-12-30

申请人： Patricia E. Hareski ,  William J. Walker ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  Michael L. Witkowski

发明人： Patricia E. Hareski ,  William J. Walker ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  Michael L. Witkowski

IPC分类号： H04L1256

CPC分类号： H04L41/26 ,  H04L41/046 ,  H04L41/24 ,  H04L49/201 ,  H04L49/351 ,  H04L49/354

摘要： A network switch including a plurality of network ports for receiving and transmitting data, where each port includes at least one statistics register for storing statistics information, such as Ethernet statistical and configuration information. The switch also includes a switch manager, which further includes a memory, retrieval logic for detecting a statistics request signal and for respondingly retrieving the statistics information for storage in the memory, and response logic for asserting a statistics response signal after the statistics information is stored. A processor is coupled to the switch manager through a bus, where the processor asserts the statistics request signal and then detects assertion of the statistics response signal. Upon detecting the response signal, the processor retrieves the statistics information from the memory. In this manner, the processor is removed from direct connection to the statistics registers and free to complete other tasks while the information is being gathered by the switch manager, thereby increasing the efficiency of the processor and of the network switch. Each port preferably includes a network interface, a processor port interface for enabling the switch manager to retrieve the statistical information, and a data bus interface for network traffic. The switch manager thus includes two separate bus connections to each of the ports, so that statistical reads do not interfere with network data packet flow.

摘要翻译： 一种网络交换机，包括用于接收和发送数据的多个网络端口，其中每个端口包括用于存储诸如以太网统计和配置信息的统计信息的至少一个统计寄存器。 交换机还包括开关管理器，其还包括存储器，用于检测统计信号请求信号的检索逻辑，以及用于响应地检索用于存储在存储器中的统计信息，以及用于在存储统计信息之后断言统计响应信号的响应逻辑 。 处理器通过总线耦合到交换机管理器，其中处理器断言统计请求信号，然后检测统计响应信号的断言。 在检测到响应信号时，处理器从存储器检索统计信息。 以这种方式，处理器从直接连接到统计寄存器被移除，并且可以在交换管理器收集信息的同时自由完成其他任务，从而提高处理器和网络交换机的效率。 每个端口优选地包括网络接口，用于使交换机管理器能够检索统计信息的处理器端口接口和用于网络业务的数据总线接口。 因此，交换管理器包括到每个端口的两个单独的总线连接，使得统计读取不会干扰网络数据分组流。

公开(公告)号：US06222840B1

公开(公告)日：2001-04-24

申请号：US08774547

申请日：1996-12-30

申请人： William J. Walker ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Michael L. Witkowski ,  Dale J. Mayer

发明人： William J. Walker ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Michael L. Witkowski ,  Dale J. Mayer

IPC分类号： H04L1228

CPC分类号： H04L49/351 ,  H04L49/254 ,  H04L49/354

摘要： A system for performing concurrent read and write cycles in a network switch. The network switch includes several network ports, a data bus and a switch manager to execute a concurrent read and write cycle on the data bus by asserting a first port number to identify a source port followed by a second port number to identify a destination port. Each of the ports includes a network interface for sending and receiving data packets and a data interface to store the first port number, to assert data received from the network interface onto the data bus if that port is identified by the first port number, and to retrieve data from the data bus for transmission by the network interface if that port is identified by the second port number. In this manner, data is transferred directly between a source and a destination port without being buffered in the switch manager. The bandwidth of the data bus is increased since data is transferred only once on the data bus. Latches are provided for the ports to latch the read port number to allow that write port number to be asserted during the cycle. A method of executing a concurrent read and write cycle includes the steps of asserting a first port number to identify a source port, latching the first port number, asserting a second port number to identify a destination port, and concurrently writing and reading the data on the data bus.

摘要翻译： 用于在网络交换机中执行并发读和写周期的系统。 网络交换机包括多个网络端口，数据总线和交换机管理器，用于通过断言第一端口号来识别源端口，然后识别目的端口，从而在数据总线上执行并发读和写周期。 每个端口包括用于发送和接收数据分组的网络接口和用于存储第一端口号的数据接口，以便如果该端口被第一端口号识别，则将从网络接口接收的数据断言到数据总线上，以及 如果该端口由第二端口号识别，则从数据总线检索数据以供网络接口传输。 以这种方式，数据直接在源端口和目的端口之间传输，而不会被缓存在交换机管理器中。 数据总线的带宽增加，因为数据在数据总线上传输一次。 为端口提供锁存器以锁定读端口号，以允许在该周期期间断言该写端口号。 执行并行读写周期的方法包括以下步骤：确定第一端口号以识别源端口，锁定第一端口号，断言第二端口号以识别目的地端口，以及同时写入和读取数据 数据总线。

公开(公告)号：US06201789B1

公开(公告)日：2001-03-13

申请号：US08774524

申请日：1996-12-30

申请人： Michael L. Witkowski ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  William J. Walker ,  Patricia E. Hareski

发明人： Michael L. Witkowski ,  Gary B. Kotzur ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  William J. Walker ,  Patricia E. Hareski

IPC分类号： G01R3108

CPC分类号： H04Q3/0091

摘要： A network switch including a plurality of network ports for communicating data packets, each port including logic for receiving a backpressure indication and for transmitting a jamming sequence to terminate transmission of a data packet being received. The switch includes a memory for temporarily storing data packets received by the ports, and a switch manager for determining one or more threshold conditions of the memory, for determining if a new data packet being received is to be stored in the memory for transmission by another port, and if so, for providing the backpressure indication to terminate the new data packet if a backpressure signal indicates that a threshold condition would be violated by storage of the new data packet. The jamming sequence is not sent if the packet is not intended to be stored in the switch, so that network devices coupled to a single port may continue to communicate to each other. The remaining ports of the switch are not effected. The threshold conditions include, among others, a maximum number of sectors storing data packets received by a port in a receive sector chain, a maximum number of data packets stored in the memory in a transmit packet chain, a minimum number of free sectors available in the memory for storage of data packets, and a maximum number of broadcast data packets stored in the memory.

摘要翻译： 一种网络交换机，包括用于传送数据分组的多个网络端口，每个端口包括用于接收背压指示和用于发送干扰序列以终止正在接收的数据分组的传输的逻辑。 交换机包括用于临时存储由端口接收的数据分组的存储器和用于确定存储器的一个或多个阈值条件的交换管理器，用于确定正在接收的新数据分组是否被存储在存储器中以供另一个传输 端口，如果是，则如果反压信号指示通过存储新数据分组会违反阈值条件，则提供背压指示以终止新数据分组。 如果分组不打算存储在交换机中，则不发送干扰序列，使得耦合到单个端口的网络设备可以继续彼此通信。 开关的其余端口不受影响。 阈值条件包括存储由接收扇区链中的端口接收的数据分组的最大扇区数，存储在发送分组链中的存储器中的最大数量的分组数，可用的最小数量的空闲扇区 用于存储数据分组的存储器以及存储在存储器中的最大数量的广播数据分组。

公开(公告)号：US06389480B1

公开(公告)日：2002-05-14

申请号：US09628411

申请日：2000-08-01

申请人： Gary B. Kotzur ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Michael L. Witkowski ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  William J. Walker

发明人： Gary B. Kotzur ,  Patricia E. Hareski ,  Michael L. Witkowski ,  Dale J. Mayer ,  William J. Walker

IPC分类号： G06F1516

CPC分类号： H04L49/254 ,  H04L45/745 ,  H04L49/205 ,  H04L49/351 ,  Y10S370/911

摘要： A programmable arbitration system including control logic to select one of several arbitration schemes for selecting the ports of a network switch, a memory to store priority values indicating the relative priority of each of the ports, monitor logic to monitor each of the ports and to program the priority values in the memory based on a priority scheme selected by the control logic, and arbitration logic to select a port having the next highest priority. The arbitration schemes preferably include a round-robin priority scheme, a first-come, first-served (FCFS) priority scheme, a weighted priority scheme, or any other desirable priority scheme. The monitor logic includes polling logic to periodically poll the ports and to program a priority value of each port. The memory includes receive and transmit lists to indicate of which of the ports have indicated needing service and a corresponding priority value. The arbitration logic includes a receive arbiter and a transmit arbiter, each of which use a corresponding arbitration count.

摘要翻译： 一种可编程仲裁系统，包括用于选择网络交换机的端口的几种仲裁方案之一的控制逻辑，存储器，用于存储指示每个端口的相对优先级的优先级值，监视逻辑以监视每个端口并编程 基于由控制逻辑选择的优先级方案的存储器中的优先级值以及选择具有下一最高优先级的端口的仲裁逻辑。 仲裁方案优选地包括循环优先方案，先来先服务（FCFS）优先权方案，加权优先方案或任何其它所需优先权方案。 监视器逻辑包括轮询逻辑以定期轮询端口并对每个端口的优先级值进行编程。 存储器包括接收和发送列表，以指示哪些端口指示需要服务和相应的优先级值。 仲裁逻辑包括接收仲裁器和发送仲裁器，每个仲裁器使用相应的仲裁计数。