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US 11,800,266 B2Granted
Hybrid optoelectrical switches
AssigneeMellanox Technologies, Ltd.
InventorsIoannis (Giannis) Patronas, Paraskevas Bakopoulos, Elad Mentovich, Barak Gafni, Adam V. Richards
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device for a network switch comprises N input ports, and an electrical block including a plurality of electrical switches configured to route signals in an electrical domain. Each electrical switch includes M input ports, and the device further comprises an optical block coupled to the electrical block. The optical block is configured to route signals in an optical domain. A configuration of the optical block and a configuration of the electrical block are based on at least a number of the N input ports.
Claims8
A device for a network switch, the device comprising:
- an enclosure including a substrate;
- an electrical block on the substrate and including a plurality of electrical switches, the plurality of electrical switches being configured to route signals in an electrical domain, wherein a total number of input ports for the plurality of electrical switches is equal to N, wherein a total number of input ports for each electrical switch is equal to M, and wherein M is less than N;
- and
- an optical block on the substrate and communicatively coupled to the electrical block, the optical block being configured to route signals in an optical domain, wherein a configuration of the optical block and a configuration of the electrical block are based on at least the N input ports,
- wherein the signals routed by the optical block are received solely from the plurality of electrical switches of the electrical block,
- wherein the plurality of electrical switches are arranged along a first edge of the substrate and the optical block is arranged along a second edge of the substrate opposite the first edge,
- wherein the configuration of the electrical block relates to a number of the plurality of electrical switches, and the number of the plurality of electrical switches is N/M,
- wherein the configuration of the optical block relates to a number of optical switches in the optical block, a number of input ports of an optical switch in the optical block, and a number of output ports of the optical switch, and
- wherein the number of optical switches in the optical block is M, the number of input ports of the optical switch is equal to N/M, and the number of output ports of the optical switch is equal to N/M.
6 more elements
A semiconductor package, comprising:
- a substrate;
- an electrical block on the substrate and configured to route signals in an electrical domain, the electrical block including a plurality of electrical switches, wherein a total number of input ports for the plurality of electrical switches is equal to N, wherein a total number of input ports for each electrical switch is equal to M, and wherein M is less than N;
- and
- an optical block on the substrate and communicatively coupled to the electrical block, the optical block being configured to route signals in an optical domain, wherein a configuration of the optical block and a configuration of the electrical block are based on at least the N input ports,
- wherein the plurality of electrical switches are arranged along a first edge of the substrate and the optical block is arranged along a second edge of the substrate opposite the first edge,
- wherein the configuration of the optical block relates to a number of optical switches in the optical block, a number of input ports of an optical switch in the optical block, and a number of output ports of the optical switch,
- wherein the number of optical switches in the optical block is M/2, and
- wherein the number of input ports and the number of output ports of the optical switch are both equal to 2*N/M.
5 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a plurality of network devices configured in a hierarchical network topology, at least one of the network devices including:
- an enclosure including a substrate;
- an electrical block on the substrate and including a plurality of electrical switches, the plurality of electrical switches being configured to route signals in an electrical domain, wherein a total number of input ports for the plurality of electrical switches is equal to N, wherein a total number of input ports for each electrical switch is equal to M, and wherein M is less than N;
- and
- an optical block on the substrate and communicatively coupled to the electrical block, the optical block being configured to route signals in an optical domain, wherein a configuration of the optical block and a configuration of the electrical block are based on the N input ports and the M input ports,
- wherein the plurality of electrical switches are arranged along a first edge of the substrate and the optical block is arranged along a second edge of the substrate opposite the first edge,
- wherein the configuration of the optical block relates to a number of optical switches in the optical block, and the number of optical switches in the optical block is M/2, and
- wherein the configuration of the electrical block relates to a number of the plurality of electrical switches, and the number of the plurality of electrical switches is 2*N/M.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.