Time division communication via optical switch fabric
AssigneeMellanox Technologies, Ltd.
InventorsLiron Mula, Elad Mentovich, Paraskevas Bakopoulos, Eitan Zahavi, Sagi Kuks
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A network element (36) includes circuitry and at least one port (72). The at least one port is coupled to an optical fabric (32) including one or more optical switches (40) that provide optical paths between the at least one port and multiple destination nodes, at predefined time slots. The circuitry is configured to hold a schedule plan (84) that specifies which of the destination nodes are accessible via the optical fabric at which of the time slots, to queue packets that are destined to the destination nodes, and to transmit the queued packets via the at least one port in accordance with the schedule plan.
Claims22
A network element, comprising:
- at least one port coupled to an optical fabric comprising one or more optical switches that provide optical paths between the at least one port and multiple destination nodes, at predefined time slots;
- and
- circuitry, configured to:
- hold a predetermined schedule plan that specifies which of the destination nodes are accessible via the optical fabric at which of the time slots, the predetermined schedule plan having been determined before receiving packets for transmission via the optical fabric;
- queue packets that are destined to the destination nodes;
- and
- transmit the queued packets via the at least one port in accordance with the predetermined schedule plan.
A method for communication, comprising:
- in a network element that comprises at least one port coupled to an optical fabric comprising one or more optical switches that provide optical paths between the at least one port and multiple destination nodes, at predefined time slots, holding a predetermined schedule plan that specifies which of the destination nodes are accessible via the optical fabric at which of the time slots, the predetermined schedule plan having been determined before receiving packets for transmission via the optical fabric;
- queueing packets that are destined to the destination nodes;
- and
- transmitting the queued packets via the at least one port in accordance with the predetermined schedule plan.
An apparatus for communication, comprising:
- multiple network elements coupled to multiple network nodes, and to an optical fabric comprising one or more optical switches that provide optical paths between respective pairs of network elements, at predefined time slots, wherein each of the network elements is configured to:
- hold a predetermined schedule plan that specifies which of the destination nodes that are coupled to other network elements are accessible to the network element via the optical fabric at which of the time slots, the predetermined schedule plan having been determined before receiving packets for transmission via the optical fabric;
- queue packets that are destined to the destination nodes that are coupled to the other network elements;
- and
- transmit the queued packets to the destination nodes that are coupled to other network elements, via the optical switch fabric, in accordance with the predetermined schedule plan.
A method for communication, comprising:
- in each of multiple network elements that are coupled to multiple network nodes, and to an optical fabric comprising one or more optical switches that provide optical paths between respective pairs of network elements, at predefined time slots:
- holding a predetermined schedule plan that specifies which of the destination nodes that are coupled to other network elements are accessible to the network element via the optical fabric at which of the time slots, the predetermined schedule plan having been determined before receiving packets for transmission via the optical fabric;
- queueing packets that are destined to the destination nodes that are coupled to the other network elements;
- and
- transmitting the queued packets to the destination nodes that are coupled to other network elements, via the optical switch fabric, in accordance with the predetermined schedule plan.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.