Deferred queuing in a buffered switch
AssigneeInrange Technologies Corporation
InventorSteven G. Schmidt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for temporarily deferring transmission of packets/frames to a destination port in a buffered switch is disclosed. When a request for transmission of at least one packet/frame to the destination port is received, it is determined whether the destination port is available to receive the at least one packet/frame. The transmission of the at least one packet/frame is deferred when the destination port is not available to receive the at least one packet/frame. The packet/frame identifier and memory location for each deferred packet/frame is stored in a deferred queue and the process then repeats for the next packet/frame. Periodically, the apparatus attempts to transmit the packets/frames in the deferred queue to their respective destination ports.
Claims24
A buffer control apparatus in a buffered switch for controlling transmission of packets/frames of data, comprising:
- a dual port buffer memory for storing the packets/frames of data;
- a buffer write module for writing packets/frames into the dual port buffer memory;
- a buffer read module for reading packets/frames of data from the dual port buffer memory;
- and
- a deferred queue device for controlling the buffer read module so as to temporarily defer transmission of the packets/frames to a destination port which is unavailable to receive the packets/frames.
A deferred queue device for temporarily deferring transmission of packets/frames to a destination port in a buffered switch, comprising:
- a deferred header queue device for storing frame information for packets/frames being deferred;
- means for periodically determining current status of all destination ports in the buffered switch;
- and
- header select logic unit for determining state of the deferred queue device and supplying a valid buffer address for a deferred packet/frame which can now be sent to an available destination port.
A method for temporarily deferring transmission of packets/frames to a destination port in a buffered switch, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a request for transmission of at least one packet/frame to the destination port;
- determining whether the destination port is available to receive the at least one packet/frame;
- deferring transmission of the at least one packet/frame when the destination port is not available to receive the at least one packet/frame;
- and
- repeating the above steps for a next packet/frame to be transmitted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.