US 2003/0210685 A1 · Method and system for interswitch deadlock avoidance in a communications network

Abstract

An interconnect fabric module (“IFM”) with high-speed switching capabilities. An interconnect fabric module can be dynamically configured to interconnect its communications ports so that data can be transmitted through the interconnected ports. Multiple interconnect fabric modules can be connected to form an interconnect fabric through which nodes (e.g., computer systems) can be interconnected. In one embodiment, data is transmitted through the interconnect fabric as frames such as those defined by the Fibre Channel and InfiniBand standards. The interconnect fabric module allows the creation of an interconnect fabric that is especially well suited for interconnecting devices utilizing multiple information types such as might be required by the devices of an enterprise data network (“EDN”).

Claims41

Dependent claims

A method in a switch for avoiding a deadlock while a connection is being established through the switch, the method comprising:

receiving data at a port, the data indicating that the port is to be part of a conflicting connection established through the switch;
and
when the port is already part of a current connection that is being established,
when the current connection has a higher priority than the conflicting connection, maintaining the current connection;
and
when the current connection does not have a higher priority than the conflicting connection, establishing part of the conflicting connection through the port.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

10/046,572Filed 26 Oct 2001

Priority

27 Apr 2001

Published

13 Nov 2003

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

H04L 47/24
Flow control; Congestion control: traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
H04L 49/205
Support for services: quality of Service based
H04L 49/254
Using establishment or release of connections between ports: centralised controller, i.e. arbitration or scheduling
H04L 49/356
Switches specially adapted for specific applications: for storage area networks

Family

Application60/287,069Us provisional application · filed 27 Apr 2001

Application60/286,918Us provisional application · filed 27 Apr 2001

Application60/286,922Us provisional application · filed 27 Apr 2001

Application60/287,081Us provisional application · filed 27 Apr 2001

Application60/287,075Us provisional application · filed 27 Apr 2001

Application60/314,088Us provisional application · filed 21 Aug 2001

Application60/314,158Us provisional application · filed 21 Aug 2001

Application60/314,287Us provisional application · filed 22 Aug 2001

US 2003/0210685 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Method and system for interswitch deadlock avoidance in a communications network

Life of this patent

Method and system for interswitch deadlock avoidance in a communications network

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims41