Inter-chip processor control plane communication
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsRussell Schroter, John William Marshall, Kenneth H. Potter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An inter-chip communication (ICC) mechanism enables any processor in a pipelined arrayed processing engine to communicate directly with any other processor of the engine over a low-latency communication path. The ICC mechanism includes a unidirectional control plane path that is separate from a data plane path of the engine and that accommodates control information flow among the processors. The mechanism thus enables inter-processor communication without sending messages over the data plane communication path extending through processors of each pipeline.
Claims23
A system adapted to enable any processor in a processing engine having a plurality of processors to communicate directly with any other processor of the engine, the system comprising:
- a control plane communication path separate from a data plane path of the engine and configured to accommodate control information flow among the processors;
- and
- at least one inter-chip communication (ICC) interface logic circuit coupled to the control plane path and associated with the processors, the ICC interface logic circuit configured to create a multi-bit ICC message in response to an ICC request issued by any source processor and forward the message over the control plane communication path to any destination processor of the engine.
A method for enabling a source processor in a processing engine to communicate directly with a destination processor of the engine, the source processor located on a first device of the processing engine, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating an inter-chip communication (ICC) request at the source TMC processor, the ICC request including a data word and a To address of the destination processor;
- receiving the ICC request at an ICC send block of an ICC interface logic circuit associated with the source processor;
- producing a From address at the ICC send block to create an ICC message in response to the ICC request;
- determining a location of the destination processor receiving the message;
- and
- if the destination processor is located on another device of the processing engine, forwarding the ICC message over a control plane communication path to the destination processor.
Apparatus adapted to enable a source processor in a processing engine to communicate directly with a destination processor of the engine, the source processor located on a first device of the processing engine, the apparatus comprising:
- means for generating an inter-chip communication (ICC) request at the source processor, the ICC request including a data word and a To address of the destination processor;
- means for receiving the ICC request at an ICC send block of an ICC interface logic circuit associated with the source processor;
- means for producing a From address at the ICC send block to create an ICC message in response to the ICC request;
- means for determining a location of the destination processor receiving the message;
- and
- if the destination processor is located on another device of the processing engine, means for forwarding the ICC message over a control plane communication path to the destination processor.
A computer readable medium containing executable program instructions for enabling a source processor in a processing engine to communicate directly with a destination processor of the engine, the source processor located on a first device of the processing engine, the executable program instructions comprising program instructions for:
- generating an inter-chip communication (ICC) request at the source TMC processor, the ICC request including a data word and a To address of the destination processor;
- receiving the ICC request at an ICC send block of an ICC interface logic circuit associated with the source processor;
- producing a From address at the ICC send block to create an ICC message in response to the ICC request;
- determining a location of the destination processor receiving the message;
- and
- if the destination processor is located on another device of the processing engine, forwarding the ICC message over a control plane communication path to the destination processor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.