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US 2012/0069848 A1Published application
Configurable fast ethernet and gigabit ethernet data port
AssigneeLantiq Deutschland GmbH
InventorsShridhar Mubaraq Mishra, Tina Zhang, Chunfeng Hu, Hak Keong Sim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An Ethernet switch has at least one ingress/egress port which is operable in two modes, in a first mode as a GE port and in a second mode as a plurality of FE ports. The port has 8 MAC interfaces each of which is capable of receiving/transmitting FE packets, and at least one of the MAC interfaces can be configured to receive/transmit GE packets. Thus, the port has two modes of operation. The port further includes receive and transmit modules which receive GE and FE packets from, and transmit GE and FE packets to, the interfaces.
Claims22
An ingress/egress port for an Ethernet switch comprising:
- a plurality of Media Access Control (MAC) interfaces, wherein at least one MAC interface is configured to receive/transmit Fast Ethernet (FE) packets, at least one of the MAC interfaces further being configured to receive/transmit Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packets independent of the other plurality of MAC interfaces;
- a receive module and a transmit module, which are configured respectively to receive both GE and FE packets from, and transmit both GE and FE packets to, all the MAC interfaces;
- and
- wherein the ingress/egress port operates as a single GE physical port in a first mode of operation and as more than one FE physical port in a second mode of operation;
- and
- wherein at least one MAC interface is associated with a separate buffer configured to store packets as they are received at the respective MAC interface, the receive module being arranged to receive packets from the respective buffers sequentially.
3 more elements
An Ethernet switch comprising:
- at least one ingress/egress port, wherein at least one ingress/egress port having
- a plurality of Media Access Control (MAC) interfaces, wherein at least one MAC interface
- is configured to receive/transmit Fast Ethernet (FE) packets, at least one of the MAC interfaces further being configured to receive/transmit Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packets independent of the other plurality of MAC interfaces;
- a receive module and a transmit module, which are configured respectively to receive both GE and FE packets from, and transmit both GE and FE packets to, all the MAC interfaces;
- and
- wherein the ingress/egress port operates as a single GE physical port in a first mode of operation and as more than one FE physical port in a second mode of operation;
- and
- wherein at least one MAC interface is associated with a separate buffer configured to store packets as they are received at the respective MAC interface, the receive module being arranged to receive packets from the respective buffers sequentially.
5 more elements
A method, comprising
- providing data packets to an ingress/egress port of an Ethernet switch, ingress/egress port having a plurality of Media Access Control (MAC) interfaces, wherein at least one MAC interface is configured for receiving/transmitting Fast Ethernet (FE) packets, at least one of the MAC interfaces further being configured to receive/transmit Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packets independent of the other plurality of MAC interfaces;
- storing the data packets in buffers associated with the plurality of MAC interfaces, at least one MAC interface being associated with a separate buffer;
- passing packet data from the data packets from the buffers to a receive module, the receive module configured to receive both GE and FE packets from all the MAC interfaces;
- passing outgoing packet data from a transmit module to the MAC interfaces, the transmit module configured to transmit both GE and FE packets to all the MAC interfaces;
- and
- switching the ingress/egress port between a first mode and a second mode, in which the ingress/egress port operates as a single GE physical port in the first mode and as more than one FE physical port in the second mode.
3 more elements
An ingress/egress port for an Ethernet switch, the ingress/egress port comprising:
- a plurality of Media Access Control (MAC) interfaces, at least one MAC interface being
- configured to receive/transmit Fast Ethernet (FE) packets, at least one of the MAC interfaces further being configured to receive/transmit Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packets;
- a receive module and a transmit module, which are configured respectively to receive both GE and FE packets from, and transmit both GE and FE packets to, all the MAC interfaces;
- and
- a switch configured to switch the ingress/egress port between a first mode and a second mode of operation for the ingress/egress port, wherein the ingress/egress port operates as a single GE physical port in the first mode of operation using the at least one of the MAC interfaces to transmit and receive GE packets and as more than one FE physical port in the second mode of operation using the plurality of MAC interfaces to transmit and receive FE packets.
2 more elements
An ingress/egress port for an Ethernet switch, the ingress/egress port comprising:
- a plurality of Media Access Control (MAC) interfaces configured to receive/transmit Fast Ethernet (FE) packets;
- at least one MAC interface configured to receive/transmit Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packets in a first mode of operation and to receive/transmit FE packets in a second mode of operation;
- and
- a receive module and a transmit module, which are configured respectively to receive both GE and FE packets from, and transmit both GE and FE packets to, all the MAC interfaces;
- wherein the ingress/egress port operates as a single GE physical port in the first mode of operation using the at least one MAC interface to transmit and receive GE packets and as more a plurality of FE physical ports in the second mode of operation using the plurality and the at least one MAC interface to transmit and receive FE packets.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.