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US 6,473,428 B1Granted
Multi-threaded, multi-cast switch
AssigneeNortel Networks Limited
InventorsStacy Nichols, David A. Brown
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multi-stage switch includes a plurality of switching elements for routing cells from input components to output components. Internal switch logic routes incoming cells to the output components in the same temporal order as they are received from the input components, and sequentially activates the switching elements to distribute the cells evenly within the switch.
Claims26
A multi-stage switch comprising:
- a plurality of output circuits;
- a plurality of input circuits containing cells, each of the cells being destined for at least one of the output circuits;
- a plurality of pending signals, each one of the plurality of pending signals associated with one of the plurality of input circuits, for indicating a presence of a new cell at the corresponding input circuit;
- a plurality of switches for receiving the cells from the input circuits and transmitting he cells to the destined ones of the output circuits;
- and
- a scheduler circuit for causing the switches to the cells to the output circuits in essentially the same temporal order as the cells are received from the input circuits to the switches in response to plurality of pending signals.
3 more elements
A multi-stage switch, comprising:
- a plurality of output circuits;
- a plurality of input circuits containing cells, each of the cells being destined for at least one of the output circuits;
- a plurality of switches for receiving the cells from the input circuits and transmitting the cells to the destined ones of the output circuits;
- a scheduler circuit for causing the switches to transmit the cells to the output circuits in essentially the same temporal order as the cells are received from the input circuits to the switches, wherein the scheduler circuit includes:
- means for determining whether a cell is pending after a cell has been transmitted;
- and
- means for transferring a pending cell to the next stage.
4 more elements
A multi-stage switch, comprising:
- a plurality of output circuits;
- a plurality of input circuits containing cells, each of the cells being destined for at least one of the output circuits;
- a plurality of switches for receiving the cells from the input circuits and transmitting the cells to the destined ones of the output circuits;
- a scheduler circuit for causing the switches to transmit the cells to the output circuits in essentially the same temporal order as the cells are received from the input circuits to the switches, wherein the scheduler circuit includes
- a queue status circuit for indicating a status associated with the input circuits;
- a queue selector circuit, coupled to the queue status circuit, for selecting a particular one of the input circuits based upon the status wherein the queue selector circuit includes
- an input signal indicating an output port selected by a previous stage;
- an input signal indicating which second-stage switch should be traversed for a given output;
- and
- an input signaling indicating that an output queue has a cell to be transmitted to the second-stage, but that the second-stage is not active;
- and
- a controller circuit, coupled to the queue selector circuit, for selecting the switches in a pre-defined sequence.
9 more elements
A multi-stage switch, comprising:
- a plurality of output circuits;
- a plurality of input circuits containing cells, each of the cells destined for at least one of the output circuits;
- a plurality of switches for transmitting the cells from the input circuits to the destined ones of the output circuits;
- and
- a scheduler circuit for transmitting the cells from the input circuits to the switches based upon a “pending status” and a “previous status” of cells within the input circuits.
2 more elements
A method of transmitting cells through a multi-stage switch, comprising:
- queuing a plurality of cells in a plurality of input circuits, each of the cells being destined for at least one of a plurality of output circuits;
- and
- transmitting each of the cells, through a plurality of switches, from the one of the input circuits containing that cell to the ones of the output circuits for which the cell is destined by routing the cells in essentially the same temporal order as the cells are transmitted from the input circuits to the switches.
A method of transmitting cells through a multi-stage switch, comprising:
- queuing a plurality of cells in a plurality of input circuits, each of the cells being destined for at least one of a plurality of output circuits;
- and
- transmitting the cells through a plurality of switches from a particular one of the input circuits containing that cell to the ones of the output circuits for which the cell is destined, by routing the cells based upon a pending status and a previous status of cells within the queues of the input circuits.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.