Method and apparatus for maintaining randomly accessible copy number information on a network switch
AssigneeAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.
InventorBahadir Erimli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for maintaining copy information pertaining to data frames received by a multiport switch that forwards received data frames to plural output ports includes a random access storage area and a control logic, both of which are located on the switch. The random access storage area stores a copy number that indicates the number of output ports that have not yet transmitted their copy of a designated data frame. The control logic addresses specific fixed locations within the random access storage area using frame pointers that identify where the received data frames are stored in an external memory. The information maintained in the random access storage area is accessible to all components of the multiport switch.
Claims15
An apparatus for maintaining copy information pertaining to data frames received by a multiport switch that forwards received data frames to plural output ports, the apparatus comprising:
- a random access storage area having storage cells logically arranged in rows and columns, located on the multiport switch, for storing copy information indicating the number of copies of a designated data frame that have not yet been transmitted from one of said plural output ports;
- and
- control logic, located on the multiport switch, for addressing said random access storage area using frame pointers that also identify locations in an external memory where received data frames are stored, each said frame pointer including at least two portions decodable by said control logic to respectively indicate a specific row and specific column of the random access storage area at which the copy number value of a designated data frame is stored, wherein
- said control logic uses the ten most significant bits and 3 least significant bits of each frame pointer to respectively address the specific row and specific column of each cell in said random access storage area.
An apparatus for maintaining copy information pertaining to data frames received by a multiport switch that forwards received data frames to plural output ports, the apparatus comprising:
- a random access storage area having storage cells logically arranged in rows and columns, located on the multiport switch, for storing copy information indicating the number of copies of a designated data frame that have not yet been transmitted from one of said plural output ports;
- and
- control logic, located on the multiport switch, for addressing said random access storage area using frame pointers that also identify locations in an external memory where received data frames are stored, each said frame pointer including at least two portions decodable by said control logic to respectively indicate a specific row and specific column of the random access storage area at which the copy number value of a designated data frame is stored, wherein
- said random access storage area includes a number of addressable locations that corresponds to a total number of frame buffer locations available to the multiport switch for storing received data frames.
An apparatus for maintaining copy information pertaining to data frames received by a multiport switch that forwards received data frames to plural output ports, the apparatus comprising:
- a random access storage area having storage cells logically arranged in rows and columns, located on the multiport switch, for storing copy information indicating the number of copies of a designated data frame that have not yet been transmitted from one of said plural output ports;
- control logic, located on the multiport switch, for addressing said random access storage area using frame pointers that also identify locations in an external memory where received data frames are stored, each said frame pointer including at least two portions decodable by said control logic to respectively indicate a specific row and specific column of the random access storage area at which the copy number value of a designated data frame is stored;
- and
- a multicopy queue configured to store entries that contain one of said frame pointers, and a copy number that specifies either a total number of output ports that will transmit a designated data frame or a successful transmission of a designated data frame by one of the output ports.
A method of maintaining copy information pertaining to data frames received by a multiport switch that forwards received data frames to designated plural output ports, the method comprising the steps:
- accessing a specific row and specific column of a cell within a random access storage area of the multiport switch wherein copy number information for received data frames is maintained, using frame pointers that also identify locations in an external memory where the received data frames are stored;
- retrieving a copy number value for a designated data frame from the accessed cell;
- updating the copy number value retrieved from the accessed cell to reflect the total number of designated output ports that have not transmitted their copy of the designated data frame;
- and
- storing the updated copy number value back into the accessed cell of the random access storage area, wherein the step of updating the copy number value includes the steps:
- retrieving an entry from a multicopy queue that stores entries containing a frame pointer, and a copy number that specifies either a total number of output ports that will transmit the designated data frame or a successful transmission of the designated data frame by one of the output ports;
- and
- performing the step of updating the copy number value based on the copy number contained in the retrieved entry.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.