US 6,490,213 B1 · Crossbar switch and method with crosspoint circuit

Abstract

A switch system and method transfer a data packet from a source data port to one or more destination data ports through a switch. The system includes at least one crosspoint circuit. A crosspoint circuit in the switch system includes a first and a second reduced voltage swing line, a first and a second transistor circuit for each data input path and a sense amplifier for a data port. The first reduced voltage swing line is coupled to the first transistor circuit, the second reduced voltage swing line is coupled to the second transistor circuit and both reduced voltage swing lines are connected to the sense amplifier. A method for transferring data using a crosspoint circuit includes a charging first voltage line and a second voltage line to a predetermined voltage level, discharging the predetermined voltage level in the first voltage line, maintaining the predetermined voltage level in the second voltage line concurrently with the discharging step, receiving a high clock signal at a sense amplifier, and generating an output signal based on a differential voltage level at the arrival of the clock signal.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A reduced voltage swing crosspoint circuit to transfer data packets from a source port to a destination port of a crossbar switching system, the crosspoint circuit comprising:

a first voltage line and a second voltage line;
a first transistor circuit coupled to the first voltage line for discharging the first voltage line responsive to the first transistor circuit receiving an enable signal from an arbitrage logic unit of the crossbar switching system and a data signal coupled from an input data path of the crossbar switching system;
a second transistor circuit coupled to the second voltage line for discharging the second voltage line responsive to the second transistor circuit receiving the enable signal and an inverted data signal;
a precharge circuit coupled to the first and second voltage lines for charging the first and second voltage lines to a predetermined voltage level, the precharge circuit switching to an off-state prior to discharging of the first or the second voltage line;
and
a sense amplifier, having an input for receiving a clock signal configured to generate a full-swing output signal coupled to an output data path of the crossbar switch when the clock signal is high and there is a differential voltage level greater than a preselected differential voltage level between the first voltage line and second voltage line.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Crossbar switch and method with crosspoint circuit

Life of this patent

Crossbar switch and method with crosspoint circuit

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims14