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US 6,633,946 B1Granted
Flexible switch-based I/O system interconnect
AssigneeSun Microsystems, Inc.
InventorAriel Hendel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus is described comprising: a switch for providing a plurality of communication channels between a plurality of nodes; and a crossbar switch communicatively coupled between the switch and the nodes for allocating one or more of a plurality of links to each of the nodes. Additionally, in a system including a switch for providing a plurality of communication channels between a plurality of nodes, a method is disclosed comprising the steps of: determining bandwidth requirements of each node in the system; and allocating links to the nodes based on the bandwidth requirements.
Claims30
An apparatus comprising:
- a first switch for performing time division multiplexing on a plurality of links in an I/O system, a first group of said plurality of links communicatively coupled to a memory controller via an interface;
- a second switch for communicatively coupling a second group of links in said plurality of links to a third group of links;
- two or more I/O slots, each communicatively coupled to two or more of said third group of links;
- and
- control logic for determining whether one or more of said I/O slots contains an I/O component,
- wherein said control logic causes said second switch to communicatively couple one or more of said third group of links communicatively coupled to a particular I/O slot to one or more of said second group of links only if said I/O slot contains an I/O component.
3 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of I/O slots for receiving I/O components, one or more of said I/O slots communicatively coupled to a plurality of I/O slot links;
- a crossbar switch for communicatively coupling said I/O slot links to a second plurality of links;
- a buffered switch for communicatively coupling links in said second plurality of links to links in a third plurality of links and also to other links in said second plurality of links;
- and
- control logic for determining whether an I/O slot contains an I/O component and causing said crossbar switch to communicatively couple one or more of said I/O slot links communicatively coupled to said I/O slot to one or more of said second plurality of links only if said I/O slot contains an I/O component.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- time division switching means for performing time division switching on a plurality of links in an I/O system, a first group of said plurality of links communicatively coupled to a memory controller via an interface;
- crossbar switching means for communicatively coupling a second group of links in said plurality of links to a third group of links;
- two or more I/O slots, each communicatively coupled to two or more of said third group of links;
- and
- control means for determining whether one or more of said I/O slots contains an I/O component,
- wherein said control means causes said crossbar switching means to communicatively couple one or more of said third group of links communicatively coupled to a particular I/O slot to one or more of said second group of links only if said I/O slot contains an I/O component.
3 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a switch for providing a plurality of communication channels between a plurality of nodes;
- and
- a crossbar switch communicatively coupled between said switch and said nodes for allocating one or more links of a set of links independently coupled to each of said nodes, wherein said plurality of nodes are input/output (I/O) slots each for coupling to an I/O card, and a specific number of links of the set of links are allocated to each said node based on specific bandwidth requirements for each said node.
In a system including a switch for providing a plurality of communication channels between a plurality of nodes, a method comprising:
- determining the bandwidth requirements of each node in said system;
- determining a number of links in a set of links independently coupled to each node necessary to be allocated based on said bandwidth requirements of each node;
- and
- allocating said determined number of links to each of said nodes.
1 more element
An apparatus comprising:
- a first switching means for performing time division multiplexing on a plurality of links in an I/O system, a first group of said plurality of links communicatively coupled to a memory controller via an interface;
- a second switching means for communicatively coupling a second group of links in said plurality of links to a third group of links;
- two or more I/O slots, each communicatively coupled to two or more of said third group of links;
- and
- control means for determining whether one or more of said I/O slots contains an I/O component,
- wherein said control means causes said second switching means to communicatively couple one or more of said third group of links communicatively coupled to a particular I/O slot to one or more of said second group of links only if said I/O slot contains an I/O component.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.