Method and apparatus for maintaining packet order integrity in parallel switching engine
AssigneeAlcatel
InventorsGeoffrey C. Stone, Scot A. Reader
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for maintaining packet order integrity in a switching engine wherein inbound packets are forwarded to different ones of parallel processing elements for switching. Order preservation for packets relating to the same conversation is guaranteed by checking for each inbound packet whether a previous packet from the same source is pending at a processing element and, if the check reveals that such a packet is pending, forwarding the inbound packet to the same processing element as the previous packet.
Claims24
A method for preserving packet order integrity in a switching engine wherein packets are forwarded to different ones of a plurality of processing elements within a processor array for switching, comprising checking for each inbound packet whether another packet from the same source is pending at an individual processing element before forwarding the inbound packet to the individual processing element.
A method for preserving packet order integrity in a switching engine wherein packets are forwarded to different ones of a plurality of parallel processing elements for switching, comprising:
- checking for an inbound packet whether another packet from the same source is pending at any processing element;
- and
- if another packet from the same source is pending at any processing element, forwarding the inbound packet to the processing element at which the other packet from the same source is pending.
A method for preserving packet order integrity in a switching engine wherein packets are forwarded to different ones of a plurality of processing elements within a processor array for switching, comprising checking for each inbound packet whether a source of the packet is committed to a processing element within the processor array before forwarding the inbound packet to the processor array.
A method for preserving packet order integrity in a switching engine wherein packets are forwarded to different ones of a plurality of processing elements within a processor array for switching, comprising:
- determining if a source of an inbound packet is committed to any processing element;
- and
- if the source of the inbound packet is committed to any processing element, forwarding the inbound packet to the processing element to which the source is committed.
In a switching engine wherein packets from different sources are forwarded to different ones of a plurality of parallel processing elements for switching, a method for preserving packet order integrity, comprising:
- committing a source to processing element;
- and
- forwarding inbound packets from the source to the processing clement and no other processing element until the commitment is released
A switching engine to switch packets from a plurality of sources comprising:
- a processor array to switch the packets and provide them as output, the processor array including a plurality of parallel processing elements;
- and
- a plurality of input controllers to receive the packets from the plurality of sources and to provide the received packets to the processor array,
- wherein the input controller, after receiving a packet, determines whether another packet from the same source is pending within the processor array before forwarding the packet to the processor array,
- wherein the processor array provides packets from each of the plurality of sources as output in the order they are received as to preserve packet order integrity of the packets from the same source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.