Method and apparatus for loop breaking on a serial bus
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsJerrold Von Hauck, Colin Whitby-Strevens
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Abstract
A method for loop breaking includes selecting a first port of a node, transmitting a first packet containing a first identifier from the first port of the node, listening for a second packet containing a second identifier for a period of time on a second port of the node, joining the first port and the node if the second identifier meets a first criteria with respect to the first identifier and quarantining the first port when the second identifier meets a second criteria with respect to the first identifier.
Claims28
A method of joining with a first bus one port of a node having a plurality of ports, the method comprising:
- joining said one port to a second bus as a leaf node;
- transmitting a first transmission from said one port on said second bus;
- receiving a second transmission at one or more of said plurality of ports;
- and
- if said second transmission matches said first transmission, then quarantining said one port;
- or
- if said second transmission does not match said first transmission, then joining said one port to said first bus.
A method implemented at a communication node comprising at least one port and connected to a plurality of serial buses, the method comprising:
- joining said at least one port to a first serial bus;
- performing a tree identification process;
- and
- if said tree identification process times out, then joining said at least one port to a second serial bus.
A method of managing member nodes of a communication bus, comprising:
- quarantining at least one member node;
- and
- if said at least one member node becomes inoperative, then
- unquarantining said at least one member node;
- and
- continuing operation of said communication bus by issuing a bus reset signal.
A method of connecting a first port and a second port of a node to a communication network, comprising:
- joining said first port to said communication network;
- transmitting a first transmission from said first port, said first transmission comprising a first unique identifier;
- listening, from said second port, for a packet comprising a second unique identifier;
- and
- if a first criteria with respect to the first and second unique identifiers is not met, then quarantining said second port.
A communication node comprising:
- at least one transmitter adapted to transmit a loop test packet;
- at least one receiver adapted to receive said loop test packet;
- wherein said loop test packet comprises a globally unique identifier;
- and
- wherein said loop test packet is transmitted to test whether said communication node is connected to a bus having at least one communication loop.
A method of forming a communication network comprising a main bus and a peer bus, the method comprising:
- performing an arbitration and a loop test on the main bus and the peer bus in an order responsive to a number of nodes connected to the main bus and the peer bus;
- wherein said loop test is performed to detect communication loops in said communication network.
A method implemented at a communication node comprising at least one port and connected to a plurality of serial buses, the method comprising:
- joining said at least one port to a first serial bus;
- performing a substantially hierarchical topology discovery process;
- and
- if said discovery process times out, then joining said at least one port to a second serial bus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.