US 8,576,865 B1Granted

Physical layer devices for network switches

AssigneeMarvell International Ltd.

InventorsWilliam Lo, Sehat Sutardja

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Abstract

A switch includes a first IC and a second IC. The first IC includes a first set of (N+1) serializer/deserializer (SERDES) modules communicating with a first set of (N+1) SERDES modules of a switch IC; a first set of N SERDES modules communicating with a first set of N ports; and a first set of N multiplexer modules communicating with (i) the first set of N SERDES modules and (ii) the first set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the first IC. The second IC includes a second set of (N+1) SERDES modules communicating with a second set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the switch IC; a second set of N SERDES modules communicating with a second set of N ports; and a second set of N multiplexer modules communicating with (i) the second set of N SERDES modules and (ii) the second set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the second IC.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A system comprising:

a first integrated circuit (IC) including
a first set of (N+1) serializer/deserializer (SERDES) modules configured to communicate with a first set of (N+1) SERDES modules of a switch IC of a switch, respectively, where N is an integer greater than 1;
a first set of N SERDES modules configured to communicate with a first set of N ports of the switch, respectively;
and
a first set of N multiplexer modules configured to communicate with (i) the N SERDES modules in the first set of N SERDES modules, respectively, and (ii) the (N+1) SERDES modules in the first set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the first IC, wherein each of the N multiplexer modules is configured to communicate with a pair of SERDES modules in the first set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the first IC;
and
a second IC including
a second set of (N+1) SERDES modules configured to communicate with a second set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the switch IC, respectively;
a second set of N SERDES modules configured to communicate with a second set of N ports of the switch, respectively;
and
a second set of N multiplexer modules configured to communicate with (i) the N SERDES modules in the second set of N SERDES modules, respectively, and (ii) the (N+1) SERDES modules in the second set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the second IC, wherein each multiplexer module in the second set of N multiplexer modules is configured to communicate with a pair of SERDES modules in the second set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the second IC.

8 more elements

A method comprising:

using a first set of (N+1) serializer/deserializer (SERDES) modules of a first integrated circuit (IC) of a switch to communicate with a first set of (N+1) SERDES modules of a switch IC of the switch, respectively, where N is an integer greater than 1;
using a first set of N SERDES modules of the first IC to communicate with a first set of N ports of the switch, respectively;
using a first set of N multiplexer modules of the first IC to communicate with (i) the N SERDES modules in the first set of N SERDES modules, respectively, and (ii) the (N+1) SERDES modules in the first set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the first IC;
using each of the N multiplexer modules of the first IC to communicate with a pair of SERDES modules in the first set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the first IC;
using a second set of (N+1) SERDES modules of a second IC of the switch to communicate with a second set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the switch IC, respectively;
using a second set of N SERDES modules of the second IC to communicate with a second set of N ports of the switch, respectively;
using a second set of N multiplexer modules of the second IC to communicate with (i) the N SERDES modules in the second set of N SERDES modules, respectively, and (ii) the (N+1) SERDES modules in the second set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the second IC;
and
using each multiplexer module in the second set of N multiplexer modules of the second IC to communicate with a pair of SERDES modules in the second set of (N+1) SERDES modules of the second IC.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.