Shared memory management in a switched network element
US6021132A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 9, 1997 |
| Grant date | Feb 1, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 9, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L49/103
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus for shared memory management in a switched network element is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, a shared memory manager for a packet forwarding device includes a pointer memory having stored therein information regarding buffer usage (e.g., usage counts) for each of a number of buffers in a shared memory. An encoder is coupled to the pointer memory for generating an output which indicates a set of buffers that contains a free buffer. The shared memory manager further includes a pointer generator that is coupled to the encoder for locating a free buffer in the set of buffers. The pointer generator is further configured to produce a pointer to the free buffer based upon the output of the encoder and the free buffer's location within the set of buffers. According to another aspect of the present invention, a packet forwarding device includes a number of output ports for transmitting packets onto a network and a number of input ports coupled to the output ports for receiving packets from the network, buffering the packets, and forwarding the packets to one or more of the output ports. The packet forwarding device also includes a shared m…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.