Patent · US Expired

Programmable arbitration system for determining priority of the ports of a network switch

US6098109A · kind A · utility

41Cited by
26References
23Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 30, 1996
Grant dateAug 1, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 30, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S370/911
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A programmable arbitration system including control logic to select one of several arbitration schemes for selecting the ports of a network switch, a memory to store priority values indicating the relative priority of each of the ports, monitor logic to monitor each of the ports and to program the priority values in the memory based on a priority scheme selected by the control logic, and arbitration logic to select a port having the next highest priority. The arbitration schemes preferably include a round-robin priority scheme, a first-come, first-served (FCFS) priority scheme, a weighted priority scheme, or any other desirable priority scheme. The monitor logic includes polling logic to periodically poll the ports and to program a priority value of each port. The memory includes receive and transmit lists to indicate of which of the ports have indicated needing service and a corresponding priority value. The arbitration logic includes a receive arbiter and a transmit arbiter, each of which use a corresponding arbitration count.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.