Bridging device for mapping/demapping ethernet packet data directly onto and from a sonet network

US6414966B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• O.S.S. Holdings, LLC · US

Inventors

• Milind Kulkarni · San Jose, US
• Mahabala Shetty · Mumbai, IN
• Suresh Pillai · Stratford, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 15, 2000
• Grant date: Jul 2, 2002
• Expiry date: Jun 15, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04J2203/0085
• WIPO field: Telecommunications
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A bridging device for mapping and demapping Ethernet data packets onto a SONET network includes an Ethernet controller chip set which receives packet data, a SONET framer for a SONET interface, a UTOPIA interface for the SONET framer, and an FPGA (or ASIC) which bridges the UTOPIA interface and a system bus interface of the Ethernet controller. The FPGA is preferably implemented in VHDL software code as several modules: an Ethernet controller interface module, a chunk memory module, a UTOPIA interface module, a microprocessor interface module, and a UTOPIA OUT module. In a transmit mode, the Ethernet controller interface module interfaces with the data and control signals from a thirty-two bit data bus of the Ethernet controller chip set and writes the data to chunk memory implemented in the FPGA. The chunk memory module implements the chunk memory to a programmable size. The UTOPIA interface module implements an interface with data and control bus signals of Fr-UTOPIA and reads data sixteen bits at a time from chunk memory and writes the data to the Fr-UTOPIA interface bus. The microprocessor interface module implements the control and status registers. The UTOPIA OUT module imple…