Multicast and unicast scheduling for a network device
US6477169B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 14, 1999 |
| Grant date | Nov 5, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 14, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L47/6225
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for scheduling unicast and multicast data in an input-queued network device. According to one aspect of the present invention, a combined schedule is created by pipelined staging of multicast and unicast scheduling. Multicast cells are scheduled for transmission among multiple interfaces of a crossbar by performing a multicast cell scheduling cycle for multiple classes of service that are supported by the network device. Then, unicast cells are scheduled for transmission among the interfaces at a lower priority than the previously scheduled multicast cells by performing a unicast cell scheduling cycle for the multiple classes of service using only those interfaces that remain unmatched after completion of the multicast cell scheduling cycle.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.