Patent · US Expired

Flow control process for a switching system and system for performing the same

US6606300B1 · kind B1 · utility

68Cited by
9References
5Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 22, 1998
Grant dateAug 12, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 22, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2012/5672
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A flow control process for a switching system having at least one switch core connected through serial communication links to remote and distributed Protocol Adapters or Protocol Engines through Switch Core Access Layer (SCAL) elements. For each input port i, the SCAL element contains a receive Protocol Interface corresponding to the adapter assigned to the input port i and a first serializer for providing attachment to the switch core by means of a first serial communication link. When the cells are received in the switch core, they are deserialized by means of a first deserializer. At each output port, the cells are serialized again by means of a second serializer and then transmitted via a second serial communication link, to the appropriate SCAL. The SCAL contains a second deserializer and a transmit Protocol Interface circuit for permitting attachment of the Protocol Adapter. The flow control process permits two flow control signals, a flow control receive (FCR) from the core to the SCAL, and a flow control transmit (FCX) from the SCAL back to the core. For transmission of the FCR signal in response to the detection of local saturation in the switch core, the process causes tr…

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