Method and apparatus for managing the flow of data within a switching device
US6788671B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 5, 2002 |
| Grant date | Sep 7, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 5, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L49/9063
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus for managing the flow of data within a switching device is provided. The switching device includes network interface cards connected to a common backplane. Each interface card is configured to support the maximum transfer rate of the backplane by maintaining a “pending” queue to track data that has been received but for which the appropriate routing destination has not yet been determined. The switching device includes a switch controller that maintains a central card/port-to-address table. When an interface card receives data with a destination address that is not known to the interface card, the interface card performs a direct memory access over a bus that is separate from the backplane to read routing data directly from the central table in the switch controller. Each interface card builds and maintains a routing information table in its own local memory that only includes routing information for the destination addresses that the interface card is most likely to receive.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.