System and method for controlling the multicast traffic of a data packet switch
US7061909B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 10, 2001 |
| Grant date | Jun 13, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 9, 2023 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L49/3027
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A data switch is provided which routes fixed-size data packets from input ports to output ports, using shared memory which holds a copy of each packet in buffers. Output ports have a queue which contains pointers to buffers holding packets bound for that port. The number of shared memory buffers holding packets is compared to the number of buffer pointers in the output queues. In this way, a Multicast Index (MCI), a metric of the level of multicast traffic, is derived. The switch includes a Switch Core Adaptation Layer (SCAL) which has a multicast input queue. Because traffic is handled based on priority class P, a multicast threshold MCT(P), associated with the multicast input queue, is established per priority. While receiving traffic, the MCI is updated and, for each priority class in each SCAL, the MCI is compared to the MCT(P) to determine whether corresponding multicast traffic must be held.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.