Multicast bandwidth multiplication for a unified distributed switch
US8897301B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 14, 2012 |
| Grant date | Nov 25, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 25, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L49/70
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The distributed switch may include a plurality of chips (i.e., sub-switches) on a switch module. These sub-switches may receive from a computing device connected to a Tx/Rx port a multicast data frame (e.g., an Ethernet frame) that designates a plurality of different destinations. Instead of simply using one egress connection interface to forward the copies of the data frame to each of the destinations sequentially, the sub-switch may use a plurality of a connection interfaces to transfer copies of the multicast data frame simultaneously. The port that receives the multicast data frame can borrow the connection interfaces (and associated hardware such as buffers) assigned to these other ports to transmit copies of the multicast data frame simultaneously.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.