Cascaded communication of serialized data streams through devices and their resulting operation

US9270397B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Cisco Technology, Inc. · US

Inventors

• John Marshall · Atlanta, US
• Steven P. Holmes · Wake Forest, US
• Jeffrey Nelson Shaw · Stow, US
• Michael E. Lipman · Harvard, US
• Matthew H. Harper · Arlington Heights, US
• Mohammed Ismael Tatar · Gatineau, CA
• James A. Markevitch · Palo Alto, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 24, 2012
• Grant date: Feb 23, 2016
• Expiry date: Jan 9, 2034

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04J3/047
• WIPO field: Telecommunications
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

In one embodiment, an apparatus cascades groups of serialized data streams through devices, and performs operations based on information communicated therein. A received group of serialized data streams is aligned, but not framed, and forwarded to a next device (e.g., a next stage in a linear or tree cascaded formation of devices). Eliminating the framing and subsequent serialization operations performed on the received group of serialized data streams reduces the latency of communications through the cascaded devices, which can be significant when considered in relation to the high-speed communication rates. The received group of serialized data streams is also framed to create a sequence of data frames for processing (e.g., associative memory lookup operations, controlling multiplexing of received downstream serialized data streams, general or other processing) within the device.