Data forwarding device and method

Abstract

The present invention provides a data forwarding device, whose input end and output end are both connected to a transmission optical fiber, and the device comprises: an optical fiber splitter, which copies an input optical signal into multiple optical signals; an optical direct forwarding module, which receives an optical signal output from a branch of the optical fiber splitter and directly transmits the optical signal to be forwarded in the form of an optical signal to the transmission optical fiber at the output end through an optical fiber selector; an optical-electrical conversion module, which receives an optical signal output from a branch of the optical fiber splitter and converts it into an electrical signal and caches it in the form of a data packet; a control module, which receives an optical signal output from a branch of the optical fiber splitter, determines whether the optical signal needs to be forwarded according to the destination address of the optical signal, and outputs corresponding control commands for the optical signals that need to be forwarded and those that do not need to be forwarded in combination with the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end; and an optical fiber selector, which selects the optical direct forwarding module or the optical-electrical conversion module to be connected to the transmission optical fiber at the output end under the control of the output of the control module.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of computer communication, in particular to the field of optical communication in the field of computer communication, and more particularly to a data forwarding device and method. Background Art

[0002] When the communication rate reaches 100Gbps or higher, the use of electrical signals to transmit data will face many problems, such as inductive coupling crosstalk, capacitive coupling crosstalk, and heat. These problems require the cable to use a thicker core and have a higher ability to resist electromagnetic interference, which makes the cost high, bulky and fragile, which is not conducive to daily use. Compared with using electrical signals for data transmission, modulating electrical signals into optical signals and transmitting them through optical fibers can effectively avoid the above crosstalk and heating problems, reduce the size of the cable and improve reliability. At present, in the field of high-speed data transmission, optical fiber has basically replaced cables as the main transmission medium.

[0003] For data transmission using optical fiber as the physical layer, since the optical signal itself is extremely difficult to store, it is usually converted into an electrical signal through photoelectric conversion for dumping when the optical signal needs to be transferred, and then modulated into an optical signal by the laser of the forwarding node to achieve forwarding. However, correspondingly, a large amount of delay will be generated in this process. For example, the completion of the photoelectric conversion will generate a nanosecond delay. If DDR SDRAM is used as a temporary storage unit for electrical signals, the writing process will generate a delay of tens of nanoseconds, and when reading after the writing is completed, it will generate a delay of tens of nanoseconds. Moreover, if SRAM is used as a temporary storage unit for electrical signals, it is necessary to balance additional factors such as power consumption and area, resulting in increased costs. In addition, if the data link layer of the forwarding node is selected for temporary storage, a higher delay will be generated. If the electrical signal direct channel is constructed at the physical layer of the forwarding node, the related problems of high-speed link design will be faced, which will greatly increase the cost.

[0004] At present, the industry mostly adopts the method of redesigning the link topology to circumvent the above problems: for example, using a cross switch or other types of switches. After the data node is connected to this type of optical switch, it can change the data path inside the optical switch by controlling the optical switch to achieve the effect of point-to-point data transmission with any node and avoid the forwarding of data packets. However, for the interconnection achieved by the optical switch, for any node, it can only communicate with a designated node at the same time. If the communication node needs to be changed, the configuration of the optical switch needs to be changed to reconnect the optical path to the corresponding node. In addition, the optical switch itself also has problems such as high manufacturing cost and time delay. Therefore, in the field of optical communications, the need for forwarding data packets is real and irreplaceable.

[0005] In general, the following problems exist in data transmission in existing optical communications:

[0006] 1. The existing network topology model that requires packet forwarding will generate additional performance issues and increase design and manufacturing costs when using light as the physical medium.

[0007] 2. The existing technology adopts the method of redesigning the link topology, which will cause delays in the process of data transmission, which is not conducive to the transmission of small-scale data and the network communication mode of frequently changing the communication target node. Summary of the invention

[0008] Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to overcome the defects of the prior art and provide a novel data forwarding device and method suitable for the field of optical communication.

[0009] According to a first aspect of the present invention, a data forwarding device is provided, wherein the input end and the output end of the device are both connected to a transmission optical fiber, and the device comprises: an optical fiber splitter, the optical fiber splitter comprising a plurality of branches, receiving an optical signal from the transmission optical fiber at the input end, and replicating the input optical signal into at least three optical signals so as to output the replicated optical signal through each branch; an optical direct forwarding module, for receiving an optical signal output from a branch of the optical fiber splitter and transmitting the optical signal to be forwarded directly in the form of an optical signal through an optical fiber selector to the transmission optical fiber at the output end; an optical-electrical conversion module, for receiving an optical signal output from another branch of the optical fiber splitter and converting it into an electrical signal and caching it in the form of a data packet; a control module, for receiving an optical signal output from the third branch of the optical fiber splitter, determining whether the optical signal needs to be forwarded according to the destination address of the optical signal, and outputting corresponding control commands for the optical signal to be forwarded or not according to the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end; and an optical fiber selector, the input end of which is respectively connected to the output ends of the optical direct forwarding module, the optical-electrical conversion module and the control module, and under the control of the output of the control module, the optical direct forwarding module or the optical-electrical conversion module is selected to be connected to the transmission optical fiber at the output end.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present invention, the fiber selector selects the transmission fiber at the output end to connect to the path of the optical direct forwarding module under the corresponding control command when the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the output transmission fiber is idle.

[0011] Preferably, the control module is configured as an optical neural network device supporting time domain input.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present invention, the optical direct forwarding module includes: an optical signal amplifier, used to restore the optical signal copied by the optical fiber splitter to the transmission power; and an optical direct forwarding channel, used to transmit the optical signal passing through the optical signal amplifier to the output end.

[0013] Preferably, the optical direct forwarding channel is an optical fiber channel constructed by silicon-based etching.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present invention, the optoelectronic conversion module includes: a receiver for receiving an optical signal output by a fiber optic splitter and converting the optical signal into an electrical signal and caching it in a receiving buffer in the form of a data packet, and sending the data packet to be stored to a host for storage; a receiving buffer for caching received data packets; a transmitter for converting the data packet in the sending buffer into an optical signal and sending it outward; a sending buffer for caching the data packet to be sent; and a forwarding controller for placing the data packet to be forwarded in the receiving buffer into the sending buffer according to the control command of the control module when the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working status of the output transmission optical fiber is busy.

[0015] Preferably, the control module is configured to output control commands in the following manner: when the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end is idle, a control command is output to directly forward the optical signal and send the cached data packets to the host for storage or discarding; when the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end is busy, a control command is output to send the cached data packets to the host for storage and forwarding; when the optical signal does not need to be forwarded, a control command is output to send the cached data packets to the host for storage or discarding.

[0016] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data forwarding method based on the above-mentioned data forwarding device, the method comprising: receiving an optical signal input by an input transmission optical fiber, and duplicating the optical signal into at least three copies and outputting them to a plurality of branches respectively, wherein the plurality of branches include at least a direct forwarding branch and an optoelectronic conversion branch; under the control of a control module, directly transmitting the optical signal to be forwarded in the form of an optical signal to the transmission optical fiber at the output end through the direct forwarding branch; or in the optoelectronic conversion branch, converting the optical signal into an electrical signal and caching it in the form of a data packet; outputting the duplicated optical signal to the control module to determine whether the optical signal needs to be forwarded according to the destination address of the optical signal and outputting corresponding control commands for controlling the direct forwarding branch and the optoelectronic conversion branch for the optical signal that needs to be forwarded or does not need to be forwarded according to the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end.

[0017] In some embodiments of the present invention, a control module outputs control commands for controlling a straight-through forwarding branch and an optoelectronic conversion branch in the following manner: when an optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end is idle, a control command for straight-through forwarding of the optical signal is output to control the straight-through forwarding branch to transmit the optical signal to be forwarded directly to the transmission optical fiber at the output end in the form of an optical signal and send the cached data packets to the host for storage or discarding; or when an optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end is busy, a control command for storing and forwarding the cached data packets is output to control the optoelectronic conversion branch to store the cached data packets and convert them into optical signals again and then transmit them to the transmission optical fiber at the output end; or when the optical signal does not need to be forwarded, a control command for storing or discarding the cached data packets is output to control the optoelectronic conversion branch to send the cached data packets to the host for storage or discarding.

[0018] According to a third aspect of the present invention, a network card is provided, wherein the network card is configured with the data forwarding device as described in the first aspect of the present invention.

[0019] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data exchange system, the system comprising one or more hosts, each of which is configured with a network card as described in the third aspect of the present invention.

[0020] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are:

[0021] 1. An independent optical fiber channel is used to connect the input optical fiber with the output optical fiber, eliminating the need to convert the data packet into an electrical signal and then modulate it into an optical signal when passing through the forwarding node. At the same time, the timing is accurately controlled by controlling the length of the optical fiber channel, so that after the control module determines that the optical signal needs to be forwarded, the received optical signal can just reach the optical fiber selector through the optical fiber channel.

[0022] 2. An optical fiber splitter is used to copy the optical signal. Once the optical signal needs to be forwarded, it can be forwarded at the first time, and when it does not need to be forwarded, it can be saved at the first time.

[0023] 3. Use independent path connection control modules to determine forwarding logic, and output corresponding control commands to control each branch according to specific circumstances.

[0024] 4. The present invention can effectively reduce the delay generated in the process of data packet forwarding, while retaining the advantage of a single node communicating with multiple nodes at the same time. Under the Ethernet protocol and a rate of 100Gbps, it only takes a few nanoseconds to resolve the destination MAC address and determine whether forwarding is required, thereby controlling the fiber optic router to switch to a direct forwarding path. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The embodiments of the present invention are further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0026] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of a data forwarding device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a flow chart of a data forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 3 The figure is a schematic diagram of a multi-host connection structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail by specific embodiments below. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0030] Since both the Ethernet protocol and the MAC protocol are well-known technologies, the present invention does not elaborate on the specific protocols involved, but only describes the device and method for implementing data forwarding.

[0031] First, the technical idea and framework of the present invention are introduced. As mentioned in the background technology, in the existing data transmission scheme, the process of converting optical signals into electrical signals for dumping and then modulating and converting them into optical signals for forwarding will generate a large amount of delay of hundreds of nanoseconds. The method of redesigning the link topology to construct a point-to-point channel between two nodes to directly send optical signals is not conducive to the transmission of small-scale data and the network communication mode that requires frequent changes in the communication target node, and it will also generate a large amount of delay. In order to solve the above problems, the present invention introduces a fiber optic router, a control module, and constructs an additional optical direct forwarding channel, and uses a fiber optic splitter to copy the optical signal into multiple copies, and simultaneously converts the copied optical signal into an electrical signal to cache it in the form of a data packet and determine whether to forward it. The control module can parse the destination MAC address of the optical signal and determine whether direct forwarding is required in just a few nanoseconds, thereby controlling the path between the fiber optic router switch and the output end, and forwarding the optical signal through the optical direct forwarding channel when forwarding is required and the output end is idle. In addition, the length of the optical direct forwarding channel is precisely controlled to ensure that once the path between the fiber optic router and the optical direct forwarding channel is connected, the optical signal from the optical direct forwarding channel can be received, thereby further reducing the delay generated in the forwarding process and reducing costs. In other cases, the cached data packet can be controlled to be sent to the host for storage or discarding. In special cases, the traditional method of forwarding the optical signal after photoelectric conversion can also be used. To sum up, the present invention not only retains the solution of traditional data forwarding that requires optical signals to be forwarded through optoelectronic conversion, but also adds a solution that allows optical signals to be directly forwarded without redesigning the link topology. The control module judges and controls the specific situation, greatly reducing the delay in data forwarding. The operation is simple and the cost is low.

[0032] In order to better understand the present invention, the present invention is described in detail below through specific embodiments.

[0033] According to one embodiment of the present invention, Figure 1 As shown, the present invention provides a data forwarding device, the input end and the output end of the device are both connected to the transmission optical fiber, and the device includes: an optical fiber splitter, an optical direct forwarding module, an optoelectronic conversion module, a control module and an optical fiber router, and each part is described in detail below.

[0034] The optical fiber splitter includes multiple branches, which receive the optical signal from the input transmission optical fiber and copy the input optical signal into multiple optical signals to output the copied optical signal through each branch. The optical fiber splitter uses a half-reflective half-mirror or other technology that can copy the optical signal, which will cause the total power of the output optical signal to be less than or equal to the input power. Figure 1As shown, the optical signal passing through the optical fiber splitter is output to at least three branches respectively, including the branch where the control module is located, the direct forwarding branch where the optical direct forwarding module is located, and the optoelectronic conversion branch where the optoelectronic conversion module is located.

[0035] The optical direct forwarding module is used to receive the optical signal output from a branch of the optical fiber splitter and transmit the optical signal to be forwarded directly in the form of an optical signal through the optical fiber selector to the transmission optical fiber at the output end. Figure 1 As shown, the optical direct forwarding module further includes an optical signal amplifier and an optical direct forwarding channel, wherein the optical signal amplifier is used to restore the optical signal of the branch where the optical direct forwarding module is located to the transmission power; the optical direct forwarding channel is used to transmit the optical signal, which can, for example, adopt an optical fiber with a silicon-based etching structure, and accurately control the channel length to accurately control the timing, so that after the control module makes a judgment on whether the optical signal needs to be forwarded, the received optical signal can just reach the optical fiber router through the optical direct forwarding channel.

[0036] The control module is used to receive an optical signal output from a branch of the optical fiber splitter, to determine whether the optical signal needs to be forwarded according to the destination address of the optical signal, and to output corresponding control commands for the optical signals that need to be forwarded and those that do not need to be forwarded respectively in combination with the working state of the output end transmission optical fiber, wherein the control commands include the following multiple situations:

[0037] In the first case, the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the transmission optical fiber at the output end is idle, and a control command is output to directly forward the optical signal. The control command for direct forwarding involves multiple situations. For example, when the destination address of the optical signal is a broadcast address or a multicast address and the local machine is in the multicast domain, a control command is output to directly forward the optical signal and send the cached data packets to the host; when the destination address of the optical signal is a multicast address and the local machine is not in the multicast domain or other destination addresses, a control command is output to directly forward the optical signal and discard the cached data packets.

[0038] In the second case, the optical signal needs to be forwarded but the transmission fiber at the output end is busy, and the output sends the buffered data packet to the host to store and forward the control command.

[0039] In the third case, the optical signal does not need to be forwarded, and a control command is output to send the cached data packet to the host for storage or discarding. Among them, the control command that does not need to be forwarded also involves multiple cases, for example, when the source address of the optical signal is the local machine, a control command is output to discard the cached data packet, and when the destination address of the optical signal is the local machine but the source address is not the local machine, a control command is output to send the cached data packet to the host for storage. It should be noted that discarding the optical signal with the source address of the local machine is to prevent the situation where the data packet has been forwarded and then returned to the local machine, and the situation where the destination address is wrong.

[0040] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the control module in the present invention is configured as an optical neural network device supporting time domain input, which receives optical signal input and outputs control signals. The device supports time domain input, so the optical signal from the optical fiber splitter can be directly input into the device without conversion. It supports up to 120 bits of recognition and can recognize MAC addresses with a length of 48 bits. Through pre-training, it can achieve a recognition accuracy of 99.99%, realizing the function of the control module in the present invention.

[0041] The photoelectric conversion module is used to receive the optical signal output by a branch of the optical fiber splitter and convert it into an electrical signal buffer. Figure 1 As shown, the optoelectronic conversion module includes a receiver, a receiving buffer, a forwarding controller, a transmitter and a sending buffer, wherein the receiver is, for example, an optoelectronic conversion device, used to receive an optical signal output from a branch of the optical fiber splitter and convert the optical signal into an electrical signal and cache it in the receiving buffer in the form of a data packet, and at the same time send the data packet to be stored to the host for storage; the receiving buffer is used to cache the received data packets; the transmitter is, for example, a laser, used to convert the data packet in the sending buffer into an optical signal and send it outward; the sending buffer is used to cache the data packet to be sent, wherein the data packet to be sent includes the electrical signal converted from the optical signal of the input optical fiber and the data from the host; the forwarding controller is used to place the data packet to be forwarded specified in the receiving buffer into the sending buffer under the control of the corresponding control command when the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the output transmission optical fiber is busy. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the optical signal entering the branch where the optoelectronic conversion module is located first enters the receiver, undergoes optoelectronic conversion to an electrical signal, and is cached in the receiving buffer in the form of a data packet, waiting for the control module to judge the received optical signal and issue a control command, and then decides whether to send the cached data packet to the host for storage or discard it, or to place the received data packet cached in the receiving buffer into the sending buffer through the forwarding controller, and convert it into an optical signal through the transmitter for external transmission. It should be noted that the data packet generated by the host itself that needs to be sent is also cached in the sending buffer and converted into an optical signal through the transmitter for external transmission.

[0042] The fiber optic router has its input end connected to the output end of the optical direct forwarding module, the optoelectronic conversion module and the control module respectively. Figure 1As shown. The fiber optic router selects the optical direct forwarding module or the optoelectronic conversion module to connect with the output transmission optical fiber under the control of the control command output by the control module, wherein when the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the output transmission optical fiber is idle, the optical direct forwarding path in the optical direct forwarding module is connected with the path of the transmission optical fiber at the output under the corresponding control command. It should be noted that, preferably, in the default state, the fiber optic router connects the transmitter in the optoelectronic conversion module with the path of the output transmission optical fiber, which is used to send the data packets that need to be sent generated by the host itself. When the fiber optic router connects the optical direct forwarding channel with the path of the output transmission optical fiber and completes the direct forwarding of the optical signal, it is necessary to restore the connection between the transmitter and the path of the output transmission optical fiber.

[0043] When the data forwarding device based on the present invention performs data forwarding, in summary, the following steps are included: receiving an optical signal input by the input transmission optical fiber, and copying the optical signal into multiple copies and outputting them to multiple branches, wherein at least the copied optical signal is output to a direct forwarding branch and an optoelectronic conversion branch; in the direct forwarding branch, the optical signal to be forwarded is directly transmitted in the form of an optical signal to the transmission optical fiber at the output end; in the optoelectronic conversion branch, the optical signal is converted into an electrical signal cache.

[0044] The optical signal enters through the transmission optical fiber at the input end, and the input optical signal enters the optical fiber splitter to be replicated into multiple identical optical signals. The replicated optical signals respectively enter multiple branches connected to the optical fiber splitter.

[0045] One of the optical signals enters the direct forwarding branch where the optical direct forwarding module is located, and after being restored to the transmission power by the optical signal amplifier, enters the optical direct forwarding channel, and waits for the control command of the control module to determine whether to control the optical fiber selector to connect the optical direct forwarding channel with the output end transmission optical fiber.

[0046] Among them, another optical signal enters the optoelectronic conversion branch where the optoelectronic conversion module is located, is converted into an electrical signal by the receiver and is cached in the receiving buffer in the form of a data packet.

[0047] The third optical signal enters the branch where the control module is located. The control module determines the destination address of the optical signal to determine whether it needs to be forwarded. At the same time, it determines the status of the current output transmission optical fiber and outputs corresponding control commands for the optical signals that need to be forwarded and do not need to be forwarded, respectively, to control the operation of the direct forwarding branch and the optoelectronic conversion branch.

[0048] The following is combined with Figure 2 The process of controlling data forwarding by the control module of the present invention is described in detail.

[0049] The following description will take the Ethernet protocol as an example. The MAC protocol is used at the data link layer. The protocol is: an 8-bit preamble to identify the start of the data packet, a 48-bit destination MAC address, a 48-bit source MAC address, a 16-bit type field, a 46-1500-byte payload, and a final 32-bit checksum.

[0050] like Figure 2 As shown, the working process of the control module includes: S1, the control module receives the optical signal from the input optical fiber copied by the optical fiber splitter and goes to step S2; S2, determines whether the data packet needs to be forwarded, and goes to step S3 if it does not need to be forwarded, and goes to step S4 if it needs to be forwarded; S3, switches the optical fiber selector to connect the transmitter with the path of the output end transmission optical fiber, so that the host can normally perform the process of sending the data packet generated by the host and go out, and goes to step S9; S4, detects the working status of the current output end transmission optical fiber, and goes to step S5 if the working status of the current output end transmission optical fiber is idle, and goes to step S7 if it is busy; S5, at this time, the working status of the current output end transmission optical fiber is idle, that is, no data packet is sent at this time, then the optical fiber selector is switched to connect the optical direct forwarding channel with the path of the output end transmission optical fiber, and the optical signal is directly forwarded and goes to step S6; S 6. Control the photoelectric conversion module to send the data packets that have been buffered by the receiver to the host for storage or discard according to the specific situation and go to step S9; S7. At this time, the working state of the current output end transmission optical fiber is busy, that is, the data packet is being sent at this time, then the control module outputs the corresponding control command to control the forwarding controller in the photoelectric conversion module to put the buffered data packets in the receiving buffer into the sending buffer and go to step S8; S8. After waiting for the current transmission task to be completed, the data packets to be forwarded are converted into optical signals through the transmitter for transmission and go to step S9; S9. The optical signal is sent through the currently connected path until all the optical signals are transmitted and go to step S10; S10. After the data transmission is completed, switch the optical fiber selector to restore the connection between the transmitter channel and the path of the output end transmission optical fiber. If it is already connected, it will not be switched. It should be noted that only one path between the transmission optical fiber at the output end and the optical direct forwarding channel or the transmitter can be connected at the same time.

[0051] It should be noted that the above-mentioned situations where the optical signal does not need to be forwarded include: the destination address of the data packet is the local machine, and the cached data packet is sent to the host for storage; the source address of the data packet is the local machine, and the cached data packet is discarded. When the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end is idle, the situation where the optical signal is directly forwarded includes: the destination address of the data packet is a broadcast address, the fiber optic router is controlled to connect the path between the optical direct forwarding channel, the optical signal is directly sent to the transmission optical fiber at the output end, and the cached data packet is sent to the host; the destination address of the data packet is a multicast address, the fiber optic router is controlled to connect the path between the optical direct forwarding channel, the optical signal is directly sent to the transmission optical fiber at the output end, and the cached data packet is sent to the host when the local machine is in the multicast domain, otherwise the cached data packet is discarded; the destination address of the data packet is other destination addresses, the fiber optic router is controlled to connect the path between the optical direct forwarding channel, the optical signal is directly sent to the transmission optical fiber at the output end, and the cached data packet is discarded.

[0052] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the device of the present invention can be configured on a network card, which is usually used to process the content of the physical layer and the data link layer in the OSI protocol model, while the early network card is only responsible for sending the received data packets intact to the host operating system, and directly discarding the data packets whose destination addresses are not its own. In actual operation, the network card also undertakes the task of sending the data packets generated by the host itself. When the data packets generated by the host itself need to be sent, they are first buffered in the transmitter buffer, and then converted into optical signals by the transmitter, and sent out through the path between the transmitter and the output end transmission optical fiber. Since the timing of the arrival of the optical signal to be forwarded is uncertain, by default, the transmitter is connected to the transmission optical fiber at the output end through the optical fiber selector for sending data. Only when the device receives the optical signal input, it determines whether to switch to the path between the optical direct forwarding channel and the output end transmission optical fiber. At the same time, after the optical signal direct forwarding is completed, the optical fiber selector automatically switches back to the state where the path between the transmitter and the output end transmission optical fiber is connected.

[0053] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the present invention also provides a data exchange system, the system includes one or more hosts, each host is configured with the network card described in the above embodiment. It should be noted that the data forwarding method described in the present invention is particularly suitable for networking peer data nodes in a ring topology interconnection manner. When the number of links and the number of interfaces are the same, the present invention has a real-time full interconnection feature that the traditional method of interconnecting optical switches does not have, and can avoid the performance loss caused by frequent reconstruction of optical switches. When the traditional method interconnects multiple hosts, it can and can only use a ring interconnection method to connect them in series. The specific implementation method is, for example, Figure 3The four hosts shown are connected: the transmitter of network card A is connected to the receiver of network card B, the transmitter of network card B is connected to the receiver of network card C, and so on. Due to this connection mode, the forwarding of data packets must pass through the intermediate nodes, resulting in each node passing through a photoelectric conversion and laser and temporary storage in the forwarding node, which greatly increases the delay. The present invention is used to provide an all-optical direct forwarding mechanism under this connection mode, so that the forwarding node does not need to dump the data packets that need to be forwarded. The optical signal emitted from the sending node can pass through the forwarding node without photoelectric conversion, and finally directly reach other receiving nodes, which greatly reduces the delay. Since the data forwarding device in the present invention integrates the Ethernet protocol, it is necessary to fine-tune the Ethernet protocol to make it compatible with the application scenario and not violate the Ethernet point-to-point transmission specifications.

[0054] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are:

[0055] 1. An independent optical fiber channel is used to connect the input optical fiber with the output optical fiber, eliminating the need to convert the data packet into an electrical signal and then modulate it into an optical signal when passing through the forwarding node. At the same time, the timing is accurately controlled by controlling the length of the optical fiber channel, so that after the control module determines that the optical signal needs to be forwarded, the received optical signal can just reach the optical fiber selector through the optical fiber channel.

[0056] 2. An optical fiber splitter is used to copy the optical signal. Once the optical signal needs to be forwarded, it can be forwarded at the first time, and when it does not need to be forwarded, it can be saved at the first time.

[0057] 3. Use independent path connection control modules to determine forwarding logic, and output corresponding control commands to control each branch according to specific circumstances.

[0058] 4. The present invention can effectively reduce the delay generated in the process of data packet forwarding, while retaining the advantage of a single node communicating with multiple nodes at the same time. Under the Ethernet protocol and a rate of 100Gbps, it only takes a few nanoseconds to resolve the destination MAC address and determine whether forwarding is required, thereby controlling the fiber optic router to switch to a direct forwarding path.

[0059] It should be noted that although the above describes the various steps in a specific order, it does not mean that the various steps must be executed in the above specific order. In fact, some of these steps can be executed concurrently or even in a different order as long as the required functions can be achieved.

[0060] The present invention may be a system, a method and / or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer-readable storage medium carrying computer-readable program instructions for causing a processor to implement various aspects of the present invention.

[0061] Computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that holds and stores instructions used by an instruction execution device. Computer readable storage medium can include, for example, but is not limited to, an electrical storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples (non-exhaustive list) of computer readable storage medium include: a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanical encoding device, for example, a punch card or a protruding structure in a groove on which instructions are stored, and any suitable combination thereof.

[0062] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, and the above description is exemplary, not exhaustive, and is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The selection of terms used herein is intended to best explain the principles of the embodiments, practical applications, or technical improvements in the market, or to enable other persons of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A data forwarding device, wherein the input end and the output end of the device are both connected to a transmission optical fiber, characterized in that: The device comprises: An optical fiber splitter, the optical fiber splitter comprising a plurality of branches, receiving an optical signal from an input transmission optical fiber, and replicating the input optical signal into at least three optical signals to output the replicated optical signals through each branch; The optical direct forwarding module is used to receive the optical signal output from a branch of the optical fiber splitter and transmit the optical signal to be forwarded directly in the form of an optical signal through the optical fiber selector to the transmission optical fiber at the output end; The photoelectric conversion module is used to receive the optical signal outputted by another branch of the optical fiber splitter and convert it into an electrical signal and cache it in the form of a data packet; A control module, used for receiving the optical signal outputted by the third branch of the optical fiber splitter, determining whether the optical signal needs to be forwarded according to the destination address of the optical signal, and outputting corresponding control commands for the optical signal that needs to be forwarded or does not need to be forwarded according to the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end; The optical fiber selector has an input end connected to the output ends of the optical direct forwarding module, the optoelectronic conversion module and the control module respectively, and selects the optical direct forwarding module or the optoelectronic conversion module to be connected to the output end transmission optical fiber under the control of the output of the control module; Wherein, the photoelectric conversion module comprises: A receiver, for receiving the optical signal output by the optical fiber splitter and converting the optical signal into an electrical signal and caching it in a receiving buffer in the form of a data packet, and sending the data packet to be stored to the host for storage; A receive buffer, used to cache received data packets; A transmitter, used for converting data packets in a sending buffer into optical signals and sending the optical signals outward; Send buffer, used to cache data packets that need to be sent; The forwarding controller is used to place the data packets to be forwarded in the receiving buffer into the sending buffer according to the control command of the control module when the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the output end transmission optical fiber is busy.

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The optical fiber selector selects the transmission optical fiber at the output end to be connected to the path of the optical direct forwarding module under the corresponding control command when the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end is idle.

3. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The control module is configured to support an optical neural network device with time domain input.

4. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The optical direct forwarding module comprises: An optical signal amplifier is used to restore the optical signal copied by the optical fiber splitter to the transmission power; The optical direct forwarding channel is used to transmit the optical signal passing through the optical signal amplifier to the output end.

5. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that The optical direct forwarding channel is an optical fiber channel constructed by silicon-based etching.

6. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The control module is configured to output control commands in the following manner: When the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end is idle, a control command is output to directly forward the optical signal and send the cached data packet to the host for storage or discarding; When the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the output transmission optical fiber is busy, a control command is output to send the cached data packet to the host for storage and forwarding; When the optical signal does not need to be forwarded, a control command is output to send the buffered data packets to the host for storage or discarding.

7. A data forwarding method based on the data forwarding device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receiving an optical signal inputted by an input transmission optical fiber, and duplicating the optical signal into at least three copies and outputting them to a plurality of branches respectively, wherein the plurality of branches at least directly pass through a forwarding branch and an optoelectronic conversion branch; Under the control of the control module, the optical signal to be forwarded is directly transmitted in the form of an optical signal to the transmission optical fiber at the output end through the straight-through forwarding branch; or In the optoelectronic conversion branch, the optical signal is converted into an electrical signal and buffered in the form of data packets.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The method also includes: outputting the copied optical signal to a control module to determine whether the optical signal needs to be forwarded according to the destination address of the optical signal, and outputting corresponding control commands for controlling the direct forwarding branch and the optoelectronic conversion branch according to the working status of the output end transmission optical fiber for the optical signal that needs to be forwarded or does not need to be forwarded.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The control module outputs control commands in the following manner to control the direct forwarding branch and the optoelectronic conversion branch: When the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the transmission optical fiber at the output end is idle, a control command for directly forwarding the optical signal is output to control the direct forwarding branch to directly transmit the optical signal to be forwarded to the transmission optical fiber at the output end in the form of an optical signal and send the cached data packet to the host for storage or discarding; or When the optical signal needs to be forwarded and the working state of the output end transmission optical fiber is busy, a control command for storing and forwarding the cached data packet is output to control the optoelectronic conversion branch to store the cached data packet and convert it into an optical signal again and transmit it to the output end transmission optical fiber; or When the optical signal does not need to be forwarded, a control command to store or discard the cached data packet is output to control the optoelectronic conversion branch to send the cached data packet to the host for storage or discarding.

10. A network card, characterized in that: The network card is configured with a data forwarding device as described in any one of claims 1-6.

11. A data exchange system, characterized in that: The system comprises one or more hosts, each of which is configured with the network card as claimed in claim 10.

12. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: A computer program is stored thereon, and the computer program can be executed by a processor to implement the steps of any method described in claims 7-9.

Images