144 results about "Distributed switching" patented technology

A switch encapsulates incoming information using a header, and removes the header upon egress. The header is used by both distributed ingress nodes and within a distributed core to facilitate switching. The ingress and egress elements preferably support Ethernet or other protocol providing connectionless media with a stateful connection. Preferred switches include management protocols for discovering which elements are connected, for constructing appropriate connection tables, for designating a master element, and for resolving failures and off-line conditions among the switches. Secure data protocol (SDP), port to port (PTP) protocol, and active/active protection service (AAPS) are all preferably implemented. Systems and methods contemplated herein can advantageously use Strict Ring Topology (SRT), and conf configure the topology automatically. Components of a distributed switching fabric can be geographically separated by at least one kilometer, and in some cases by over 150 kilometers.

A system and method for recording and/or otherwise monitoring IP multimedia sessions. The present invention features a recording and/or monitoring device, referred to hereinafter as “a recording device” for the purposes of clarity only and without any intention of being limiting. The recording device is a participant in the IP multimedia session, although preferably the recording device only receives data for recording and/or otherwise monitoring the session. Therefore, the IP multimedia session is preferably a multi-user session, such as a “conference call” for example, even if data is being provided for recording from only one of the participants in the session.

In a system having independently-clocked job-performing circuits (e.g., payload processors) and independently-clocked job-ordering circuits (e.g., request and payload suppliers), coordinating mechanisms are provided for coordinating exchanges between the independently-clocked circuits. The coordinating mechanisms include those that use transmitted time-stamps for scheduling contention-free performances within the job-performing circuits of requested jobs. The coordinating mechanisms additionally or alternatively include static and dynamic rate constraining means that are configured to prevent a faster-clocked one of the independently-clocked circuits from overwhelming a more slowly-clocked other of the independently-clocked circuits. In one implementation, independently-clocked telecommunication-shelves house a distributed set of line cards and switch cards. An asynchronous interconnect is provided between the independently-clocked shelves for carrying job requests and payload data between the distributed line cards and the distributed switch cards. The multi-shelf system is scalable and robust because additional or replacement line and switch cards may be inserted into one or another of the independently-clocked shelves as desired and because a unified clock-tree is not needed for synchronizing activities within the interconnected, but independently clocked shelves.

A distributed memory switch system for transmitting packets from source ports to destination ports, comprising: a plurality of ports including a source port and a destination port wherein a packet is transmitted from the source port to the destination port; a memory pool; and an interconnection stage coupled between the plurality of ports and the memory pool such that the interconnection stage permits a packet to be transmitted from the source port to the destination port via the memory pool.

The invention discloses a switching network communication system, a switching network communication method and a main control panel. The system includes a main control panel, a distributed line card, a centralized line card and a switching unit; wherein the switching unit includes a distributed switching unit and a centralized switching unit; the main control panel is communicated with the distributed line card through the distributed switching unit and also communicated with the centralized line card through the centralized switching unit; the distributed line card and the centralized line card realizes data forwarding through the main control panel and the switching unit. The technical proposal disclosed by the invention can help reduce the cost of the switching network communication system.

Apparatuses and methods to manage a global forwarding table in a distributed switch are provided. A particular method may include managing a global forwarding table in a distributed switch. The distributed switch may include a plurality of switch forwarding units. The method may start a timer for an entry in the global forwarding table, and the entry may include a multicast destination address and corresponding multicast membership information. The method may also, in response to expiration of the timer of the entry, check at least one hit status to determine whether at least one switch forwarding unit of the plurality of switch forwarding units has forwarded multicast data to the corresponding multicast membership information of the multicast destination address of the entry. The method may further determine whether the entry is a cast-out candidate based on the hit status.

A method and system for providing a remote switching engine to monitor and control network traffic and utilizing appended word source address port mapping is provided. The system comprises a number of ports, at least one local switching device, at least one local forwarding database, and a remote switching processing device. The ports are provided for sending and receiving frames. The local switching device performs high-speed switching. The local forwarding database corresponds and couples to the local switching device, the database allowing the local switching device to look up a known address that has been previously obtained and forward the frames based on the known address. The remote switching processing device receives and processes frames from the local switching device(s). The local switching device(s) learns associations between Media Access Control (MAC) addresses and ports by having the local switching device forward unknown address frames to the remote switching processing device. The remote switching processing device update the local forwarding database corresponding to the local switching device based on the forwarded frames, utilizing the appended word source address mapping. The appended word of a frame transmitted from one switching device to another switching device has encoded within an ingress engine number and port number.

This invention describes a method for transmitting and forwarding packets over a switching network using time information. The network switches maintain a common time reference, which is obtained either from an external source (such as GPS—Global Positioning System) or is generated and distributed internally. The time intervals are arranged in simple periodicity and complex periodicity (like seconds and minutes of a clock). A data packet that arrives to an input port is switched to an output port based on its order or time position in the time interval in which it arrives at the switch. The time interval duration can be longer than the time duration required for transmitting a data packet, in which case the exact position of a data packet in its forwarding time interval is predetermined.

This invention provides congestion-free data packet switching for data packets for which capacity in their corresponding forwarding links and time intervals is reserved in advance. Furthermore, such data packets reach their destination, which can be one or more (i.e., multicast) in predefined time intervals, which guarantees that the delay jitter is smaller than or equal to one time interval.

In a distributed switching environment, a plurality of switches are clustered together to form a stack, and it is generally desirable for forwarding tables, such as MAC tables, to be synchronized so that their mappings are consistent. When a switch receives a packet having a source address (e.g., MAC address) that is unknown, the switch is configured to disseminate the source address to the other switches of the stack. Rather than using software protocols to disseminate the source address, the switch instead transmits a multicast packet that (1) includes the unknown source address and (2) spoofs the other switches into believing that the packet was received on the same port from which the unknown source address was received on ingress to the stack. Thus, the other switches learn the unknown source address in hardware without having to rely on software for updating their forwarding tables.

Processing techniques in a network switch help reduce latency in the delivery of data packets to a recipient. The processing techniques include internal cut-through. The internal cut-through may bypass input port buffers by directly forwarding packet data that has been received to an output port. At the output port, the packet data is buffered for processing and communication out of the switch.

Techniques for improving the performance of flow control mechanisms such as Pause are provided. The techniques provide for maintaining a fair distribution of available bandwidth while also allowing for fewer packet drops, and maximizing link utilization, in a distributed system. For example, in one embodiment, techniques are provided for achieving a fair share allocation of an egress port's bandwidth across a plurality of ingress ports contending for the same egress port.

A system and method are provided for routing information in a multi-node network. In one embodiment of a multi-node network comprising a plurality of distributed switching nodes, a method is implemented in at least one of the plurality of nodes for routing information entering the node over a first channel to one of a plurality of other channels. The method comprises obtaining priority information for the information, ascertaining a remaining communication length for the information for each of the plurality of other channels, determining a current demand for each of the plurality of other channels; and routing the information entering at the first channel to one of the other channels based upon an evaluation that considers a combination of the obtained priority information, the ascertained communication length for each of the plurality of other channels, and the current demand for each of the plurality of other channels.

Multiple integrated circuits (ICs) are connected via growth inputs, into a network configuration, e.g. a ring network or a mesh network, to form a communications switch. Each IC includes additional growth inputs beyond those needed to form the switch. These growth inputs can be used to add additional functionality, e.g. protection or transmultiplexing, to the switch.