Crossbar Switch Input Port Bandwidth Arbitration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Crossbar switches experience performance decline when connecting input ports with different bandwidths, leading to reduced output port bandwidth and inefficient data transfer, particularly in high-performance information processing devices.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an information processing device with a crossbar switch that includes separate input port control units for managing data with different bandwidths, allowing for arbitration and output without changing the bandwidth, thereby reducing the need for buffers and maintaining high performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a common crossbar switch connects input ports with different bandwidths, then the switch can handle diverse bandwidth requirements, but the output port bandwidth is reduced and performance declines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the input port control functions into separate control units for different bandwidth types. Each input port control unit is specifically designed to handle data with its designated bandwidth (lower bandwidth or same bandwidth as crossbar switch), allowing the system to manage diverse bandwidth requirements while maintaining optimal output performance through specialized handling of each segment.
2Productivity
If buffers are added to save all received flits for low bandwidth input ports, then output port vacancies are eliminated, but hardware requirements and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by having low bandwidth input ports accumulate data flits locally before participating in arbitration. Instead of using large buffers to store all possible data, the system prepares data in advance at the input port level, allowing efficient arbitration participation and full output port utilization without requiring extensive buffer hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The input port control units serve as intermediaries between the crossbar switch and external devices. These control units manage the data accumulation and arbitration participation process, acting as mediators that enable efficient data transfer without requiring large buffers in the crossbar switch itself, thus reducing overall device complexity.
3Productivity
If input ports with lower bandwidth accumulate data before arbitration, then full bandwidth utilization is achieved, but data transfer time and latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic arbitration participation where input ports can participate in arbitration at different times based on their data readiness. Low bandwidth input ports dynamically accumulate data and participate when ready, while same bandwidth ports participate immediately. This dynamic approach optimizes bandwidth utilization without imposing uniform time delays on all input ports.
Data Source
AI summary
An information processing device according to the present invention includes: a crossbar switch which arbitrates a plurality of input data, and outputs the arbitrated input data to either one of a plurality of output destinations; an output port control unit which receives output data from the crossbar switch as the output destination of the crossbar switch, and transmits the received output data to an external device; a first input port control unit which receives data with a lower bandwidth than a bandwidth of the crossbar switch, and outputs the received data with the same bandwidth as the bandwidth of the crossbar switch to the crossbar switch; and a second input port control unit which receives data with the same bandwidth as the bandwidth of the crossbar switch, and outputs the received data to the crossbar switch without changing the bandwidth of the received data.