Physical Layer Port Channelization for Multi-Rate Ethernet
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current port channelization technologies, such as FlexE, are limited in their ability to universally implement port channelization across different Ethernet port rates due to varying coding schemes used in low-speed and high-speed Ethernet ports, leading to inefficiencies and incompatibilities, particularly in industrial Ethernet scenarios where low-speed ports are prevalent.
Innovation Solution
A physical layer port channelization (PLPC) sublayer is introduced to interleave data signals from multiple media access control clients, generating a media-independent interface (xMII) signal that can be encoded by the physical coding sublayer, decoupling interleaving from encoding and allowing compatibility with multiple existing and future coding schemes, thus enabling universal port channelization across various Ethernet port rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If FlexE port channelization is implemented based on high-speed Ethernet ports with 64B/66B coding, then port channelization functionality is achieved, but compatibility with low-speed Ethernet ports using different coding schemes (4B/5B, 8B/10B) is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the port channelization function into two independent parts: the interleaving function (handled by the new PLPC sublayer) and the encoding function (handled by existing PCS). This allows different coding schemes to be applied to different services independently, enabling low-speed ports with 4B/5B or 8B/10B coding to participate in port channelization without requiring uniform 64B/66B coding across all services.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new physical layer port channelization (PLPC) sublayer as an intermediary between the MAC layer and the PCS. This PLPC sublayer performs the interleaving operation on data from multiple services before passing them to the PCS for encoding, thereby decoupling the interleaving function from the encoding function and enabling universal port channelization across different coding schemes.
2Reliability
If frame preemption is used to ensure high-priority service transmission, then service certainty is improved, but bandwidth waste increases due to excessive preemption operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary interleaving of data from multiple services at the PLPC sublayer before transmission. By pre-organizing data into interleaved sequences, the system reduces the need for dynamic frame preemption operations during transmission, as the interleaved structure inherently provides better service isolation and transmission certainty, thereby reducing bandwidth waste from excessive preemption.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of data processing is applied to a communications device including a first sublayer. A physical sublayer is added above a physical coding sublayer (PCS) of a physical layer, and the physical sublayer is connected to media independent interfaces (xMIIs) with different Ethernet rates. Data signals from different media access control clients (MAC) are interleaved using the physical sublayer. Then, a tx_cmd command is used to instruct the PCS to correspondingly encode an xMII signal. Finally, an encoded xMII signal is sent through a port. According to this method, an encoding function of the PCS may continue to be used, to decouple interleaving from encoding and perform the interleaving through an xMII interface. In this case, port channelization can be implemented for ports with multiple rates, and transmission of a high-priority service is ensured when there is an excessively large quantity of service flows in a transmission process.