Serial Link Lane Mapping for Fault-Tolerant Link Negotiation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing high-speed serial link negotiation processes fail when physical lanes are abnormal, leading to incomplete training and impaired data transmission, with limited flexibility in establishing associations between physical and logical lanes.
Innovation Solution
A link negotiation system and method that allows devices to determine and configure association relationships between logical and physical lanes based on receiver status, enabling flexible lane positioning and configuration policies to ensure valid lane associations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional high-speed serial link negotiation is used, then the training process can be completed under normal conditions, but the entire link fails when a physical lane is abnormal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic lane association by allowing the association relationship between logical lanes and physical lanes to be flexibly configured based on receiver status. Instead of a fixed one-to-one mapping, the system can dynamically adjust which physical lanes are associated with logical lanes, enabling the link to adapt when certain physical lanes become abnormal during training.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of lane association from a fixed configuration to a configurable parameter that can be adjusted based on training results. By making the association relationship a changeable parameter, the system can reconfigure lane mappings when abnormal conditions are detected, improving reliability without sacrificing adaptability.
2Device complexity
If strict one-to-one lane association is enforced, then the training process is simple, but abnormal physical lanes cause complete link failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the lane association process into multiple stages: initial fixed association for simplicity, followed by configurable reassociation when abnormalities are detected. This segmentation allows the system to maintain simple operation under normal conditions while enabling complex recovery mechanisms when needed, thus improving reliability without significantly increasing overall complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring multiple possible association relationships between logical and physical lanes. When training detects abnormal lanes, the system can immediately switch to a pre-planned alternative association rather than requiring complex real-time negotiation, thus improving reliability while keeping the negotiation process relatively simple.
3Reliability
If flexible lane configuration is implemented, then abnormal lanes can be handled, but the negotiation process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling the system to automatically detect abnormal lanes during training and autonomously reconfigure the lane association relationship without requiring manual intervention. This self-service capability maintains ease of operation while significantly improving link establishment success rate under abnormal conditions.
Data Source
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AI summary
A link negotiation system, method, and device are provided. In this application, a second device determines a link configuration policy based on a status of a receiver of an interface of the second device, where the link configuration policy indicates an association relationship between a unidirectional logical lane and a unidirectional physical lane in a high-speed serial link between a first device and the second device, the unidirectional logical lane is a logical lane from the first device to the second device in the high-speed serial link, and the unidirectional physical lane is a physical lane from the first device to the second device in the high-speed serial link; and sends the link configuration policy to the first device. Therefore, the first device configures the high-speed serial link according to the link configuration policy. The second device indicates, based on the status of the receiver of the interface, the first device to establish an association relationship between a physical lane and a logical lane. In this way, the establishment of the association relationship between the physical lane and the logical lane on the first device side can meet the status of the receiver of the second interface, and the establishment of the association relationship between the physical lane and the logical lane on the first device side is more flexible.