Shared Packet Processor for Network Control Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
In network devices, the conventional configuration of each control path being connected to its own packet processor leads to increased design and manufacturing costs, as well as peak power requirements, due to the need for multiple packet processors to handle multiple data unit sources concurrently.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a shared packet processor across multiple control paths, where data unit sources send control portions to a common packet processor, and an adaptive distributor manages the buffering and prioritization of control portions to optimize processing efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If each control path is connected to its own packet processor, then processing reliability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple control paths are merged to share a single packet processor resource. The patent consolidates what were previously separate packet processors for each control path into a shared resource that multiple control paths can access, thereby reducing device complexity and manufacturing cost while maintaining processing capability through time-multiplexed access.
Solution Approach 2:
The packet processor is designed to serve multiple control paths universally. A single packet processor instance can handle control portions from different control paths by receiving control information from multiple sources and processing them sequentially or through arbitration, making the processor multi-functional rather than dedicated to a single control path.
2Speed
If each control path is connected to its own packet processor, then processing speed is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple packet processors are merged into a single shared packet processor that serves multiple control paths. This consolidation reduces the total number of active processing units, thereby lowering peak power requirements while maintaining processing throughput through efficient resource sharing and time-multiplexed access across the control paths.
3Device complexity
If a shared packet processor is used across multiple control paths, then device complexity is reduced, but processing efficiency may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
An adaptive distributor is introduced as an intermediary component between multiple control paths and the shared packet processor. This mediator manages the flow of control portions from different control paths to the shared processor, implementing buffering, prioritization, and arbitration mechanisms that maintain processing efficiency while enabling resource sharing and reducing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Control portions from multiple control paths are buffered in advance in the adaptive distributor before being forwarded to the packet processor. This preliminary buffering allows the system to smooth out variations in arrival rates and ensures that the packet processor receives a steady stream of control information, maintaining processing efficiency even with shared resource access.
Data Source
AI summary
The efficiency of the network device is improved by sharing a packet processor across two or more control paths. Data unit sources send the first portion of each data unit that passes through the sources to the shared packet processor via their respective control paths. The packet processor generates control information for each of the data units, and sends the control information to a merger component that corresponds to the source of the data unit. The merger component merges the control information with a payload portion of the data unit that the data unit source sent along a separate data path. To better facilitate the sharing of the packet processor, the control paths may converge at an adaptive distributor, which uses a policy-based mechanism to select which data unit portion to forward to the packet processor in a given time slot. The policy may change based on various demand measures.