4198638 Canada Inc.

Yves Boudreault

Richard S Norman

John Haughey

Marcelo De Maria

Carl Langlois

Sébastien Côté

A switch fabric implemented on a chip includes an array of cells and an I/O interface in communication with the array of cells for permitting exchange of data packets between said array of cells and components external to said array of cells. Each cell communicates with at least one other cell of the array, thereby permitting an exchange of data packets to take place between the cells of the array. Each cell includes a memory for receiving a data packet from another cell of the array as well as a control entity to control release of a data packet toward a selected destination cell of the array at least in part on a basis of a degree of occupancy of the memory in the destination cell. In this way, scheduling is distributed amongst the cells of the switch fabric.

Cell-based switch fabric with distributed scheduling

A switch fabric implemented on a chip includes an array of cells and an I/O interface in communication with the array of cells for permitting exchange of data packets between the array of cells and components external to the array of cells. Each cell includes a transmitter in communication with the I/O interface and in communication with every other cell of the array, the transmitter being operative to process a data packet received from the I/O interface to determine a destination of the data packet and forward the data packet to at least one cell of the array selected on a basis of the determined destination. Each cell further includes a plurality of receivers associated with respective cells from the array, each receiver being in communication with a respective cell allowing the respective cell to forward data packets to the receiver, where the receivers are in communication with the I/O interface for releasing data packets to the I/O interface. In this way, the transmitter in a given cell functionally extends into those cells where dedicated receivers are located, reducing transmitter memory requirements and allowing the switch fabric to be implemented on a single chip.

Cell-based switch fabric architecture implemented on a single chip

A switch fabric implemented on a chip includes an array of cells and an I/O interface in communication with the array of cells for permitting exchange of data packets between the array of cells and components external to the array of cells. Each cell communicates with at least one other cell of the array, permitting an exchange of data packets between the cells of the array and an exchange of control information between the cells of the array. Each cell is operative to control transmission of data packets to other cells of the array at least in part on a basis of the control information. The control information is thus used to regulate the flow of data packets between cells.

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Ottawa, Canada

Yves Boudreault