Apparatus and method of crosschecking data copies using one or more voter elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10951544-B2
Application number	US-201916262371-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2019
Priority date	Jan 30, 2019
Publication date	Mar 16, 2021
Grant date	Mar 16, 2021

Abstract

A network switch includes a receive port configured to receive data and two or more parallel first paths each configured to receive a first copy of the data, perform a check on the first copy, and generate a protection for the first copy. One or more first voter elements are configured to receive second copies of the data and to crosscheck the second copies. A processing section is configured to process one or more of the second copies. Two or more parallel second paths are each configured to receive a third copy of the data and perform multiple checks on the third copy including a check based on the protection. One or more second voter elements are configured to receive fourth copies of the data and to crosscheck the fourth copies. A send port is configured to send one or more of the fourth copies to a next network element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A network switch device comprising:
a receive port configured to receive data;
two or more parallel first paths coupled to the receive port, each of the first paths configured to receive a first copy of the data from the receive port, perform a check on the first copy of the data, and generate a protection for the first copy of the data;
one or more first voter elements configured to:
receive second copies of the data from the first paths and crosscheck the second copies of the data;
validate one or more of the second copies of the data by comparing results of the check of each of the first paths, comparing the second copies of the data of each of the first paths, comparing timestamps of each of the first paths, comparing the protections generated by each of the first paths, or any combination thereof; and
send at least one of the second copies that are determined to match each other and to be valid to a processing section as valid data,

the processing section configured to process the at least one of the second copies of the data responsive to the one or more first voter elements;
two or more parallel second paths coupled to the processing section, each of the second paths configured to receive a third copy of the data from the processing section and perform multiple checks on the third copy of the data, the multiple checks comprising a check based on the protection;
one or more second voter elements configured to receive fourth copies of the data from the second paths and to crosscheck the fourth copies of the data; and
a send port configured to send one or more of the fourth copies of the data to a next network element responsive to the one or more second voter elements.

2. The network switch device of claim 1 , wherein the receive port is configured to receive the data from a sending network element, and wherein the send port is configured to forward the data to the next network element.

3. The network switch device of claim 1 , wherein the next network element comprises a switch or an end system.

4. The network switch device of claim 1 , wherein the processing section comprises a single path processing section.

5. The network switch device of claim 4 , wherein the processing section is further configured to route the data to the second paths and to store the data.

6. The network switch device of claim 1 , wherein each of the first paths comprises:
a timestamp element configured to apply a timestamp to the first copy of the data;
a frame filter configured to apply a size constraint to the first copy of the data;
a frame policing element configured to apply a bandwidth constraint to the first copy of the data; and
an error detection generation element configured to generate the protection, wherein the protection comprises cyclic redundancy check (CRC) data based on the first copy of the data and the timestamp to verify integrity after processing at the processing section.

7. The network switch device of claim 1 , wherein the processing section comprises a switch fabric.

8. The network switch device of claim 1 , wherein the processing section is further configured to embed routing information with the valid data and to store the valid data with the embedded routing information.

9. The network switch device of claim 1 , wherein each of the second paths comprises:
an error detection check element configured to perform a cyclic redundancy check using the protection to verify data integrity and timestamp integrity of the third copy of the data after processing and storage at the processing section;
a route check element configured to check routing information associated with the third copy of the data;
an output queue check element configured to check a position of the third copy of the data in an output queue; and
a delay check element configured to check a time delay based on a timestamp associated with the third copy of the data.

10. The network switch device of claim 9 , wherein the one or more second voter elements are further configured to validate one or more of the fourth copies of the data at least partially based on the cyclic redundancy check, the position in the output queue, the time delay of each of the second paths, and whether at least a majority of the fourth copies of the data match each other.

11. A method of operating a network switch that comprises a receive port, a processing section, and a send port, the method comprising:
receiving data via the receive port of the network switch;
providing first copies of the data to multiple parallel first paths of the network switch between the receive port and the processing section;
at each of the first paths, performing a check on a first copy of the data and generating a protection for the first copy of the data;
crosschecking, at the network switch, second copies of the data received from the first paths;
in response to the crosschecking of the second copies of the data indicating that at least some of the second copies match each other and are valid, processing, at the processing section, valid data from at least one of the second copies of the data that match each other and are valid;
providing third copies of the data to multiple parallel second paths of the network switch between the processing section and the send port;
at each second path of the multiple parallel second paths, performing multiple checks on a third copy of the data, the multiple checks comprising a check based on the protection;
crosschecking, at the network switch, fourth copies of the data received from the second paths; and
in response to crosschecking the fourth copies of the data, selectively sending, from the network switch, one or more of the fourth copies of the data via the send port, to a next network element.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein processing the valid data comprises generating and embedding routing information with the valid data.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein processing the valid data is performed at a single processing section of the network switch.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein generating the protection comprises generating cyclic redundancy check (CRC) data.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the data is received at the receive port from a sending network element.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by a processor to initiate, perform, or control operations, the operations comprising, at a network switch that comprises a receive port, a processing section, and a send port:
receiving data via the receive port of the network switch;
providing first copies of the data to multiple parallel first paths of the network switch between the receive port and the processing section;
at each of the first paths, performing a check on a first copy of the data and generating a protection for the first copy of the data;
crosschecking, at the network switch, second copies of the data received from the first paths;
in response to the crosschecking of the second copies of the data indicating that at least some of the second copies match each other and are valid, processing, at the processing section, valid data from at least one of the second copies of the data that match each other and are valid;
providing third copies of the data to multiple parallel second paths of the network switch between the processing section and the send port;
at each second path of the multiple parallel second paths, performing multiple checks on a third copy of the data, the multiple checks comprising a check based on the protection;
crosschecking, at the

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Le Tu Q
• Ramey Sean
• Yin Christina Joy
• Ching Lawrence Yiuming

Classifications

• G07C13/00

  Voting apparatus · CPC title

• H04L1/004

  by using forward error control (H04L1/0618 takes precedence; coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or correction H03M13/00) · CPC title

• H04L63/123

  received data contents, e.g. message integrity · CPC title

• H04L63/0815 Primary

  providing single-sign-on or federations · CPC title

• H04L63/0428

  wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload · CPC title