Compute express Link™ (CXL) over ethernet (COE)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12360937-B2
Application number	US-202318330360-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2023
Priority date	Jul 18, 2021
Publication date	Jul 15, 2025
Grant date	Jul 15, 2025

Abstract

A Compute Express Link™ (CXL) over Ethernet (COE) station is provided to bridge a CXL fabric and an Ethernet network to allow for efficient native memory load/store access to remotely connected resources. The COE station supports CXL and Ethernet traffic through its CXL interface, scheduler/packers, decoders, VOQs and VIQs by adding COE tags to Ethernet frames. In CXL controller mode, the CXL controller drives the VOQs. In Ethernet mode, the COE module drives the VOQs, and interacts with the MAC sublayer and the PMA sublayer, which are responsible for encoding and decoding data signals for transmission through a serializer/deserializer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An integrated circuit device comprising:
a Compute Express Link (CXL) interface connected to a processor, memory, and a plurality of accelerators over CXL, the CXL interface comprising a plurality of virtual input queues (VIQs) and virtual output queues (VOQs);
an Ethernet interface supporting Ethernet traffic through a serializer/deserializer (SERDES);
a CXL controller configured to handle error correction and manage a flow of data between the processor, memory, and a plurality of devices;
a CXL over Ethernet (COE) module connected to the CXL interface, wherein the COE module operates to bridge Ethernet traffic with CXL signals by adding a COE tag to Ethernet frames, wherein in a first mode, the VIQs and VOQs are driven by the CXL controller and in a second mode, the VIQs and VOQs are driven by the COE module.

2. The integrated circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the first mode is a CXL mode.

3. The integrated circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the second mode is an Ethernet mode.

4. The integrated circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit device is a CXL over Ethernet (COE) station operating as a bridge between CXL and Ethernet.

5. The integrated circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit device is implemented on a system on a chip (SOC).

6. The integrated circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of accelerators include a plurality of hardware accelerators.

7. The integrated circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit device further includes a cache coherent switch on chip.

8. The integrated circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit device is communicatively coupled to the plurality of hardware accelerators, wherein the cache coherent switch on chip is configured to provide cache coherency between the plurality of hardware accelerators.

9. The integrated circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the Ethernet interface comprises a plurality of scheduler/packers and decoders.

10. The integrated circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the COE module is connected to a Media Access Control (MAC) sublayer operable to assign a unique address to each network interface card (NIC) connected to an Ethernet network.

11. The integrated circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the CXL controller is connected to a Physical Coding Sublayer (PCS), wherein the PCS is configured to encode and decode data signals for transmission over a physical media.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the Ethernet interface comprises a plurality of scheduler/packers and decoders.

13. A system comprising:
memory;
a processor;
a Compute Express Link (CXL) interface connected to the processor, memory, and a plurality of accelerators over CXL, the CXL interface comprising a plurality of virtual input queues (VIQs) and virtual output queues (VOQs);
an Ethernet interface supporting Ethernet traffic through a serializer/deserializer (SERDES);
a CXL controller configured to handle error correction and manage a flow of data between the processor, memory, and a plurality of devices;
a CXL over Ethernet (COE) module connected to the CXL interface, wherein the COE module operates to bridge Ethernet traffic with CXL signals by adding a COE tag to Ethernet frames, wherein in a first mode, the VIQs and VOQs are driven by the CXL controller and in a second mode, the VIQs and VOQs are driven by the COE module.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the first mode is a CXL mode.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the second mode is an Ethernet mode.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the system is a CXL over Ethernet (COE) station operating as a bridge between CXL and Ethernet.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the system is implemented on a system on a chip (SOC).

18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of accelerators include a plurality of hardware accelerators.

19. The system of claim 13 , wherein the system further includes a cache coherent switch on chip.

20. The system of claim 13 , wherein the system is communicatively coupled to the plurality of hardware accelerators, wherein the cache coherent switch on chip is configured to provide cache coherency between the plurality of hardware accelerators.

Assignees

• Avago Tech Int Sales Pte Lid

Inventors

• Shah Shreyas
• Earl Jeffrey S
• Thakar Anant
• Borikar Sagar

Classifications

• G06F2213/0026

  PCI express · CPC title

• G06F13/4221 Primary

  being an input/output bus, e.g. ISA bus, EISA bus, PCI bus, SCSI bus · CPC title