Switch module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9276801-B2
Application number	US-201313925537-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2013
Priority date	Nov 3, 2010
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

A switching module can route packets between a network fabric and a local network, both of which form a closed network such as a vehicular network. The switching module provides local network management functions, and handles packet transfers between the local network and the network fabric. The switching module uses network information, which can include information about packet content type and network topology, to determine a packet's priority, and an appropriate switching protocol to use for processing and routing packets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A switching module comprising:
an intra-vehicular network fabric interface for interface to an intra-vehicular network fabric contained within a vehicle;
a switching circuit communicatively coupled to a plurality of local intra-vehicular network ports;
memory configured to store intra-vehicular network information, the intra-vehicular network information including packet content type information and intra-vehicular network topology information;
a first bypass module configured to receive and transmit packets via the intra-vehicular network fabric interface;
a second bypass module configured to receive and transmit packets via one of the plurality of intra-vehicular network ports;
a processing module coupled to the memory, the intra-vehicular network fabric interface and the switching circuit, the processing module to:
determine a priority of a received packet based, at least in part, on the packet content type information;
determine a selected switching protocol based, at least in part, on the intra-vehicular network topology information; and
process the received packet based on the priority of the received packet and the selected switching protocol, including:
identifying top-priority packets based on packet content; and
controlling delivery of top-priority packets between the first bypass module and the second bypass module.

2. The switching module of claim 1 , further comprising:
a packet buffer coupled to the processing module and at least one of a local intra-vehicular network port and the intra-vehicular network fabric interface; and
the processing module configured to manage the packet buffer based, at least in part, on the intra-vehicular network information.

3. The switching module of claim 2 , further comprising:
a plurality of packet queues; and
the processing module configured to place packets in the plurality of packet queues based, at least in part, on a priority of the packets.

4. The switching module of claim 3 , further comprising the processing module configured to:
timestamp packets prior to placing the packets in the plurality of packet queues;
determine, based on the timestamp, if a selected packet has expired;
in response to determining that the selected packet is unexpired, retrieve the selected packet from the plurality of packet queues; and
in response to determining that the selected packet is expired, discard the selected packet.

5. The switching module of claim 1 , wherein the processing module is further configured to interrupt transmission of another packet being currently transmitted.

6. The switching module of claim 1 , wherein the processing module is further configured to route non top-priority packets based on the intra-vehicular network information.

7. The switching module of claim 1 , the processing module further configured to provide intra-vehicular network management services to a local intra-vehicular network, the local intra-vehicular network comprising a plurality of modules coupled to the plurality of local intra-vehicular network ports.

8. The switching module of claim 1 , wherein the selected switching protocol is selected from the group consisting of: a layer 2 switching protocol, a layer 3 switching protocol, a layer 4 switching protocol, and a multi-layer switching protocol.

9. The switching module of claim 1 , wherein the intra-vehicular network fabric comprises at least one Ethernet network.

10. A switching module to be incorporated into a closed intra-vehicular network fabric, the switching module comprising:
a plurality of intra-vehicular network fabric interfaces configured to be coupled to other elements of the closed intra-vehicular network fabric;
selection circuitry configured to select among the plurality of intra-vehicular network fabric interfaces;
a switching circuit coupled to a plurality of local intra-vehicular network ports;
a first bypass module configured to receive and transmit packets via at least some of the plurality of intra-vehicular network fabric interfaces;
a second bypass module configured to receive and transmit packets via at least one of the plurality of local intra-vehicular network ports;
memory configured to store intra-vehicular network information, the intra-vehicular network information including packet content type information and intra-vehicular network topology information;
a processing module coupled to the memory, selection circuitry, the plurality of intra-vehicular network fabric interfaces and the switching circuit, the processing module configured to:
determine a priority of a received packet based, at least in part, on the packet content type information;
determine a selected switching protocol based, at least in part, on the intra-vehicular network topology information; and
process the received packet based on the priority of the received packet and the selected switching protocol, including:
identifying top-priority packets based on packet content; and

controlling delivery of top-priority packets between the first bypass module and the second bypass module.

11. The switching module of claim 10 , further comprising the plurality of intra-vehicular network fabric interfaces having a wired intra-vehicular network fabric interface and a wireless intra-vehicular network fabric interface.

12. The switching module of claim 11 , the selection circuitry further configured to:
select between multiple different modes of operation under control of the processing module, the multiple different modes of operation selected from the group consisting of: a mode in which the switching module receives packets exclusively from the wireless intra-vehicular network fabric interface; a mode in which the switching module receives packets exclusively from the wired intra-vehicular network fabric interface; a mode in which the switching module receives redundant packets from both the wired and wireless intra-vehicular network fabric interfaces; and a mode in which the switching module receives non-redundant packets from both the wired and wireless intra-vehicular network fabric interfaces.

13. The switching module of claim 10 , further comprising:
a packet buffer coupled to the processing module and the plurality of local intra-vehicular network ports; and
the processing module further configured to manage the packet buffer based, at least in part, on the intra-vehicular network information.

14. The switching module of claim 10 , further comprising the processing module configured to provide intra-vehicular network management services to a local intra-vehicular network comprising a plurality of modules coupled to the plurality of local intra-vehicular network ports.

15. A method comprising:
receiving a packet from a intra-vehicular network;
determining a priority of the packet based, at least in part, on packet content type information;
determining a selected switching protocol based, at least in part, on intra-vehicular network topology information; and
processing the packet based on the priority of the packet and the selected switching protocol, including:
determining if the priority of the packet satisfies a top-priority threshold;
in response to determining that the priority of the packet satisfies a top-priority threshold:
bypassing non-priority processing of the packet;
transmitting the packet substantially immediately to one of the intra-vehicular network fabric and a local intra-vehicular network node; and

in response to determining that the priority of the packet fails to satisfy a top-priority threshold:
time stamping the packet to establish a packe

Assignees

• Broadcom Corp

Inventors

• Yousefi Nariman
• Kim Yongbum
• Walley John
• Chen Sherman Xuemin
• Diab Wael W
• Ilyadis Nicholas

Classifications

• H04W4/44

  for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H] · CPC title

• H04W4/46

  for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V] · CPC title

• G07C5/085

  using electronic data carriers · CPC title

• G07C5/008

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• H04W72/541

  using the level of interference · CPC title