Enhanced audio video bridging (AVB) methods and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9565035-B1
Application number	US-201113115865-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 25, 2011
Priority date	May 26, 2010
Publication date	Feb 7, 2017
Grant date	Feb 7, 2017

Abstract

A packet is received via a first port of the network device, and a priority associated with the packet is determined. A first queue indicator from a plurality of queue indicators is determined based on the priority associated with the packet, wherein the plurality of queue indicators correspond to a plurality of priorities for transmitting the packet. A second queue indicator from the plurality of queue indicators is determined based on the priority associated with the packet. A second port that is to transmit the packet is determined, and a configuration of the second port is determined. One of the first queue indicator or the second queue indicator is selected based on the configuration of the second port, and a queue is selected from a plurality of queues associated with the second port based on the selected one of the first queue indicator or the second queue indicator, wherein the plurality of queues correspond to different priorities. Subsequent to enqueuing the packet in the selected queue, the packet is enqueued in the selected queue, and the packet is transmitted via the second port.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A network device, comprising:
a plurality of ports;
a queue controller that supports an Audio Video Bridging (AVB) protocol, the queue controller having a demultiplexer for each port of the plurality of ports, each demultiplexer coupled with a respective plurality of packet descriptor queues for the corresponding port of the plurality of ports; and
an ingress processor, of a plurality of ingress processors corresponding to the plurality of ports, associated with an ingress port of the plurality of ports that receives a packet;
wherein the ingress processor is configured to
determine an egress port, of the plurality of ports, for egress of the packet,
set a first queue priority indicator for a packet descriptor for the packet based on a priority field in a header of the packet,
set a second queue priority indicator for the packet descriptor based on the priority field, and
send the first queue priority indicator and the second queue priority indicator to the queue controller;

the network device further comprising an egress processor, associated with the egress port, that
determines whether the egress port is coupled to an AVB device or a non-AVB device, and
if the egress port is coupled to the non-AVB device, determines whether a queue priority override field for the egress port is set to a first value that indicates that the packet descriptor should be enqueued based on the first queue priority indicator;

wherein a first demultiplexer of the queue controller that corresponds to the egress port is configured to
select a packet descriptor queue, for the packet descriptor from a first plurality of packet descriptor queues of the queue controller for the egress port, that corresponds to i) the first queue priority indicator if the egress port is coupled to the AVB device, ii) the second queue priority indicator if the egress port is not coupled to the AVB device and the queue priority override field is not set to the first value, or iii) the first queue priority indicator if the egress port is not coupled to the AVB device and the queue priority override field is set to the first value, and
enqueue the packet descriptor in the selected packet descriptor queue;

wherein the network device is configured to transmit packets from the first plurality of packet descriptor queues via the egress port.

2. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the queue controller is configured to determine whether the egress port is configured to operate in i) a first mode in which the egress port is communicatively coupled to the AVB device, or ii) a second mode in which the egress port is not communicatively coupled to the AVB device;
wherein the first demultiplexer is configured to select i) the packet descriptor queue that corresponds to the first queue priority indicator when the egress port is configured to operate in the first mode, or ii) the packet descriptor queue that corresponds to the second queue priority indicator when the egress port is configured to operate in the second mode.

3. The network device of claim 2 , wherein the network device is configured to, in the first mode for the egress port, transmit packets from a first packet descriptor queue of the first plurality of packet descriptor queues according to an AVB traffic class.

4. The network device of claim 3 , wherein the network device is configured to, in the second mode for the egress port, transmit packets from the first packet descriptor queue according to a best effort traffic class.

5. The network device of claim 3 , wherein the network device is configured to, in the first mode for the egress port, transmit packets from a second packet descriptor queue of the first plurality of packet descriptor queues according to a best effort traffic class.

6. The network device of claim 3 , wherein the queue controller is configured to determine whether the egress port is configured to operate in a third mode in which i) the egress port is not coupled to the AVB device, and ii) the network device is configured to transmit packets from the first packet descriptor queue according to the AVB traffic class.

7. A method, implemented in a network device that supports an audio video bridge (AVB) protocol, the method comprising:
receiving a packet at an ingress port of a plurality of ports of the network device;
determining an egress port of the plurality of ports for egress of the packet;
setting, by an ingress processor of a plurality of ingress processors corresponding to the plurality of ports, a first queue priority indicator for a packet descriptor for the packet based on a priority field in a header of the packet;
setting, by the ingress processor, a second queue priority indicator for the packet descriptor based on the priority field;
determining, by an egress processor of a plurality of egress processors corresponding to the plurality of ports, whether the egress port is coupled to an AVB device or a non-AVB device;
determining, by the egress processor, whether a queue priority override field for the egress port is set to a first value that indicates that the packet descriptor should be enqueued based on the first queue priority indicator;
selecting a packet descriptor queue, for the packet descriptor from a first plurality of packet descriptor queues of the queue controller for the egress port, that corresponds to i) the first queue priority indicator if the egress port is coupled to the AVB device, ii) the second queue priority indicator if the egress port is not coupled to the AVB device and the queue priority override field is not set to the first value, or iii) the first queue priority indicator if the egress port is not coupled to the AVB device and the queue priority override field is set to the first value;
enqueueing the packet descriptor in the selected packet descriptor queue;
transmitting packets from the first plurality of packet descriptor queues via the egress port.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining whether the egress port is configured to operate in i) a first mode in which the egress port is communicatively coupled to the AVB device, or ii) a second mode in which the egress port is not communicatively coupled to the AVB device;
wherein selecting the packet descriptor queue comprises selecting i) the packet descriptor queue that corresponds to the first queue priority indicator when the egress port is configured to operate in the first mode, or ii) the packet descriptor queue that corresponds to the second queue priority indicator when the egress port is configured to operate in the second mode.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein in the first mode for the egress port, transmitting the packets comprises transmitting packets from a first packet descriptor queue of the first plurality of packet descriptor queues according to an AVB traffic class.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein in the second mode for the egress port, transmitting the packets comprises transmitting packets from the first packet descriptor queue according to a best effort traffic class.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein in the first mode for the egress port, transmitting the packets comprises transmitting packets from a second packet descriptor queue of the first plurality of packet descriptor queues according to a best effort traffic class.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining whether the egress port is configured to operate in a third mode in which i) the egress port is not coupled to the AVB device, and ii) the network device is configured to transmit packets from the first packet descriptor queue according to the AVB traffic class;
wherein in the

Assignees

• Pannell Donald
• Marvell Int Ltd

Inventors

• Pannell Donald

Classifications

• H04L12/462

  LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone · CPC title

• H04L12/28

  characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks] (wireless communication networks H04W {; arrangements for dividing the transmission path H04W40/00}) · CPC title

• H04L47/6215

  Individual queue per QOS, rate or priority · CPC title

• H04L45/7453

  using hashing · CPC title

• H04L47/245

  using preemption · CPC title