Architecture and method for hybrid circuit-switched and packet-switched router

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9634866-B2
Application number	US-201314129544-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2013
Priority date	Sep 6, 2013
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

Techniques and mechanisms for performing circuit-switched routing and packet-switched routing for network communication. In an embodiment, a router evaluates control information of a packet received by the router, the evaluation to detect whether the packet includes data for a sideband communication. Based on the evaluation, the router performs a selection from among a plurality of modes of the router, the plurality of modes including a first mode to route the packet for packet-switched communication of sideband data in a network. The plurality of modes also includes a second mode to configure a circuit-switched channel according to the packet. In another embodiment, the router determines a direction for routing a packet in a hierarchical network, wherein the determining of the direction is based on a level of the router in a hierarchy of the hierarchical network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A router including:
a first input port comprising:
a first input portion to receive a first packet from another router, the first packet including control information; and
a second input portion to receive first data from the other router;

wherein the router includes:
evaluation logic comprising circuitry configured to perform an evaluation of the control information, including the evaluation logic to evaluate a sideband enable signal of the first packet and to evaluate a data valid signal of the first packet; and
configuration logic comprising circuitry configured to perform, based on the evaluation of both the sideband enable signal and the data valid signal, a selection from among:
a first mode of the router to route the first packet to communicate packet-switched sideband data from the router; and
a second mode of the router to configure a circuit-switched channel according to the first packet, the circuit-switched channel for communication of the first data between a source node and a destination node.

2. The router of claim 1 , wherein the evaluation logic to evaluate the control information includes the evaluation logic to evaluate a Boolean AND of the sideband enable signal and the data valid signal.

3. The router of claim 1 , wherein the router comprises a direction register file and logic to determine a direction of a circuit-switched route based on the direction register file, and wherein the configuration logic to select the first mode, including the configuration logic to prevent a write to the direction register file.

4. The router of claim 3 , wherein the router comprises an output port and priority logic to select from among a plurality of input ports of the router to provide a packet to the output port, and wherein the configuration logic to prevent the write to the direction register file includes the configuration logic to disable the priority logic or to switchedly decouple the priority logic from the direction register file.

5. The router of claim 1 , wherein the router to concurrently perform packet-switched routing of the sideband data and circuit-switched routing of other data.

6. The router of claim 1 , the first input portion further to receive a second packet from the other router, the second packet including second control information;
wherein the evaluation logic to perform an evaluation of the second control information and, wherein the configuration logic to perform, based on the evaluation of the second control information, a selection from among:
the first mode to route the second packet to communicate second packet-switched sideband data from the router; and
the second mode to configure a second circuit-switched channel according to the second packet.

7. The router of claim 1 , wherein, for each packet of a sequence of packets received via the first input portion, the evaluation logic to perform a respective evaluation of the packet, and the evaluation logic to perform a selection between the first mode and the second mode based on the respective evaluation.

8. The router of claim 1 , wherein the router to operate as a node of a hierarchical network.

9. The router of claim 8 , wherein a hierarchy of the hierarchical network includes:
a level N comprising the router; and
a level N−1 lower than level N in the hierarchy, the level N−1 comprising a plurality of nodes each to communicate with the level N via the router, wherein the router is positioned at a middle of an arrangement of the plurality of nodes.

10. The router of claim 8 , wherein a hierarchy of the hierarchical network includes:
a lowest level of the hierarchy including a first node and a second lowest level of the hierarchy including a second node coupled to the first node via a channel, and wherein, for each of a plurality of repeaters of the hierarchical network, a distance of the repeater from a respective adjacent node of the network is equal to a length of the channel.

11. The router of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining a value k corresponding to a level of the router in a hierarchy of the hierarchical network;
based on the value k, evaluating a destination address of the packet to determine a direction of a packet-switched routing of the packet, the destination address including a first address value comprising a total of n bits, the evaluating including performing comparisons based on only (n−k) bits of the first address value.

12. A method at an integrated circuit, the method comprising:
receiving a first packet at a first input port of a first router, the first packet including control information, wherein the first packet is received from a second router via a first input portion of the first input port;
receiving first data from the second router via a second input portion of the first input port;
performing an evaluation of the control information, including evaluating a sideband enable signal of the first packet and evaluating a data valid signal of the first packet; and
based on the evaluation of both the sideband enable signal and the data valid signal, performing a selection from among:
a first mode of the first router to route the first packet to communicate packet-switched sideband data from the first router; and
a second mode of the first router to configure a circuit-switched channel according to the first packet, the circuit-switched channel for communication of the first data between a source node of a network and a destination node of the network.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein evaluating the sideband enable signal includes evaluating a Boolean AND of the sideband enable signal and the data valid signal.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first router comprises a direction register file and logic to determine a direction of a circuit-switched route based on the direction register file, the method further comprising:
based on a selection of the first mode, preventing a write to the direction register file.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first router comprises an output port and priority logic to select from among a plurality of input ports of the first router to provide a packet to the output port, and wherein preventing the write to the direction register file includes disabling the priority logic or switchedly decoupling the priority logic from the direction register file.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first router operates as a node of a hierarchical network, the method further comprising:
determining a value k corresponding to a level of the first router in a hierarchy of the hierarchical network; and
based on the value k, evaluating a destination address of the packet to determine a direction of a packet-switched routing of the packet, the destination address including a first address value comprising a total of n bits, the evaluating including performing comparisons based on only (n−k) bits of the first address value.

17. An integrated circuit die including a plurality of routers coupled with one another in a network, the plurality of routers including a first router and a second router, a first router comprising:
a first input port including:
a first input portion to receive a first packet from the second router, the first packet including control information; and
a second input portion to receive first data from the second router;

wherein the first router includes:
evaluation logic to perform an evaluation of the control information, including the evaluation logic to evaluate a sideband enable signal of the first packet and to evaluate a

Assignees

• Anders Mark A
• Chen Gregory K
• Kaul Himanshu
• Krishnamurthy Ram K
• Bokar Shekhar Y
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Anders Mark A
• Chen Gregory K
• Kaul Himanshu
• Krishnamurthy Ram K
• Bokar Shekhar Y

Classifications

• H04L49/109

  Integrated on microchip, e.g. switch-on-chip · CPC title

• H04L12/6418 Primary

  Hybrid transport · CPC title

• H04L49/252

  Store and forward routing · CPC title

• H04L49/251

  Cut-through or wormhole routing · CPC title

• H04L49/9042

  Separate storage for different parts of the packet, e.g. header and payload · CPC title