Sideband communications over 40GBASE-R and 100GBASE-R systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9769079-B1
Application number	US-201414533246-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Nov 5, 2014
Priority date	Nov 13, 2013
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

A first network device including a physical layer device. The physical layer device is configured to receive data for transmission to a second network device and receive sideband data for transmission to the second network device. The sideband data corresponds to control information, management information, and/or status information. The physical layer device is further configured to provide, via a first wired connection, the data for transmission to the second network device, generate alignment markers, insert the sideband data into the alignment markers, and selectively provide, via the same first wired connection, the alignment markers including the sideband data inserted by the physical layer device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A first network device, comprising:
a physical layer device including one or more circuits configured to
receive data for transmission to a second network device,
receive sideband data for transmission to the second network device, wherein
the sideband data corresponds to at least one of control information, management information, and status information, and
provide, via a first wired connection, the data for transmission to the second network device; and
a physical coding sublayer including one or more circuits configured to
generate alignment markers, and
insert the sideband data into the alignment markers,
wherein the physical layer device is further configured to selectively provide, via the same first wired connection, the alignment markers including the sideband data inserted by the physical layer device,
wherein the physical coding sublayer is configured to distribute the alignment markers into a plurality of virtual lanes, and
wherein, to insert the sideband data into the alignment markers, the physical coding sublayer is configured to insert the sideband data into the alignment markers corresponding only to selected ones of the plurality of virtual lanes and not to other ones of the plurality of virtual lanes.

2. The first network device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a media access control device configured to provide (i) the data for transmission to the second network device and (ii) the sideband data.

3. The first network device of claim 1 , wherein the first wired connection corresponds to a 100GBASE-R or 40GBASE-R connection.

4. The first network device of claim 1 , wherein, to receive the data and the sideband data, the physical layer device is configured to receive the data and the sideband data from a media access control device.

5. The first network device of claim 4 , wherein the physical layer device further comprises:
a forward error correction module configured to (i) arrange the alignment markers, received from the physical coding sublayer via the plurality of virtual lanes, into a block of alignment markers and (ii) distribute, for transmission on the first wired connection, the block of alignment markers into a number of lanes that is less than the plurality of virtual lanes.

6. The first network device of claim 5 , wherein, to insert the sideband data into the alignment markers corresponding only to the selected ones of the plurality of virtual lanes and not to the other ones of the plurality of virtual lanes, the physical coding sublayer is configured to not insert the sideband data into the alignment markers corresponding to (i) first virtual lanes of the plurality of virtual lanes and (ii) last virtual lanes of the plurality of virtual lanes.

7. The first network device of claim 6 , wherein the forward error correction module is configured to modify the alignment markers corresponding to (i) the first virtual lanes of the plurality of virtual lanes and (ii) the last virtual lanes of the plurality of virtual lanes.

8. A network, comprising:
the first network device of claim 1 ; and
the second network device, wherein the second network device is configured to retrieve the sideband data from the alignment markers received from the first network device over the first wired connection.

9. A method of operating a first network device, the method comprising:
using a physical layer device,
receiving data for transmission to a second network device;
receiving sideband data for transmission to the second network device, wherein the sideband data corresponds to at least one of control information, management information, and status information;
providing, via a first wired connection, the data for transmission to the second network device;
generating alignment markers;
inserting the sideband data into the alignment markers;
distributing the alignment markers into a plurality of virtual lanes; and
selectively providing, via the same first wired connection, the alignment markers including the sideband data inserted by the physical layer device,
wherein inserting the sideband data into the alignment markers includes inserting the sideband data into the alignment markers corresponding only to selected ones of the plurality of virtual lanes and not to other ones of the plurality of virtual lanes.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein providing the data and the sideband data includes providing the data and the sideband data using a media access control device.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first wired connection corresponds to a 100GBASER or 40GBASE-R connection.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein receiving the data and the sideband data includes using a physical coding sublayer to (i) receive the data and the sideband data from a media access control device and (ii) insert the sideband data into the alignment markers.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
arranging the alignment markers, as received from the physical coding sublayer via the plurality of virtual lanes, into a block of alignment markers; and
distributing, for transmission on the first wired connection, the block of alignment markers into a number of lanes that is less than the plurality of virtual lanes.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein inserting the sideband data into the alignment markers corresponding only to the selected ones of the plurality of virtual lanes and not to the other ones of the plurality of virtual lanes includes not inserting the sideband data into the alignment markers corresponding to (i) first virtual lanes of the plurality of virtual lanes and (ii) last virtual lanes of the plurality of virtual lanes.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising modifying the alignment markers corresponding to (i) the first virtual lanes of the plurality of virtual lanes and (ii) the last virtual lanes of the plurality of virtual lanes.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
Using the second network device, retrieving the sideband data from the alignment markers received from the first network device over the first wired connection.

Assignees

• Marvell Int Ltd

Inventors

• Lo William

Classifications

• H04L47/25 Primary

  with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions · CPC title

• H04L47/35

  by embedding flow control information in regular packets, e.g. piggybacking · 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