System and method for providing an Ethernet interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9800630-B2
Application number	US-201514662860-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2015
Priority date	Dec 11, 2006
Publication date	Oct 24, 2017
Grant date	Oct 24, 2017

Abstract

An apparatus is provided that includes n communication channels, and m communication media interfaces, and v virtual lanes. V is a positive integer multiple of the least common multiple of m and n. An information stream is transferred into data and alignment blocks striped across all of the v virtual lanes, the blocks being communicated from the virtual lanes onto the communication channels. The blocks are received on the communication channels. Each of the communication channels transmits a different portion of the blocks striped across all of the v virtual lanes.
In more particular embodiments, v>=n>=m. The communication media interfaces can be electrical and optical. Each of the communication channels can include a SerDes interface operating at least 5 Gigabits per second. Furthermore, each of the m communication media interfaces is configured to transmit a different stream of information over a single optical fiber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
n electrical communication channels;
m optical communication media interfaces, wherein m is less than n; and
a plurality of muxes configured to:
receive an information stream, the information stream carried over the n electrical communication channels and the m optical communication media interfaces; and
transform the information stream from v virtual lanes, each virtual lane comprising a plurality of data blocks from the information stream and an alignment block, wherein at least two virtual lanes are communicated on one electrical communication channel.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a buffer, wherein the v virtual lanes are stored in the buffer.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , further configured to:
identify, in the buffer, the alignment block associated with the virtual lane; and
recreate an original data stream using, at least in part, the alignment block.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the electrical communication channels comprises a SerDes interface operating at at least 5 Gigabits per second.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein v is a positive integer multiple of the least common multiple of m and n, v being greater than n.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein n is at least ten and m is less than ten.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the m optical communication media interfaces is configured to receive a different stream of information over a single optical fiber.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising one or more decoding modules for decoding the information stream into the plurality of data blocks using 64B/66B encoding.

9. A method, comprising:
receiving an information stream, the information stream carried over n electrical communication channels and m optical communication media interfaces, wherein m is less than n; and
transforming the information stream from v virtual lanes, each virtual lane comprising a plurality of data blocks from the information stream and an alignment block, wherein at least two virtual lanes are communicated on one electrical communication channel.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the v virtual lanes are stored in a buffer.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
identifying, in the buffer, the alignment block associated with the virtual lane; and
recreating an original data stream using, at least in part, the alignment block.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein each of the electrical communication channels comprises a SerDes interface operating at at least 5 Gigabits per second.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein v is a positive integer multiple of the least common multiple of m and n, v being greater than n.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein n is at least ten and m is less than ten.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein each of the m optical communication media interfaces is configured to receive a different stream of information over a single optical fiber.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising decoding the information stream into the plurality of data blocks using 64B/66B encoding.

17. A system, comprising:
means for receiving an information stream, the information stream carried over n electrical communication channels and m optical communication media interfaces, wherein m is less than n; and
means for transforming the information stream from v virtual lanes, each virtual lane comprising a plurality of data blocks from the information stream and an alignment block, wherein at least two virtual lanes are communicated on one electrical communication channel.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the v virtual lanes are stored in a buffer.

19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising:
means for identifying, in the buffer, the alignment block associated with the virtual lane; and
means for recreating an original data stream using, at least in part, the alignment block.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein v is a positive integer multiple of the least common multiple of m and n, v being greater than n.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Gustlin Mark A
• Trainin Oded
• Della Chiesa Luca

Classifications

• H04L47/10

  Flow control; Congestion control · CPC title

• H04L47/13 Primary

  in a LAN segment, e.g. ring or bus · CPC title

• H04L47/39

  Credit based · CPC title

• H04B10/516

  Details of coding or modulation · CPC title

• H04L49/352

  Gigabit ethernet switching [GBPS] · CPC title