Apparatus and method for fusion of compute and switching functions of exascale system into a single component by using configurable network-on-chip fabric with distributed dual mode input-output ports and programmable network interfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9992135-B2
Application number	US-201514967166-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2015
Priority date	Dec 11, 2015
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

Described is an apparatus which comprises: a Network-On-Chip fabric using crossbar switches, having distributed ingress and egress ports; and a dual-mode network interface coupled to at least one crossbar switch, the dual-mode network interface is to include: a dual-mode circuitry; a controller operable to: configure the dual-mode circuitry to transmit and receive differential signals via the egress and ingress ports, respectively, and configure the dual-mode circuitry to transmit and receive signal-ended signals via the egress and ingress ports, respectively.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a Network-On-Chip fabric comprising a plurality of interconnected crossbar switches, wherein each of the plurality of crossbar switches comprises two or more ingress ports and two or more egress ports, and the two or more ingress ports and two or more egress ports are each configurable as either memory ports or network ports; and
a dual-mode network interface coupled to at least one crossbar switch, the dual-mode network interface is to include:
a dual-mode circuitry; and
a controller operable to:
configure the dual-mode circuitry to transmit and receive differential signals via the egress and ingress ports, respectively, and
configure the dual-mode circuitry to transmit and receive signal-ended signals via the egress and ingress ports, respectively.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is an input-output (IO) port controller and comprises:
a network controller which is operable to configure the dual-mode circuitry to transmit and receive the differential signals via the egress and ingress ports, respectively.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the controller is an IO port controller and comprises:
a memory controller which is operable to configure the dual-mode circuitry to transmit and receive the signal-ended signals via the egress and ingress ports, respectively.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the memory controller and network controller are selectable by a multiplexer.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the dual-mode network interface comprises:
a programmable routing table which is to provide a destination port identifier according to an address field in an incoming packet header of an incoming packet received by a port of the crossbar circuit.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the programmable routing table is configured according to connectivity of input or output ports, of the crossbar switch, to a system-level interconnect fabric.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the dual-mode network interface comprises:
an address translation table which is operable to remap address spaces in the programmable routing table.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising a processor core coupled to the at least one crossbar switch.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the dual-mode network interface comprises:
a processor interface to forward the incoming packet to the processor core according to the destination port identifier.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 comprises a local memory which is to store the forwarded incoming packet before the forwarded incoming packet is received by the processor core for processing.

11. The apparatus of claim 5 comprises an accelerator core coupled to the crossbar switch.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the dual-mode network interface comprises:
a processor interface to forward the incoming packet to the accelerator core according to the destination port identifier.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 comprises a local memory which is to store the forwarded incoming packet before the forwarded incoming packet is received by the accelerator core for processing.

14. A system comprising:
a package which includes:
on-package memory modules;
a die coupled to the on-package memory modules, wherein the die comprises:
a Network-On-Chip fabric comprising a plurality of interconnected crossbar switches, wherein each of the plurality of crossbar switches comprises two or more ingress and egress ports, and the two or more ingress ports and two or more egress ports are each configurable as either memory ports or network ports; and
a dual-mode network interface coupled to at least one crossbar switch, the dual-mode network interface is to include:
a dual-mode circuitry; and
a controller operable to configure the dual-mode circuitry to transmit and receive differential signals via the egress and ingress ports, respectively.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the on-package memory modules are arranged on opposite sides or periphery of the die.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the dual-mode network interface comprises:
a programmable routing table which is to provide a destination port identifier according to an address field in an incoming packet header of an incoming packet received by a port of the crossbar circuit;
an address translation table which is operable to remap address spaces in the programmable routing table; and
a processor interface to forward the incoming packet to the processor core according to the destination port identifier.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the programmable routing table is configured according to connectivity of input and output ports, of the crossbar switch, to a system-level interconnect fabric.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the die comprises a local memory which is to store the forwarded incoming packet before the forwarded incoming packet is received by the processor core for processing.

19. A system comprising:
a package which includes:
on-package electrical or optical modules;
a die coupled to the on-package electrical or optical modules, wherein the die has distributed ingress and egress ports, the die comprises:
an accelerator core;
a crossbar switch coupled to the accelerator core; and
a dual-mode network interface coupled to the crossbar switch, wherein the crossbar switch comprises two or more ingress ports and two or more egress ports, the two or more ingress ports and two or more egress ports are each configurable as either memory ports or network ports, and the dual-mode network interface is to include:
a dual-mode port circuitry; and
a controller operable to configure the dual-port circuitry to transmit and receive differential-ended signals, to and from at least one of the on-package electrical or optical modules, via the egress and ingress ports, respectively.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the on-package electrical or optical modules are arranged on opposite sides of the die.

21. The system of claim 19 , wherein the dual-mode network interface comprises:
a programmable routing table which is to provide a destination port identifier according to an address field in an incoming packet header of an incoming packet received by a port of the crossbar switch;
an address translation table which is operable to remap address spaces in the programmable routing table; and
a processor interface to forward the incoming packet to the accelerator core according to the destination port identifier.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the programmable routing table is configured according to connectivity of input and output ports to a system-level interconnect fabric.

23. The system of claim 21 , wherein the die comprises a local memory which is to store the forwarded incoming packet before the forwarded incoming packet is received by the accelerator core for processing.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Khare Surhud
• Somasekhar Dinesh
• More Ankit
• Dunning David S
• Borkar Nitin Y
• Borkar Shekhar Y

Classifications

• H04L45/72

  Routing based on the source address · CPC title

• H04L49/30 Primary

  Peripheral units, e.g. input or output ports · CPC title

• H04L49/101

  using crossbar or matrix · CPC title

• H04L49/253

  using establishment or release of connections between ports · CPC title

• H04L49/109

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