CN115552819A

CN115552819A - Virtual network device

Info

Publication number: CN115552819A
Application number: CN202180033164.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李明; 贾远洋
Original assignee: Zhiyi Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Zhiyi Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-06
Filing date: 2021-03-10
Publication date: 2022-12-30
Also published as: WO2021223510A1; EP4147395A1; EP4147395A4; JP2023523915A; BR112022021767A2; KR20230006486A; AU2024201137A1; AU2021268768A1; CO2022015545A2; AU2021268768B2

Abstract

The virtual network device (100) converts the plurality of transport network physical ports (216) to a larger number using the plurality of transport virtual ports (vPORTa) and the virtual switch (214), and converts the plurality of receive network physical ports (610) to a larger number using the plurality of receive virtual ports (vPORTb) and the virtual switch (612).

Description

Virtual network device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of computer networks, and in particular, to virtual network devices.

Background

A Wide Area Network (WAN) is an interconnecting web of network devices that typically interconnects local or metropolitan area networks over a large geographic area, such as across states or countries. The WAN allows remote computers to communicate with one another via a network device.

Conventional network devices typically include one or more physical network ports that operate at a predetermined fixed data rate, such as, for example, 10/100/1000Mbps (megabits per second), 10Gbps (gigabits per second), 40Gbps, and 100Gbps connections. As part of enabling communication between computer systems over a network, conventional network devices negotiate the transmission speed of a network port, and during this process, the transmission speed of the network port is fixed.

One of the disadvantages of conventional network devices is that more physical ports are typically required than are available, which results in reduced service or expensive upgrades. Therefore, a method of accommodating the increasing port requirements is needed.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention provides a virtual network device having virtual ports that effectively increase the number of available physical ports. The virtual network device includes a framing circuit that receives a plurality of input frames, examines the plurality of input frames to determine a frame type for each input frame, and determines a virtual egress device associated with each input frame based on the frame type. The framing circuit also encapsulates the plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames. Each virtual egress device has a receiving virtual port. The first plurality of encapsulated frames has a plurality of headers. The plurality of headers identify a plurality of virtual egress devices associated with the plurality of input frames. In addition, the virtual network device includes a plurality of transport virtual ports coupled to the framing circuit. The plurality of transport virtual ports determine a plurality of next hops in the virtual network for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on the virtual egress device in the header of the plurality of first encapsulated frames. The plurality of transport virtual ports additionally encapsulates the plurality of first encapsulated frames to form a plurality of second encapsulated frames. Each second encapsulated frame has a header. The header of the second encapsulated frame identifies a next hop of the second encapsulated frame based on the next hop of the first encapsulated frame and identifies a receiving virtual port of an associated virtual egress device for the incoming frame. The transfer virtual port includes a first portion of memory. Further, the virtual network device includes a transport virtual switch coupled to the plurality of transport virtual ports. The transport virtual switch selectively couples the transport virtual port to the network physical port.

The invention also includes a method of operating a virtual network device. The method includes receiving a plurality of input frames, examining the plurality of input frames to determine a frame type for each input frame, and determining a virtual egress device associated with each input frame based on the frame type. Each virtual egress device has a receiving virtual port. The method also includes encapsulating the plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames. The first plurality of encapsulated frames has a plurality of headers. The plurality of headers identify a plurality of virtual egress devices associated with the plurality of input frames. Further, the method includes determining a plurality of next hops in the virtual network for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on the virtual egress device in the header of the plurality of first encapsulated frames. Further, the method includes encapsulating the first plurality of encapsulated frames in a plurality of transport virtual ports to form a second plurality of encapsulated frames. Each second encapsulated frame has a header. The header of the second encapsulated frame identifies a next hop of the second encapsulated frame based on the next hop of the first encapsulated frame and identifies a receiving virtual port of an associated virtual egress device for the incoming frame. The transfer virtual port includes a first portion of the shared memory. The method additionally includes selectively coupling the transport virtual port to the network physical port.

The present invention also provides a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embedded therein program instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of operating a virtual network device. The method includes receiving a plurality of input frames, examining the plurality of input frames to determine a frame type for each input frame, and determining a virtual egress device associated with each input frame based on the frame type. Each virtual egress device has a receiving virtual port. The method also includes encapsulating the plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames. The first plurality of encapsulated frames has a plurality of headers. The plurality of headers identify a plurality of virtual egress devices associated with the plurality of incoming frames. Further, the method includes determining a plurality of next hops in the virtual network for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on the virtual egress device in the headers of the plurality of first encapsulated frames. Further, the method includes encapsulating the plurality of first encapsulated frames in a plurality of transport virtual ports to form a plurality of second encapsulated frames. Each second encapsulated frame has a header. The header of the second encapsulated frame identifies a next hop of the second encapsulated frame based on the next hop of the first encapsulated frame and identifies a receiving virtual port of an associated virtual egress device for the incoming frame. The method also includes selectively coupling the transport virtual port to the network physical port.

A better understanding of the features and advantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments, in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a virtual network device 100 according to the present invention.

Fig. 2A is a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmission circuit 200 according to the present invention.

Fig. 2B is a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmission circuit 250 according to the present invention.

Fig. 3A is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 300 of operating the transmission circuit 200 in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 3B is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 350 of operating the transmission circuit 200 in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmission circuit 400 according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmission circuit 500 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a receiving circuit 600 according to the present invention.

Fig. 7 shows a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 700 of operating the receiving circuit 600 according to the invention.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a receive circuit 800 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a receive circuit 900 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a virtual network device 100 according to the present invention. As described in more detail below, the effective number of local physical ports in virtual network device 100 is increased by translating one or more of the local physical ports to a plurality of virtual local physical ports, and the effective number of network physical ports is increased by translating one or more of the network physical ports to a plurality of virtual network physical ports.

Virtual network device 100 is a component in a virtual network that interconnects a local router/switch with a remote router/switch. The virtual network comprises a virtual network device 100 coupled to a local router/switch as a virtual ingress device of the virtual network and a virtual network device 100 coupled to a remote router/switch as a virtual egress device of the virtual network.

As shown in fig. 1, virtual network device 100 includes a transport circuit 110, transport circuit 110 having a plurality of local physical ports 112 and a plurality of network physical ports 114, each local physical port 112 receiving data frames (such as set-top boxes (STBs), personal Computers (PCs), and video data frames) from a local network device (such as a router/switch), each network physical port 114 outputting data frames to the virtual network.

As further shown in fig. 1, virtual network device 100 also includes a receive circuit 120, the receive circuit 120 having a plurality of local physical ports 122 and a plurality of network physical ports 124, each local physical port 122 outputting data frames to a local network device (such as a router/switch), each network physical port 124 receiving data frames from the virtual network. In one embodiment, one or more of the local

physical ports

112 and 122 may be shared between the transmit circuitry 110 and the receive circuitry 120, and one or more of the network

physical ports

114 and 124 may be shared between the transmit circuitry 110 and the receive circuitry 120.

Further, virtual network device 100 includes shared memory 130, the shared memory 130 being coupled to both transmit circuitry 110 and receive circuitry 120. The shared memory 130 includes a transmission queue that temporarily stores data frames to be output to the virtual network, and a reception queue that temporarily stores data frames received from the virtual network.

Fig. 2A shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmission circuit 200 according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 2A, the transport circuit 200 includes a local physical port 210, framing circuitry 212 coupled to the local physical port 210, and a plurality of transport virtual ports vPORTa1 through vPORTan coupled to the framing circuitry 212.

Each transfer virtual port vPORTa in turn comprises a transfer queue and a send frame formatting circuit. Furthermore, the transport circuit 200 further comprises a transport virtual switch 214 coupled to each of the transport virtual ports vPORTa, and a network physical port 216 coupled to the transport virtual switch 214.

Fig. 3A shows a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 300 of operating the transmission circuit 200 according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 3A, the method 300 begins at 310 with the framing circuit 212 receiving a series of input frames from the local physical port 210. The method 300 next moves to 312 to examine the series of input frames to determine a frame type (e.g., STB, PC, video) for each input frame, and then to 314 to determine a virtual egress device associated with each input frame based on the frame type. Each virtual egress device, in turn, has a plurality of receiving virtual ports.

Thereafter, the method 300 moves to 316, where the framing circuit 212 encapsulates the series of input frames to form a plurality of First Encapsulated (FE) frames. The FE frame has a header that identifies the virtual egress device associated with the incoming frame series.

Thereafter, method 300 moves to 318 where the transport virtual ports vPORTa1 to vPORTan determine the next hop in the virtual network for the FE frame based on the virtual egress device in the header of the FE frame. Next, method 300 moves to 320 where virtual ports vPORTa1 through vPORTan are transferred encapsulating the FE frame to form a Second Encapsulated (SE) frame. Each SE frame has a header that identifies a next hop of the SE frame based on the next hop of the FE frame. The header also identifies the receiving virtual port of the associated virtual egress device for the incoming frame. In addition, the transfer virtual port occupies a first portion of the shared memory.

Thereafter, method 300 moves to 322, where transport virtual switch 214 loops through transport virtual ports vPORTa1 through vPORTan that forward SE frames sequentially from each transport virtual port vPORTa in a fixed, repeating order to output the sequence of SE frames. For example, virtual switch 214 may output a sequence of SE frames, where the first SE frame is from vPORT1, the second frame is from vPORT2, the third frame is from vPORT3, and the fourth frame is also from vPORT1.

If the transfer virtual port vPORTa is empty or partially complete, no frame is generated. For example, if transport virtual port vPORT2 is empty, network physical port 216 outputs a sequence of frames including frame 1, no frame, frame 3. The method 300 next moves to 324, where the network physical port 216 transmits the SE frame sequence onto the virtual network.

Fig. 3B shows a flow diagram of an example of a method 350 of operating the transmission circuit 200 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention. Method 350 is similar to method 300 and therefore elements common to both methods are identified with the same reference numerals.

As shown in fig. 3B, method 350 first differs from method 300 at 352 by virtual switch 214 determining whether a complete signal has been received from any transport virtual port vPORTa at 352. The full signal indicates that the SE frame in the transfer virtual port vPORTa is ready to be transferred. When virtual switch 214 detects a complete signal from transport virtual port vPORTa, method 350 moves to 354, where virtual switch 214 forwards the SE frame from the transport virtual port vPORTa outputting the complete signal to network physical port 216.

For example, virtual switch 214 may receive complete signals from transport virtual port vPORTa1, transport virtual port vPORTa2, and transport virtual port vPORTa3 in sequence. In this case, virtual switch 214 outputs a sequence of SE frames, with the first SE frame from transport virtual port vPORT1, the second frame from transport virtual port vPORT2, and the third frame from transport virtual port vPORT3.

Alternatively, one of the sources (e.g., STB, PC, video source) may have a data rate that is much faster than the data rate of the other sources (e.g., STB, PC, video source), which in turn causes one transport virtual port vPORTa to output the full signal more frequently than the other transport virtual ports vPORTa.

For example, if network physical port 216 transmits frames at a frame rate of 5 frames per second, transport virtual port vPORTa2 outputs frames at a rate 3 times faster than each of the frame rates of transport virtual ports vPORTa1 and vPORTa3, transport virtual port vPORTa2 sends a full signal three times before the other ports, and transport virtual port vPORTa1 sends a signal before vPORTa3 sends a signal, virtual switch 214 forwards a sequence of frames that includes a first frame from transport virtual port vPORTa2, a second frame from transport virtual port vPORTa2, a third frame from transport virtual port vPORTa2, a fourth frame from transport virtual port vPORTa1, and a fifth frame from transport virtual port vPORTa 3.

In addition to a first-in-first-out approach (where the order in which the complete signals are received determines the order in which SE frames are output by virtual switch 214 from transport virtual port vPORTa), transport virtual ports vPORTa to vPORTan may alternatively include a priority scheme that allows frames to be forwarded from transport virtual port vPORTa to network physical ports in any number and in any order.

Referring back to fig. 3B, after the virtual switch 214 forwards the SE frame from the transmit virtual port vPORTa outputting the complete signal to the network physical port 216, the method 350 moves to 356 where the network physical port 216 transmits the SE frame. In method 300, although the priority scheme provides a level of predictability, the frames to be output are predictable, while the frames to be output in method 350 are unpredictable.

Referring again to the example of fig. 2A, the framing circuit 212 includes a virtual switch 220 and a framer 222 coupled to the virtual switch 220. The virtual switch 220 detects the type of incoming frame (e.g., STB, PC, video), determines the routing of the frame to the virtual port vPORTa corresponding to the type of frame from the static forwarding table, and outputs the frame to the virtual port vPORTa.

In this example, virtual switch 220 receives STB frames transmitted by the local source router/switch and detects the received frames as STB frames from the source and/or destination MAC addresses in the STB frames. The switch 220 then outputs the STB frame on a first virtual port line P1, the first virtual port line P1 being routed to a virtual port vPORTa1, the virtual port vPORTa1 being preselected to receive the STB frame.

Similarly, virtual switch 220 receives PC frames transmitted by the local source router/switch and detects the received frames as PC frames from the source and/or destination MAC addresses in the PC frames. The switch 220 then outputs the PC frame on a second virtual port line P2, the second virtual port line P2 being routed to a virtual port vPORTa2, the virtual port vPORTa2 being preselected to receive the PC frame.

The virtual switch 220 also receives video frames transmitted by the local router/switch, detects the received frames as video frames from source and/or destination MAC addresses in the video frames, and then outputs the video frames on a third virtual port line P3, the third virtual port line P3 being routed to a virtual port vPORTa3, the virtual port vPORTa3 being preselected to receive the video frames.

Framer 222 receives STB frames on virtual port line P1, encapsulates the STB frames to form First Encapsulated (FE) STB frames, and then forwards the FE STB frames to the transmit queue of virtual port vPORTa1. Similarly, framer 222 receives PC frames on virtual port line P2, encapsulates the PC frames to form First Encapsulated (FE) PC frames, and then forwards the FE PC frames to the transmit queue of virtual port vPORTa 2. Framer 222 also receives video frames on virtual port line P3, encapsulates the video frames to form First Encapsulated (FE) video frames, and then forwards the FE video frames to the transmit queue of virtual port vPORTa 3.

Framer 222 may generate encapsulated frames using conventional protocols, such as provider backbone bridging traffic engineering (PBB-TE) protocol or transport multi-protocol label switching (T-MPLS) protocol. Further, the FE STB frame, the FE PC frame, and the FE video frame each have a header with a plurality of fields including an identification of the virtual egress device.

For example, the header of the FE frame may include an egress address field, an I-Tag field, or similar field for the MAC address of the virtual egress device. The header may also include other fields such as the MAC address of the virtual ingress device. In this example, the MAC address of the virtual egress device is administratively provided to the virtual ingress device.

Frame formatting circuitry in virtual port vPORTa1 of transmission circuitry 200 receives the FE STB frame, determines a next hop in the virtual network for the FE STB frame from the static forwarding table based on an identification of the virtual egress device (such as a MAC address of the virtual egress device) in a header of the FE STB frame, and encapsulates the FE STB frame to form a Second Encapsulated (SE) STB frame.

Similarly, the frame formatting circuit in virtual port vPORTa2 of transmission circuit 200 receives the FE PC frame, determines a next hop in the virtual network for the FE PC frame from the static forwarding table based on an identification of the virtual egress device (such as a MAC address of the virtual egress device) in a header of the FE PC frame, and encapsulates the FE PC frame to form a Second Encapsulated (SE) PC frame.

Further, frame formatting circuitry in virtual port vPORTa3 of transmission circuitry 200 receives the FE video frame, determines a next hop in the virtual network for the FE video frame from the static forwarding table based on an identification of the virtual egress device (such as a MAC address of the virtual egress device) in a header of the FE video frame, and encapsulates the FE video frame to form a Second Encapsulated (SE) video frame.

The SE STB frame, SE PC frame and SE video frame each include a header having a next hop field identifying the MAC address of the next hop in the virtual network, a source field Src _ vlid identifying the virtual port number of the virtual ingress device, and a destination field Dst _ vlid identifying the virtual port number of the virtual egress device corresponding to the virtual port number of the virtual ingress device. In this example, the source field Src _ viii for the SE STB frame is the virtual port vPORTa1. Other fields such as a last hop field may also be included.

Further, virtual switch 214 cycles through virtual ports vPORTa1 through vPORTan sequentially forwarding the Second Encapsulated (SE) frame from each virtual port vPORTa to output the series of SE frames to physical port 216. In this example, switch 214 forwards SE STB frames from virtual port vPORTa1 to physical port 216, then forwards SE PC frames from virtual port vPORTa2 to physical port 216, then forwards SE video frames from virtual port vPORTa3 to physical port 216, then forwards SE STB frames from virtual port vPORTa1 to physical port 216, and continues in the same manner, physical port 216 outputs the frames. Although fig. 2 shows the transmission circuit 200 receiving and operating with inputs from a single local router/switch, the transmission circuit 200 may alternatively receive and operate with inputs from multiple routers/switches.

Fig. 2B shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmission circuit 250 according to the present invention. The transmission circuit 250 is similar to the transmission circuit 200, and therefore elements common to the transmission circuit 200 and the transmission circuit 250 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

As shown in fig. 2B, the transport circuit 250 differs from the transport circuit 200 in that the transport circuit 250 includes a first network physical port 216A and a second network physical port 216B, both coupled to the virtual switch 214. In addition, virtual switch 214 provides a continuous connection between transport virtual port vPORTa1 and network physical port 216A. Furthermore, an additional transfer virtual port vPORTa4 is shown.

The transmission circuit 250 operates substantially the same as the transmission circuit 200, except that one or more of the sources (e.g., STB, PC, or video source) outputs data frames at a frame rate greater than the maximum frame rate of the network

physical ports

216A and 216B. For example, each of the network

physical ports

216A and 216B may have a maximum frame rate of five frames per second.

In the example of fig. 2B, the set-top box outputs seven STB frames per second, while the personal computer outputs two PC frames per second, and the video device outputs one video frame per second. (the numbers quoted are for illustrative purposes only.) as shown in fig. 2B, five of the seven STB frames are transmitted from network physical port 216A, while the remaining two STB frames, two PC frames, and one video frame are transmitted from network physical port 216B in the manner shown by

methods

300 and 350. One advantage of the transmission circuit 250 is that the transmission circuit 250 can handle input frame rates that are greater than the maximum frame rate of the network physical port.

Fig. 4 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmission circuit 400 according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention. The transmission circuit 400 is similar to the transmission circuit 200, and therefore the same reference numerals are used to denote structures common to both circuits.

As shown in fig. 4, transmit circuit 400 differs from transmit circuit 200 in that framing circuit 212 of transmit circuit 400 replaces virtual switch 220 followed by framer 222 with a serial-to-serial framer 410 followed by a serial-to-parallel virtual switch 412 coupled to virtual ports vPORTa1 through vPORTan.

In another alternative embodiment, framer 410 and virtual switch 412 of transmission circuit 400 may be physically separated, where framer 410 is incorporated into the local router/switch.

Fig. 5 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmission circuit 500 according to the present invention. The transmission circuit 500 is similar to the transmission circuit 400, and therefore the same reference numerals are used to denote structures common to the circuit 400 and the circuit 500. As shown in the example illustrated in fig. 5, local framer router/switch 510 is utilized with transmission circuit 500 in place of the local router/switch that receives and outputs STB, PC and video frames.

Fig. 6 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a receiving circuit 600 according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 6, receive circuit 600 includes a network physical port 610 and a receive virtual switch 612 coupled to network physical port 610. The receive circuit 600 also includes a plurality of receive virtual ports vPORTb1 through vPORTbn coupled to the switch 612. Each receive virtual port vPORTb, in turn, includes a receive queue and receive frame formatting circuitry. Receive circuit 600 also includes a deframing circuit 614 coupled to each of the receive virtual ports vPORTb, and a local physical port 616 coupled to deframing circuit 614.

Fig. 7 shows a flow chart illustrating an example of a method 700 of operating the receiving circuit 600 according to the invention. As shown in fig. 7, the method 700 begins at 710 with the network physical port 610 receiving a third series of encapsulated (TE) frames from the virtual network. The TE frame has a header that includes a next hop address and a receiving virtual port identifier.

Next, the method 700 moves to 712 where the network physical port 610 examines the TE frame to determine the next hop address and compares the next hop address to the stored address. Thereafter, method 700 moves to 714 where network physical port 610 forwards the TE frame with the matching next hop address as a Matching Encapsulated (ME) frame. Further, port 610 drops the received TE frame when the identity of the next hop address does not match the stored address.

Thereafter, method 700 moves to 716 where receiving virtual switch 612 switchably passes the ME frame based on the receiving virtual port identifier in the header of the ME frame. Method 700 then moves to 718 where receiving virtual ports vPORTb 1-vPORTbn unpack the switchably passed ME frames to extract a fourth encapsulated frame from the switchably passed ME frames such that each receiving virtual port vPORTb unpacks ME frames to extract the fourth encapsulated frame. The receiving virtual port occupies a second portion of the shared memory.

Thereafter, the method 700 moves to 720 where the de-framing circuit 614 de-wraps the fourth encapsulated frame to extract the original STB, PC and video input frame from the fourth encapsulated frame. The original STB, PC and video input frames from the remote router/switch have multiple frame types. In addition, each incoming frame has a header that identifies the destination router/switch. Method 700 then moves to 722 where the deframing circuit 614 forwards the STB, PC and video frames to the local physical port 616, and the local physical port 616 outputs the original STB, PC and video frames to the local router/switch.

In this example, virtual switch 612 receives the ME STB frame from network physical port 610 and determines that the destination virtual port is virtual port vPORTb1 from the destination virtual port number Dst _ vlid in the header of the ME STB frame. Further, switch 612 determines a route to virtual port vPORTb1 from the static forwarding table and then outputs the ME STB frame on the first virtual port line, which is routed to virtual port vPORTb1.

Similarly, virtual switch 612 receives the ME PC frame from network physical port 610, and determines that the destination virtual port is virtual port vPORTb2 from the destination virtual port number Dst _ vlid in the header of the ME PC frame. Further, switch 612 determines a route to virtual port vPORTb2 from the static forwarding table and then outputs ME PC frames on a second virtual port line, which is routed to virtual port vPORTb2.

Further, virtual switch 612 receives the ME video frame from network physical port 610, and determines that the destination virtual port is virtual port vPORTb3 from destination virtual port number Dst _ vlid in the header of the ME video frame. Switch 612 determines a route to virtual port vPORTb3 from the static forwarding table and then outputs the ME video frame on a third virtual port line, which is routed to virtual port vPORTb3.

The virtual ports vPORTb1 to vPORTbn receive ME frames and unpack the ME frames to extract a fourth encapsulated frame from the ME frames, such as a fourth encapsulated STB frame, a fourth encapsulated PC frame, and a fourth encapsulated video frame. In the example of fig. 6, the receive queue of the first virtual port vPORTb1 receives ME STB frames, and the frame formatting circuitry of the virtual port vPORTb1 unpacks the ME STB frames to extract a fourth encapsulated STB frame having a header that includes the identity of the virtual egress device.

Similarly, the receive queue of the second virtual port vPORTb2 receives ME PC frames, and the frame formatting circuitry of the virtual port vPORTb2 unpacks the ME PC frames to extract a fourth encapsulated PC frame having a header that includes the identity of the virtual egress device. Furthermore, the receive queue of the third virtual port vPORTb3 receives ME video frames, and the frame formatting circuitry of the virtual port vPORTb3 unpacks the ME video frames to extract a fourth encapsulated video frame having a header that includes the identity of the virtual egress device.

The deframing circuit 614 receives a plurality of fourth packaged frames and extracts the original STB, PC and video input frames from the fourth packaged frames. The input frame has multiple frame types, e.g., STB, PC, video. Each incoming frame has a header that includes the identity of the destination router/switch. For each received fourth encapsulated frame, the de-framing circuit 614 de-packetizes the fourth encapsulated frame to extract the incoming frame, determines the identity of the destination router/switch from the header of the incoming frame, and outputs the incoming frame to the local physical port 616, which local physical port 616 outputs the incoming frame to the destination router/switch.

As shown in fig. 6, the deframer circuit 614 includes a deframer 620 and a virtual switch 622 coupled to the deframer 620. In operation, deframer 620 receives fourth encapsulated frames from the plurality of receive virtual ports vPORTb1 to vPORTbn and unpacks the fourth encapsulated frames to extract the original input frames (e.g., STB, PC, and video frames) and forwards the STB, PC, and video frames to virtual switch 622.

In the example of fig. 6, deframer 620 receives the fourth encapsulated STB frame from receive virtual port vPORTb1, depacketizes the fourth encapsulated frame to extract the STB frame, and forwards the STB frame to virtual switch 622. Similarly, deframer 620 receives the fourth encapsulated PC frame from receive virtual port vPORTb2, depacketizes the fourth encapsulated frame to extract the PC frame, and forwards the PC frame to virtual switch 622. In addition, deframer 620 receives the fourth encapsulated video frames from receive virtual port vPORTb3, depacketizes the fourth encapsulated frames to extract the video frames, and forwards the video frames to virtual switch 622. Deframer 620 may utilize the same or different protocol as framer 222.

The virtual switch 622 cycles through the output of the deframer 620, which sequentially receives outgoing frames and forwards the outgoing frames to the local physical port 616. In this example, virtual switch 622 receives the STB frame from deframer 620, detects the MAC address of the destination router/switch, and outputs the STB frame to local physical port 616. Similarly, virtual switch 622 receives the PC frame from deframer 620, detects the MAC address of the destination router/switch, and outputs the PC frame to local physical port 616. In addition, virtual switch 622 receives video frames from deframer 620, detects the MAC address of the destination router/switch, and outputs the video frames to local physical port 616. Local physical port 616 in turn outputs the frame to the local router/switch.

The example of fig. 6 shows a deframing circuit 614 with a parallel-to-parallel deframer 620 followed by a parallel-to-serial virtual switch 622. The deframing circuit 614 may be implemented alternately with other circuit devices. For example, the deframing circuit 614 may be implemented with a serial-to-parallel virtual switch coupled to virtual ports vPORTb1 through vPORTbn followed by a serial-to-serial framer.

Fig. 8 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a receive circuit 800 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention. The receive circuit 800 is similar to the receive circuit 600 and therefore the same reference numerals are used to denote structures common to both circuits.

As shown in fig. 8, receive circuit 800 differs from receive circuit 600 in that framing circuit 614 of receive circuit 800 includes a parallel-to-serial virtual switch 810 coupled to virtual ports vPORTb1 through vPORTbn, followed by a serial-to-serial deframer 812. The implementations of framing circuit 212 and deframing circuit 614 may be interchanged. For example, virtual network device 100 may utilize framing circuit 212, which framing circuit 212 is implemented with virtual switch 220 and framer 222, while deframing circuit 614 may be implemented with virtual switch 810 and deframer 812.

In another alternative embodiment, virtual switch 810 and deframer 812 may be physically separated, wherein deframer 812 is incorporated into the local router/switch.

Fig. 9 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a receiving circuit 900 according to the present invention. The receive circuit 900 is similar to the receive circuit 800 and therefore structures common to both the circuit 800 and the circuit 900 are denoted with the same reference numerals. As shown in the illustrated example of fig. 9, a local deframer router/switch 910 is utilized in the receive circuit 900 in place of the local router switch.

One of the advantages of the present invention is that it combines multiple streams of STBs, PCs and video frames into a single stream of virtual frames via multiple virtual ports, which in turn effectively increases the number of available physical ports.

Reference will now be made in detail to the various embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While described in conjunction with various embodiments, it is to be understood that they are not intended to limit the present disclosure. On the contrary, the present disclosure is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents, which may be included within the scope of the present disclosure as construed according to the claims.

Furthermore, in the foregoing detailed description of various embodiments of the disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosure. However, it will be recognized by one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details or with equivalents thereof. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the various embodiments of the present disclosure.

It should be noted that although the methods may be described herein as a sequence of numbered operations for clarity, the numbering does not necessarily indicate an order of the operations. It should be understood that some operations may be skipped, performed in parallel, or performed without the requirement of maintaining a strict order of sequence.

The drawings showing various embodiments in accordance with the disclosure are semi-diagrammatic and not to scale and, particularly, some of the dimensions are for the clarity of presentation and are shown exaggerated in the drawing figs. Similarly, although the views in the drawings for ease of description generally show similar orientations, this depiction in the drawings is arbitrary for the most part. In general, various embodiments according to the present disclosure may operate in any orientation.

Some portions of the detailed description are presented in terms of procedures, logic blocks, processing, and other symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These descriptions and representations are used by those skilled in the data processing arts to effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art.

In the present disclosure, a procedure, logic block, process, etc., is conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations or instructions leading to a desired result. The operations are those utilizing physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated in a computing system. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as transactions, bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, samples, pixels, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present disclosure, discussions utilizing terms such as "generating," "determining," "assigning," "aggregating," "utilizing," "virtualizing," "processing," "accessing," "executing," "storing," or the like, refer to the actions and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device or processor.

The processing and transformation of data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system memories, registers, other such information storage and/or other computer-readable media into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices by a computing system or similar electronic computing device or processor.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application have been described in the preceding sections clearly and completely with reference to the drawings of the embodiments of the present application. It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and claims of the present invention and in the above-described drawings are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that these numbers may be interchanged where appropriate such that the embodiments of the invention described herein may be implemented in sequences other than those shown or described herein.

The functions described in the method of the present embodiment, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a standalone product, may be stored in a storage medium readable by a computing device. With such an understanding in mind, portions of the embodiments of the present application or portions of the technical solutions that contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored on a storage medium including instructions for causing a computing device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a mobile computing device, a network device, or the like) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes a USB drive, a portable hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc., which can store program codes.

Various embodiments in the specification of the present application are described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment focuses on its differences from other embodiments, and the same or similar parts between the various embodiments may be referred to as another case. The described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments and not all embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments that can be obtained by one of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present application are within the scope of the present application without departing from the technology of the present invention.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present application. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, the present application is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A virtual network device, comprising:

a framing circuit that receives a plurality of input frames, examines the plurality of input frames to determine a frame type for each input frame, determines a virtual egress device associated with each input frame based on the frame type, and encapsulates the plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames, each virtual egress device having a receive virtual port, the plurality of first encapsulated frames having a plurality of headers that identify a plurality of virtual egress devices associated with the plurality of input frames;

a plurality of transmit virtual ports coupled to the framing circuit to determine a plurality of next hops in a virtual network for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on the virtual egress device in the headers of the plurality of first encapsulated frames, and encapsulate the plurality of first encapsulated frames to form a plurality of second encapsulated frames, each second encapsulated frame having a header, the header of a second encapsulated frame identifying a next hop for the second encapsulated frame based on the next hop for the first encapsulated frame, and identifying the receive virtual port of the associated virtual egress device for the incoming frame; and

a transport virtual switch coupled to the plurality of transport virtual ports, the transport virtual switch to selectively couple the transport virtual ports to network physical ports.

2. The virtual network device of claim 1, wherein the transport virtual switch cycles through the plurality of transport virtual ports that sequentially forward second encapsulated frames from each transport virtual port in a fixed, repeating order to output a second series of encapsulated frames.

3. The virtual network device of claim 1, wherein the transport virtual switch receives a complete signal from a transport virtual port and forwards a frame from the transport virtual port outputting the complete signal to the network physical port.

4. The virtual network device of claim 1, wherein the framing circuit comprises:

a virtual switch that determines a route for a frame to a transport virtual port based on the frame type and outputs the frame to the transport virtual port; and

a framer coupled to the virtual switch, the framer to encapsulate the incoming frame.

5. The virtual network device of claim 4, wherein the framer implements a protocol from a protocol suite that includes a provider backbone bridging traffic engineering (PBB-TE) protocol and a transport multi-protocol list switching (T-MPLS) protocol.

6. The virtual network device of claim 1, wherein the transport virtual port comprises a first portion of a shared memory.

7. The virtual network device of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a physical port, the receiving physical port receiving a third plurality of encapsulated frames, examining the third plurality of encapsulated frames to determine a plurality of frame destinations, comparing the plurality of frame destinations to stored destinations, and forwarding the third encapsulated frame having a matching destination as a matching encapsulated frame, the third plurality of encapsulated frames and matching encapsulated frame having a plurality of headers with a plurality of receiving virtual port identifiers;

a receiving virtual switch coupled to the receiving physical port, the receiving virtual switch to switchably communicate the matching encapsulated frame based on the receiving virtual port identifier in the header of the matching encapsulated frame;

a plurality of receive virtual ports coupled to the receive virtual switch, the plurality of receive virtual ports to unpack the switchably communicated matched encapsulated frames to extract a plurality of fourth encapsulated frames from the plurality of matched encapsulated frames such that each receive virtual port unpacks a matched encapsulated frame to extract a fourth encapsulated frame, the receive virtual ports comprising a second portion of the shared memory; and

a deframing circuit coupled to the plurality of receive virtual ports to unpack the plurality of fourth encapsulated frames to extract a plurality of output frames from the plurality of fourth encapsulated frames, the plurality of output frames having a plurality of frame types, each output frame having a header identifying a destination router/switch.

8. The virtual network device of claim 7, wherein the deframing circuit comprises a deframer that receives the fourth encapsulated frame from the plurality of receive virtual ports and unpacks the fourth encapsulated frame to extract the input frame.

9. The virtual network device of claim 8, wherein the framing circuit outputs the input frame to a local router/switch.

10. A method of operating a virtual network device, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of input frames;

examining the plurality of input frames to determine a frame type for each input frame;

determining a virtual egress device associated with each input frame based on the frame type, each virtual egress device having a receiving virtual port;

encapsulating the plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames having a plurality of headers identifying a plurality of virtual egress devices associated with the plurality of input frames;

determining a plurality of next hops in a virtual network for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on the virtual egress device in the header of the plurality of first encapsulated frames;

encapsulating a plurality of first encapsulated frames in a plurality of transmission virtual ports to form a plurality of second encapsulated frames, each second encapsulated frame having a header, the header of a second encapsulated frame identifying a next hop for the second encapsulated frame based on a next hop for a first encapsulated frame and identifying the receiving virtual port of the virtual egress device associated with an incoming frame; and

selectively coupling the transport virtual port to a network physical port.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: cycling through the plurality of transport virtual ports that sequentially forward the second encapsulated frame from each transport virtual port in a fixed repeating order to output a second series of encapsulated frames.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising: receiving a complete signal from a transport virtual port and forwarding a frame from the transport virtual port outputting the complete signal to the network physical port frame.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining a route for a frame to a transport virtual port based on the frame type and outputting the frame to the transport virtual port.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of incoming frames are encapsulated with a protocol from a protocol suite comprising a provider backbone bridging traffic engineering (PBB-TE) protocol and a transport multi-protocol list switching (T-MPLS) protocol.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the transport virtual port comprises a first portion of shared memory.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of third encapsulated frames;

examining the plurality of third encapsulated frames to determine a plurality of frame destinations;

comparing the plurality of frame destinations to stored destinations;

forwarding the third encapsulated frame having a matching destination as a matching encapsulated frame, the plurality of third encapsulated frames and matching encapsulated frames having a plurality of headers with a plurality of receive virtual port identifiers;

switchably passing the matching encapsulated frame based on the receive virtual port identifier in the header of the matching encapsulated frame;

unpacking the matched encapsulated frames of a plurality of receive virtual ports to extract a plurality of fourth encapsulated frames from the plurality of matched encapsulated frames such that each receive virtual port unpacks a matched encapsulated frame to extract a fourth encapsulated frame, the receive virtual port including a second portion of the shared memory; and

unpacking the fourth plurality of encapsulated frames to extract a plurality of output frames from the fourth plurality of encapsulated frames, the plurality of output frames having a plurality of frame types, each output frame having a header identifying a destination router/switch.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embedded therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of operating a virtual network device, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of input frames;

encapsulating the plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames having a plurality of headers that identify a plurality of virtual egress devices associated with the plurality of input frames;

determining a plurality of next hops in a virtual network for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on the virtual egress device in the headers of the plurality of first encapsulated frames;

encapsulating a plurality of first encapsulated frames in a plurality of transmission virtual ports to form a plurality of second encapsulated frames, each second encapsulated frame having a header, the header of a second encapsulated frame identifying a next hop for the second encapsulated frame based on a next hop for a first encapsulated frame and identifying the receiving virtual port of the virtual egress device associated with the incoming frame; and

selectively coupling the transport virtual port to a network physical port.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises: cycling through the plurality of transport virtual ports that sequentially forward the second encapsulated frame from each transport virtual port in a fixed, repeating order to output a second series of encapsulated frames.

19. The medium of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a complete signal from a transport virtual port and forwarding a frame from the transport virtual port outputting the complete signal to the network physical port.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a plurality of third encapsulated frames;

comparing the plurality of frame destinations to stored destinations;

forwarding each third encapsulated frame having a matching destination as a matching encapsulated frame to forward a plurality of matching encapsulated frames, the plurality of third encapsulated frames and matching encapsulated frames having a plurality of headers with a plurality of receive virtual port identifiers;