JP2000013438A - Gateway device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain the miniaturization of a gateway device by suppressing the redundancy of the device and to flexibly constitute the device. SOLUTION: A shared memory 130 is provided between plural frame receiving parts 111-114 and plural frame transmitting devices 121-124. Besides, this device is equipped with an idle pointer processing part 300 for reporting the idle pointer information of the shared memory to the frame receiving part and storing a received frame in the idle address of the shared memory before the frame reception of the frame receiving parts and a frame exchange part 200 for reporting the received pointer information inputted from the frame receiving part to the frame transmitting part at the relevant destination after the storage of the frame received by the frame receiving part and transmitting the received frame in the shared memory to a network. After the transmission of the received frame, when the pointer reported from the frame transmitting part is inputted, the idle pointer processing part processes it as an idle pointer to the next frame receiving part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a gateway device for interconnecting a plurality of networks such as the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a gateway device is configured as shown in FIG. 9, and temporarily stores frame data input from one network through an input port 11 in a corresponding input buffer memory 12 temporarily. After the destination determination unit 13 determines the destination of the frame data, the exchange control unit 15 performs buffer exchange arbitration,
Thereafter, the frame data stored in the input buffer memory 12 is transferred to the output buffer memory 16 via the packet switching switch 14, and transmitted to the other network via the corresponding output port 17.

[0003]

However, in recent years, the speed of data communication on a network has been further increased, and in order to follow this trend, the buffer exchange arbitration time by the exchange control unit in the gateway device cannot be ignored. ing. Further, in the conventional gateway device, each input buffer memory is fixedly provided corresponding to each input port,
In addition, since each output buffer memory is fixedly provided corresponding to each output port, the configuration of the entire apparatus becomes redundant, the apparatus becomes large, and the buffer for storing the frame of one port is stored in the frame of another port. There is a problem that the apparatus cannot be flexibly configured, for example, it cannot be diverted to a buffer for use. Therefore, the present invention reduces the size of the device by suppressing the redundancy of the device, and flexibly configures the device,
It is another object of the present invention to increase the speed of the apparatus.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a shared memory for storing frames from a plurality of frame receiving units, and a vacant address of the shared memory prior to receiving frames by the frame receiving units. A vacant address processing unit for notifying information to the frame receiving unit and storing the received frame in a vacant address of the shared memory; and a shared storage in which the received frame is stored when the frame receiving unit requests the exchange after the storing of the received frame by the frame receiving unit. A frame exchange unit that inputs received address information indicating a memory address from a frame reception unit, notifies the frame transmission unit indicating the destination, and transmits a received frame stored in the shared memory to the network, The address processing unit transmits the address information notified from the frame transmitting unit after transmitting the received frame. It was treated as an empty address, and notifies the empty address information in the frame receiving unit. Further, the frame exchange unit includes a first table in which received address information from the frame receiving unit is stored, and a first number of received address information corresponding to a combination of the number of reception ports and the number of transmission ports. Has a second table that can be stored as end address information, a third table that can store first number of received address information as top address information, and a first number of arbitration flags. An arbitration flag unit for arbitrating frame transmission to the arbitration flag unit, an arbitration unit for each transmission port for instructing transmission of a reception frame to the corresponding transmission port indicating the destination when the arbitration flag is set in the arbitration flag unit, When each number of the receiving port and the transmitting port sent together with the received address information from the receiving unit is received, each number of the received receiving port and the transmitting port is received. The designation information based on the request, the second
Detecting the end address information from the address indicated by the designated information in the table, storing the received address information in the address indicated by the end address information in the first table,
Further, when an end address updating unit for rewriting the end address information of the second table to the received address information and a transmission instruction from the arbitration unit for each transmission port are input, the start address information is changed from the address indicated by the specified information in the third table. And retrieves the received address information from the address indicated by the first address information in the first table, transmits the received address information to the frame transmission unit indicating the destination, and transmits the received frame of the shared memory from the transmission port. And a head address updating unit for rewriting the head address information of the table to the received address information.

Further, as the number of reception ports and transmission ports increases, the number of address information that can be stored in the second and third tables, the number of arbitration flags in the arbitration flag section, and the number of arbitration sections for each transmission port Is to be increased. Further, the number of address information stored in the second and third tables, the number of arbitration flags of the arbitration flag unit, and the number of arbitration units for each transmission port are increased in accordance with an increase in the protocol type in the same port. It was made.
In addition, a bandwidth guarantee function is added to the arbitration unit for each transmission port when transmitting a reception frame. Further, when transmitting a received frame, a bandwidth limiting function is added to the arbitration unit for each transmission port. Further, a multicast frame transmission function is added to the frame exchange unit. Also, a software interface is added to the frame exchange unit. Further, the unit of access to the shared memory is set to be equal to or larger than the maximum size of the received frame. In addition, the unit of access to the shared memory is smaller than the maximum size of the received frame.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a gateway device according to the present invention. 100 is a destination determining unit, 111 to 114 are frame receiving units including receiving ports, and 121 to 124 are frame transmitting units including transmitting ports. , 130 is a shared buffer memory, 200 is a frame exchange unit, and 300 is an empty pointer processing unit.

Here, the free pointer processing unit 300 sends an arbitrary pointer (the top address of the maximum access unit of the shared buffer memory 130) to the frame receiving units 111 to 114 prior to receiving frame data from the network.
Output information. Upon receiving the frame data, the frame receiving units 111 to 114 rewrite the received frame based on the destination information determined by the destination determining unit 100, and designate the rewritten frame by the pointer information received from the empty pointer processing unit 300. To the address of the shared buffer memory 130 to be written.

After completion of writing the frame, the frame receiving unit requests the frame exchanging unit 200 to exchange the frame. The frame exchange unit 200 sends the pointer information received from the frame reception unit at the time of the exchange request to the frame transmission units 121 to 124. The frame transmitting unit reads out frame data from the address of the shared buffer memory 130 indicated by the pointer information and transmits the frame data to the network. When the transmission of the frame data to the network is completed, the frame transmitting unit transmits to the free pointer processing unit 300 pointer information obtained when the frame is read from the shared buffer memory 130. Then, the pointer information is used at the time of writing the next received frame into the shared buffer memory 130 by the frame receiving unit.

Next, FIG. 2A is a block diagram showing a configuration of the frame exchange unit 200. Frame exchange unit 200
Are the time-division reception control unit 201 and the time-division transmission control unit 20
2, pointer map memory cell 203, end pointer information table 204, start pointer information table 205,
End pointer update unit 206, start pointer update unit 20
7, arbitration flag section 208 and arbitration section 20 for each transmission port
9 FIG. 2B shows an empty pointer processing unit 3.
00 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the empty pointer processing unit 300, the empty pointer memory cell 301, the time division supply interface 302, the time division write interface 3
03.

The free pointer processing unit 30 shown in FIG.
0 is an empty pointer memory cell 3 having a simple FIFO structure.
01, and sequentially outputs empty pointers of the empty pointer memory cell 301 to each frame receiving unit via the time division supply interface 302 in response to a request from each frame receiving unit. Upon receiving the empty pointer, the frame receiving unit stores the received frame at the address of the shared buffer memory 130 corresponding to the pointer as described above, and then uses the empty pointer as a received pointer together with the reception port number and the transmission port number. Frame exchange unit 20
0 and input to the frame exchange unit 200.

The end pointer update unit 206 of the frame exchange unit 200 shown in FIG.
When the received pointer information is input from the frame receiving unit via the interface, the received port number (reception source information) and the transmission port number (transmission destination information) input from the frame receiving unit are shown in FIG. The end pointer information table 204 is accessed, and the current end pointer information (“142” in the figure) is extracted. The end pointer information is used as an address for the pointer map memory cell 203.
(Pointer exchange memory), the received pointer information (“251” in the figure) input from the frame receiving unit is written, and at the same time, the corresponding end pointer information in the end pointer information table 204 is stored in the frame receiving unit. Is rewritten to the received pointer information input from.

In the end pointer information table of FIG. 3A and the start pointer information table of FIG. 3B described later, reference numerals TP1 to TP4 denote transmission ports built in the four frame transmission units 121 to 124, respectively. # 1
# 4 and RP1 to RP4
Corresponds to the respective numbers of the receiving ports # 1 to # 4 built in the four frame receiving units 111 to 114 respectively. When the number of the transmitting ports and the number of the receiving ports each have four ports, each table has 16 port combinations
Sixteen data are stored corresponding to (4 × 4).

Here, in the example of FIG. 3A, the received pointer information "251" is input from the receiving port # 2 which has received the frame and written in the memory 130, and the received frame is transmitted from the transmitting port # 4. In this case, in the end pointer information table 204, an address at which the number RP2 of the receiving port # 2 that has received the frame and the number TP4 of the transmitting port # 4 to which the received frame is transmitted is selected, and the address is selected. Becomes the storage address of the point map memory cell 203, the received pointer information "251" is written to this storage address, and the end pointer information table 204
The received pointer information “251” is written and updated at the above address.

By the way, the arbitration flag section 208 has 16 arbitration flags for the number of combinations of the number of reception ports and the number of transmission ports. Here, the end pointer information table 2
When the rewriting of the pointer information 04 ends, the end pointer updating unit 206 responds to the specification information specified based on the combination of the numbers of the transmission / reception ports from the frame reception unit out of the 16 arbitration flags. The arbitration flag is set in the arbitration flag unit 208.

Here, there are arbitration units 209 for each transmission port that arbitrate whether a frame can be transmitted to a transmission port by the number of transmission ports, and when an arbitration flag is set in the corresponding arbitration flag unit 208, the arbitration flag is set for each transmission port. The arbitration unit 209 instructs the head pointer updating unit 207 to transmit a frame of the transmission port. Then, the head pointer updating unit 207 calculates
3 (b) is accessed, and the designation information of the leading pointer updating unit 207 (that is, the designation designated based on the combination of the numbers of the transmission / reception ports from the frame receiving unit). From the address corresponding to the current head pointer information (“14” in the figure).
2)). Then, the head pointer updating unit 207
Accesses the pointer map memory cell 203 using the start pointer information as an address, and stores the end pointer information ("251" in the figure) stored at that address.
And transmits it to the frame transmitting unit having the corresponding transmission port (the transmission port designated by the frame receiving unit) via the time-division transmission control unit 202 as the head pointer information. The pointer information ("142") is rewritten to the above-mentioned head pointer information ("251").

When the frame transmitting section receives the head pointer information ("251"), the shared buffer memory 10
3. The received frame is read from the address specified by the head pointer information of No. 3 and transmitted to the external network via the transmission port. When the transmission of the frame by the frame transmitting unit is completed in this way, the leading pointer information used for transmission is input to the empty pointer processing unit 300 as described above, and this is transmitted to the end of the empty pointer memory cell 301 by the time division write interface 303. Is written to.

Here, the head pointer information table 205
Is updated based on the combination of the updated data in the table 205 and the corresponding address in the end pointer information table 204 in FIG. 3A (that is, the number of the transmission / reception port from the frame reception unit). Address), the end pointer update unit 2
06 is in the queue (that is, the shared buffer memory 130)
It is determined that there is no untransmitted frame remaining in the arbitration flag, and the arbitration flag of the arbitration flag unit 208 is cleared.

When the end pointer information and the start pointer information are searched, the number of queues can be easily increased by adding the protocol information (frame type or protocol type) of the frame. That is, when a protocol type is added, the end pointer information table 20 shown in FIG.
4, the number of ports TP and RP in the head pointer information table 205 in FIG. 3B, the number of arbitration flag units 208 and the number of arbitration units 209 for each transmission port in FIG. This increases the number of queues. When the protocol type increases in one port, the number of ports TP and RP in the end pointer information table 204, the number of ports TP and RP in the head pointer information table 205, and the number of By increasing the number and the number of arbitration units 209 for each transmission port, the number of queues can be increased.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the principle of bandwidth guarantee control of a frame to be transmitted.
The transmission port arbitration unit 209 is further provided with a transmission data amount counter and a bandwidth guarantee value table. In FIG. 4, reference numerals 221 to 224 denote the above-described transmission data amount counters which count the number of data of, for example, frames received within a predetermined time by the corresponding frame receiving units and output the transmission data as transmission size information. A value table, 231 is a port time division control unit, 232 is an addition unit, 233 is a comparison unit, 241 to 244 are bandwidth guarantee information bits, 251 to 254 are AND circuits, and 260 is an update selection unit. In this case, the bandwidth guarantee information bits 241 to 244 are added to each arbitration flag of the arbitration flag unit 208 prepared for each transmission / reception port or the number of protocol elements (protocol types) added.

When performing the bandwidth guarantee control of the transmission frame, first, the transmission size information included in the exchange request information from the frame receiving unit is added by the adding unit 232 every time the frame is transmitted. Then, the comparison unit 233 outputs
It is determined whether or not the added value of 2 exceeds the guaranteed value set in the bandwidth guaranteed value table 230. Here, when the value exceeds the guaranteed value, the corresponding band guarantee information bit is cleared in the update selecting unit 260. In this case, even if the arbitration flag is set corresponding to the band guarantee information bit, the arbitration flag is prevented from being transmitted to the arbitration unit 209 for each transmission port by the corresponding AND circuit. Transmission is blocked. On the other hand, if both the bandwidth guarantee information bit and the arbitration flag are set, the arbitration unit 209 for each transmission port takes out only the queue from the queue by round robin and notifies the head pointer update unit 207. As a result, the frame transmission unit having the corresponding transmission port reads out the received frame from the shared buffer memory 130 and transmits it to the network. The clear timer unit 2
Reference numeral 55 clears the transmission data amount counters 221 to 224 at a sampling time of an arbitrary cycle, and sets a band guarantee information bit at the same timing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the principle of band limitation of a frame to be transmitted. The structure is almost the same as that of FIG. 4, but instead of the band guarantee information bits 241 to 244, band limit information bits 271 to 271 are used. 274, and a bandwidth limit value table 270 instead of the bandwidth guarantee value table 230.
Is provided. When performing band limitation control of a transmission frame, first, the addition unit 232 adds the transmission size information included in the exchange request information from the frame reception unit every time a frame is transmitted. And the comparison unit 2
33 determines whether or not the added value exceeds the limit value set in the band limit value table 270. Here, when the limit value is exceeded, the update selection unit 260 clears the corresponding band limitation information bit. As a result, transmission of the received frame is prevented. If the band limitation information bit is set in the arbitration flag unit 208, the arbitration unit 209 performs arbitration for the queue, whereby the received frame is transmitted from the transmission port. Note that the clear timer unit 255 includes transmission data amount counters 221 to 221.
224 is cleared at an arbitrary cycle sampling time, and the band limitation information bit is set at the same timing. The configuration of the frame exchange unit 200 of FIG. 2 may be configured to add both the bandwidth guarantee function of FIG. 4 and the bandwidth limiting function of FIG.

Next, FIG. 6A shows a configuration obtained by adding a multicast function for performing one-to-N transmission of received frames to the configuration of the frame switching unit 200 shown in FIG. 2, and is basically shown in FIG. Performs the same operation as the frame transmission unit. FIG.
In (a), 280 is an internal multicast port control unit. The multicast frame is received by the frame receiving unit and stored in the shared buffer memory 130, and the received pointer information at that time is similarly transmitted to the pointer map memory cell 203 by the end pointer updating unit 206.
Is stored in the pointer information, the storage address of the pointer information is
The end pointer updating unit 20, the arbitration flag unit 208, the arbitration unit 209 for each transmission port,
7 is transmitted. In this case, the head pointer update unit 207
Reads the received pointer information from the pointer map memory cell 203 according to the storage address and sends it to the internal multicast port control unit 280 via the time division transmission control unit 202 to hold it. The internal multicast port control unit 280 reads the multicast frame in the memory 130 based on the received received pointer information, detects the transmission destination, and sets the corresponding arbitration flag of the arbitration flag unit 20. Based on the set of the arbitration flag of the arbitration flag unit 208, the corresponding arbitration unit 2 for each transmission port
The transmission port is selected by 09, and the selected transmission port is notified of the selection via the head pointer updating unit 207 and the time division transmission control unit 202. The frame transmission unit having the selected transmission port reads the received pointer information held by the internal multicast port control unit 280 instead of the normal head pointer information table 205, and based on the read pointer information, the shared buffer memory. Access 130 to read out the multicast frame and transmit it to the network. When a multicast frame is transmitted from one transmission port in this way, the same multicast frame is transmitted from the next transmission destination transmission port included in the frame.

Here, a score board shown in FIG. 6B, which will be described later, is provided at the transmission port constituting the frame transmission section. The transmission port that has transmitted the multicast frame clears the transmission non-completion flag of its own scoreboard when transmission is completed. When each transmission port transmits all the multicast frames and all the transmission incomplete flags are cleared, the pointer information of the multicast frame stored in the scoreboard is sent to the empty pointer processing unit 300 as empty pointer information. It is added to the end of the empty pointer processing unit 300.

FIG. 6B shows an example of the scoreboard.
In this case, the transmission of the multicast frame is completed in the transmission ports # 1 and # 2, and the transmission of the multicast frame is not completed in the transmission ports # 3 and # 4, and the pointer information of the multicast frame "301" is transmitted in the transmission port #.
3 and # 4. When the transmission of the multicast frame is completed in the transmission ports # 3 and # 4, and the pointer information "301" is returned from the transmission ports # 3 and # 4 as the transmission completion, the pointer information "301" is used as an empty pointer. It is stored in the empty pointer memory cell 301 of the empty pointer processing unit 300. The configuration of the frame exchange unit 200 shown in FIG.
In addition to this multicast function, either one of the band guarantee function and the band limit function shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 may be added, and both the band guarantee function and the band limit function may be added.

FIG. 7 shows the frame exchange unit 200 of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a software interface is added to the configuration of the frame exchange unit 200 shown in FIG. 2; a software transmission interface 291, a software reception interface 292, and an empty pointer acquisition register 2
This is an example in which a software interface 93 is added. When the frame is received by the frame receiving unit and stored in the shared buffer memory 130, and the received pointer information at that time is similarly stored in the pointer map memory cell 203 by the end pointer updating unit 206,
The storage address of the pointer information is the end pointer update unit 206, the arbitration flag unit 208, the arbitration unit 2 for each transmission port.
It is transmitted to the head pointer update unit 207 via the path 09.
If the received frame is addressed to the present apparatus, the head pointer updating unit 207 reads out the received pointer information from the pointer map memory cell 203 according to the storage address and sends it to the software reception interface 292 via the time division transmission control unit 202. send. Here, the CPU (not shown) of the present apparatus reads out the received pointer information from the software reception interface 292 by executing the program, reads out the received frame in the shared buffer memory 130 according to the received pointer information, and processes the received frame.

On the other hand, when transmitting a frame from the present apparatus to another apparatus via a network, empty pointer information is stored in the empty pointer acquisition register 293 from the empty pointer memory cell 301 of the empty pointer processing unit 300. In this case, the CPU acquires the free pointer information of the free pointer acquisition register 293 by executing the program, writes the transmission frame directly to the address of the shared buffer memory 130, and then receives the received pointer information and the received pointer information via the software transmission interface 291. Time-division reception control unit 20
1 to the end pointer update unit 206.

The end pointer updating unit 206 stores the received point information in the pointer map memory cell 203 in the same manner as when receiving the received point information and the like transmitted by executing the software, and stores the storage address of the pointer information. The arbitration flag is transmitted to the head pointer updating unit 207 through the path of the arbitration flag unit 208 and the transmission port arbitration unit 209. Then, the head pointer updating unit 207 reads the received pointer information from the pointer map memory cell 203 according to the storage address, and transmits the read pointer information to the corresponding transmission port selected by the transmission port arbitration unit 209 via the time division transmission control unit 202. I do. In the frame transmission unit having the selected transmission port, the shared buffer memory 13
The received frame is read from the address specified by the received pointer information of 0 and transmitted to the network via the transmission port. When the transmission of the received frame to the network is completed, the received pointer information is transmitted from the frame transmitting unit to the empty pointer processing unit 300,
The data is written to the end of the empty pointer memory cell 301 by the time division write interface 303.

Note that, in addition to the software interface function, any one of the multicast function in FIG. 6, the bandwidth guarantee function in FIG. 4, and the bandwidth limiting function in FIG. 5 may be added to the frame exchange unit 200 in FIG. Further, both a multicast function and a bandwidth guarantee function may be added.
Also, both the multicast function and the band limiting function may be added, and both the band guarantee function and the band limiting function,
Alternatively, all of the multicast function, the band limitation function, and the band guarantee function may be added.

The above description is based on the shared buffer memory 130
Is larger than the maximum frame size of the received frame (1518 bytes in the present embodiment), but the access unit is set to, for example, 256 bytes smaller than the maximum frame size in order to increase the efficiency of use of the memory 130. As a result, the shared buffer memory 13
0 The use efficiency can be improved. In this case, the position information of this frame is added to the pointer information. When there is a subsequent pointer of the same frame, as shown in FIG. 8, the arbitration holding signal is output from the head pointer update unit 207 to the arbitration unit 209 for each transmission port so that re-arbitration is not performed. By adding the above configuration to all the configurations shown in FIGS. 2 to 7 above,
Shared buffer memory 1 for realizing each of the above functions (multicast function, band limiting function, band guarantee function, etc.)
30 can be used more efficiently.

As described above, one shared buffer memory 1
Since 30 can be used in common by each frame receiving unit and frame transmitting unit, the size of the apparatus can be reduced. Further, the use efficiency of the shared buffer memory 130 can be improved. Furthermore, since the frame switching unit 200 can be realized by one chip, the frame switching unit 200 can be downsized, and can accommodate a large number of queues required for QoS guarantee and realize a band management function.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, a shared memory for storing received frames is provided between a frame receiving unit for receiving frames and a frame transmitting unit for transmitting received frames. Since the address information to be accessed is linked between the frame receiving unit and the frame transmitting unit, the shared memory can be used in common by a plurality of frame receiving units and the frame transmitting unit. Therefore, redundancy of the device can be suppressed, and the device can be downsized, and the device can be flexibly configured. Further, since the buffer exchange arbitration function as in the conventional device can be omitted, the speeding up of the device can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a gateway device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a frame exchange unit and an empty pointer processing unit in the gateway device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating each update operation of an end pointer update unit and a start pointer update unit of the frame exchange unit in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration in which a bandwidth guarantee function of a transmission frame is added to the frame exchange unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration in which a band limiting function of a transmission frame is added to the frame exchange unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration in which an internal multicast function is added to the frame exchange unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration in which a software interface is added to the frame exchange unit in FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a frame exchange unit when an access unit to a shared buffer memory in which frames to be transmitted / received are accumulated is smaller than a maximum frame size.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional gateway device.

[Explanation of symbols]

100: destination determination unit, 111 to 114: frame reception unit, 121 to 124: frame transmission unit, 130: shared buffer memory, 200: frame exchange unit, 300: empty pointer processing unit, 203: pointer map memory cell,
204: end pointer information table, 205: start pointer information table, 206: end pointer update unit, 20
7: Start pointer update unit, 208: Arbitration flag unit, 20
9 Arbitration unit for each transmission port, 221 to 224 Transmission data amount counter, 230 Bandwidth guarantee table, 232 Addition unit, 233 Comparison unit, 241 to 244 Bandwidth guarantee information bit, 260 Update selection unit, 270 ... Band limit value table, 271-274 ... Band limit information bits, 280 ...
Internal multicast port control unit, 291, software transmission interface, 292, software reception interface, 293, empty pointer acquisition register, 30
1: Empty pointer memory cell.

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] August 13, 1999 (1999.8.1)
3)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Claims]

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0004

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a shared memory for storing frames from a plurality of frame receiving units, and a vacant address of the shared memory prior to receiving frames by the frame receiving units. A vacant address processing unit for notifying information to the frame receiving unit and storing the received frame in a vacant address of the shared memory; and a shared storage in which the received frame is stored when the frame receiving unit requests the exchange after the storing of the received frame by the frame receiving unit. A frame exchange unit that inputs received address information indicating a memory address from a frame reception unit, notifies the frame transmission unit indicating the destination, and transmits a received frame stored in the shared memory to the network, The address processing unit transmits the address information notified from the frame transmitting unit after transmitting the received frame. It was treated as an empty address and notifies the empty address information in the frame receiving unit together
The frame exchange unit includes a first table in which received address information from the frame receiving unit is stored, and a first number of received address information corresponding to a combination of the number of reception ports and the number of transmission ports. Has a second table that can be stored as end address information, a third table that can store first number of received address information as top address information, and a first number of arbitration flags. An arbitration flag unit for arbitrating frame transmission to the arbitration flag unit, an arbitration unit for each transmission port for instructing transmission of a reception frame to the corresponding transmission port indicating the destination when the arbitration flag is set in the arbitration flag unit, When each number of the receiving port and the transmitting port sent together with the received address information from the receiving unit is received, each number of the received receiving port and the transmitting port is received. The end address information is detected from the address indicated by the designation information in the second table, the received address information is stored in the address indicated by the end address information in the first table, and the second When an end address updating unit for rewriting the end address information of the table to the received address information and a transmission instruction from the arbitration unit for each transmission port are input, the head address information is detected from the address indicated by the designated information in the third table, Received address information is extracted from the address indicated by the first address information in the first table, transmitted to the frame transmission unit indicating the destination, and the received frame of the shared memory is transmitted from the transmission port. A head address updating unit that rewrites information to received address information. It is.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A destination determining unit for determining a destination of a received frame received from a network, and a receiving port for receiving the frame from the network and rewriting the received frame to the destination determined by the destination determining unit and outputting the frame. In a gateway device including a plurality of frame receiving units and a plurality of frame transmitting units including a transmission port for transmitting a frame output from the frame receiving unit to a network, a shared storage for storing frames from the plurality of frame receiving units A memory, a vacant address processing unit that notifies the vacant address information of the shared memory to the frame receiving unit prior to frame reception by the frame receiving unit, and stores the received frame in a vacant address of the shared memory, and after the received frame is stored by the frame receiving unit. At the time of the exchange request from the frame receiving unit. Received address information indicating the address of the shared memory in which the received frame is stored is input from the frame receiving unit, and is notified to the frame transmitting unit indicating the destination, and the received frame stored in the shared memory is transmitted to the network. A frame exchange unit, wherein the vacant address processing unit processes the address information notified from the frame transmitting unit after transmitting the received frame as a vacant address, and notifies the vacant address information to a frame receiving unit. Gateway device. 2. The frame switching unit according to claim 1, wherein the frame exchange unit corresponds to a first table in which the received address information from the frame reception unit is stored, and a number of combinations of the number of reception ports and the number of transmission ports. A second table capable of storing the first number of the received address information as end address information, a third table capable of storing the first number of the received address information as start address information, An arbitration flag unit having the first number of arbitration flags and arbitrating frame transmission to a transmission port; and transmitting a received frame to a corresponding transmission port indicating the destination when the arbitration flag is set in the arbitration flag unit. A arbitration unit for each transmission port for instructing a reception port and a transmission port transmitted together with the received address information from the frame reception unit at the time of the exchange request. Receiving the respective numbers of the received port and the transmission port, obtains designation information based on the respective numbers of the received ports, detects end address information from an address indicated by the designation information of the second table, and An end address updating unit that stores the received address information at an address indicated by the end address information of the above, and rewrites the end address information of the second table with the received address information; When you enter the send instruction for
Detecting the start address information from the address indicated by the designation information in the third table, extracting the received address information from the address indicated by the start address information in the first table, and transmitting the frame indicating the destination And a head address updating unit for transmitting the received frame of the shared memory from the transmission port, and rewriting the head address information of the third table with the received address information. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the number of the second port is increased according to an increase in the number of reception ports and transmission ports.
And the number of arbitration flags of the arbitration flag section and the number of arbitration sections for each transmission port are increased. 4. The method according to claim 2, wherein, in accordance with an increase in a protocol type in the same port,
A gateway device, wherein the number of pieces of address information stored in the second and third tables, the number of arbitration flags of the arbitration flag section, and the number of arbitration sections for each transmission port are increased. 5. The arbitration unit for each transmission port according to claim 2, wherein the arbitration unit for each transmission port counts the number of data received within a predetermined time by the frame reception unit and outputs the data as transmission size information. A counter and a bandwidth guarantee value table in which a guarantee value for guaranteeing the bandwidth of the transmission frame is stored, and the arbitration flag unit has a bandwidth guarantee information bit for identifying whether or not the bandwidth is guaranteed, The arbitration unit for each transmission port adds the transmission size information each time a frame is transmitted, clears the bandwidth guarantee information bit when the addition result exceeds the guaranteed value in the bandwidth guarantee value table, and sets the bandwidth guarantee information bit. When there is an arbitration flag section that has been set, the head address updating section is instructed to transmit a received frame to a corresponding transmission port. Way apparatus. 6. The arbitration unit for each transmission port according to claim 2, wherein the arbitration unit for each transmission port counts the number of data received within a predetermined time by the frame reception unit and outputs the data as transmission size information. A counter and a bandwidth limit value table in which a limit value for limiting a bandwidth of a transmission frame is stored, and the arbitration flag unit has a bandwidth limitation information bit for identifying whether or not the bandwidth is limited, The arbitration unit for each transmission port adds the transmission size information each time a frame is transmitted, and clears the band limitation information bit when the addition result exceeds the limit value in the band limitation value table, and clears the band limitation information bit. If there is an arbitration flag section, the head address update section is not instructed to transmit a received frame to the corresponding transmission port. Gateway device according to symptoms. 7. The internal multicast port control unit according to claim 2, wherein the frame exchange unit performs 1: N transmission of received frames (N is an integer of 2 or more). Transmitting means for transmitting the received address information to the internal multicast port control unit based on an exchange request from the frame receiving unit, after the multicast frame is received by the frame receiving unit and stored in the shared memory; When receiving the received address information transmitted by the transmission means, the control unit stores and retains the received address information, reads a multicast frame of the shared memory based on the received address information, and reads a transmission destination from the multicast frame. And sets the appropriate arbitration flag,
The arbitration unit for each transmission port selects a corresponding transmission port based on a set of arbitration flags, and a frame transmission unit having the selected transmission port uses a shared memory based on received address information held by an internal multicast port control unit. A gateway device for reading out and transmitting a multicast frame. 8. The frame exchange unit according to claim 2, wherein the frame exchange unit comprises a software transmission interface, a software reception interface, and a register for acquiring free address information from a free address processing unit. First software processing means for inputting and processing, via the software receiving interface, a received frame addressed to the own device received by the frame receiving unit and stored in the shared memory, and a free address of the register, While storing the transmission data of the own device at the address of the shared memory corresponding to the information, transmitting the empty address information as received address information to the frame transmission unit via the software transmission interface, Previous Gateway device is characterized in that a second software processing means for transmitting the transmission data. 9. The gateway device according to claim 2, wherein an access unit to the shared memory is equal to or larger than a maximum size of a received frame received in one reception. . 10. The received address information according to claim 2, wherein a unit of access to the shared memory is smaller than a maximum size of a received frame received in one reception. And if there is subsequent received address information of the same received frame, the arbitration holding signal is output from the head address updating unit to the arbitration unit for each transmission port, and the arbitration unit for each transmission port outputs A gateway device wherein re-arbitration is not performed.