JP2002158683A - Optical communication network adapter device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical communication network adapter device displaying the function of a network adapter and the function of a repeater in an optical communication network. SOLUTION: Two light signal communication means 1 and 2 connected via two different light signal communication paths and processors and two network connection paths and processor connection ports communicate a light signal via the network connection ports. A data communication means 3 communicates data via the processor connection port. When one light signal communication means 1 receives the light signal, the data communication means 3 transmits data, corresponding to the received light signal by a reception control means 4, by transmitting the light signal corresponding to the light signal concerned by the other light signal communication means 2. When the data communication means 3 receives data, the transmission control means 4 transmits the light signal, corresponding to data concerned by the two light signal communication means 1 and 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical communication network adapter device for connecting a plurality of optical signal communication paths constituting an optical communication network to a processing device such as a computer. The present invention relates to an optical communication network adapter device that functions as a repeater (for example, a relay amplifier).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art One example of an optical communication network using a bus-type connection has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-252170. In a network configured using such an optical star coupler, the number of connection nodes can be increased by using a relay amplifier, for example, as in the invention described in JP-A-2-56128. As an example, the network scale can be expanded by using the bidirectional optical signal relay amplifier proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-69006. However, for example, CSMA / CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Coll)
In optical communication networks based on bus-type connections using the ision detection method, there is a limitation on the maximum path length due to the limitation of the collision window, and the maximum number of repeater amplifiers present in the path between nodes is limited. The scale of the network cannot be expanded without limit.

[0003]

Incidentally, in an optical communication network system, an optical transceiver is an expensive component, and the number of optical transceivers present in the system greatly affects the cost of the system. As an example, FIG.
1 shows a configuration example of a conventional general optical communication network adapter device. This optical communication network adapter device includes one optical transceiver 51 for transmitting and receiving an optical signal, a host interface unit 52 for transmitting and receiving data to and from a host bus 54, an optical transceiver 51 and a host I / O. A control unit 53 for controlling the / F unit 52 is included.

Here, the optical transceiver 51 converts an optical signal received from the optical communication network into an electric signal and outputs the electric signal to the control unit 4, and converts an electric signal from the control unit 4 to be transmitted into an optical signal. It has the function of converting and transmitting to the optical communication network.

FIG. 17 shows a configuration example of a conventional general bidirectional optical signal repeater amplifier. This bidirectional optical signal repeater amplifier includes two optical transceivers 61 and 62 for transmitting and receiving an optical signal.
Two amplifiers 63 and 64 for amplifying a signal relayed by the two optical transceivers 61 and 62 are included.

The optical modules described in, for example, JP-A-8-201659 and JP-A-8-212252 are optically connected to a connector plug for optical communication to convert an optical signal into an electric signal. It can be used as an interface device for a node, an optical signal repeater, or the like.

FIG. 18 shows a conventional (4-port) optical star coupler 72, 72a to 72d and a conventional (shown in FIG. 16 above) under the condition that the maximum number of relay amplifiers allowed in a path between nodes is two. T) Optical communication network adapter device 7
1 shows an example of a maximum network that can be formed by using the conventional relay amplifiers 73 and 73a to 73c (shown in FIG. 17). This network comprises five optical star couplers 72, 72a-72.
d, four relay amplifiers 73, 73a to 73c, 12
Nodes (optical communication network adapter devices) 71,
71a to 71k.

Specifically, one optical star coupler 72d
Are connected to four relay amplifiers 73, 73a to 73c, and one optical star coupler 72, 72a to 72c is connected to each of the relay amplifiers 73, 73a to 73c. That is, the optical star coupler 72d is connected to the four optical star couplers 72, 72a to 72c via the respective relay amplifiers 73, 73a to 73c. Further, these four optical star couplers 72, 72a to 72c
Are connected to three nodes 71, 71a to 71k, respectively.

In addition, one optical transceiver is included in each of the nodes 71 and 71a to 71k, and two optical transceivers are included in each of the relay amplifiers 73 and 73a to 73c.
There are three optical transceivers. Therefore, the number of optical transceivers per node is about 1.667 (= 20/1).
2). The relay amplifiers 73, 73a to 73c
Since the optical signal is attenuated by optical signal communication between the optical star couplers 72, 72a to 72d, for example, it is provided to amplify the optical signal.

FIG. 19 shows components of a network (optical star coupler, relay amplifier, node, optical transceiver) when the maximum number of relay amplifiers allowed in a path between nodes is two, four, or six. The numbers are shown.
As shown in the figure, the number of optical transceivers per node increases as the size of the network increases,
When the maximum number of relay amplifiers is 4, about 1.889 (=
68/36), which is approximately 1.963 (= 212/108) when the maximum number of relay amplifiers is 6.

Here, as described above, the number of optical transceivers per node is closely related to the cost per node of the network system. However, for example, in a bus-type optical communication network configured by the conventional technology, 1
The number of optical transceivers required per node is close to two,
There was a problem that the cost was high.

The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem. For example, the number of optical transceivers required per node in the above-mentioned bus type optical communication network is smaller than that of the conventional optical communication network. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical communication network adapter device that can reduce the number thereof, thereby reducing the cost. Specifically, the present invention provides an optical communication network adapter device for connecting a plurality of optical signal communication paths constituting an optical communication network with a processing device such as a computer.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, an optical communication network adapter device according to the present invention has an optical communication network between two different optical signal communication paths constituting an optical communication network by the following configuration. While relaying the signal, these two optical signal communication paths and the processing device are communicably connected. That is, the optical communication network adapter device has two network connection ports and (for example, one) processing device connection port, and each of two different optical signal communication paths constituting the optical communication network and each network connection port. And can be connected to the processing device via a processing device connection port.

In the optical communication network adapter device, two optical signal communication means for communicating (transmitting / receiving) an optical signal via each network connection port (with each optical signal communication path), and a processing device connection port And data communication means for communicating (transmitting / receiving) data (with the processing device) via the communication device.

In the optical communication network adapter device, when an optical signal is received by one of the optical signal communication means via the network connection port (from one of the optical signal communication paths), the reception control means sets the optical signal to Is transmitted by the other optical signal communication means via the network connection port (to the other optical signal communication path), and the data corresponding to the received optical signal is connected to the processing device by the data communication means. Transmit via port (to processing unit). Further, in the optical communication network device, when data is received (from the processing device) via the processing device connection port by the data communication device, the transmission control device transmits the optical signal corresponding to the data to the two optical signal communication devices. Via each network connection port (for each optical signal communication path).

Therefore, such an optical communication network adapter device can exhibit, for example, the function of a network adapter and the function of a repeater in the optical communication network. Specifically, as described above, the optical communication network The optical signal can be relayed between two different optical signal communication paths, and the two optical signal communication paths can be communicably connected to the processing device.

When such an optical communication network adapter is used, for example, the number of optical transceivers required per node in a bus type optical communication network as shown in the above-mentioned conventional example is reduced as compared with the conventional one. Therefore, costs can be reduced.

Here, various types of optical communication networks may be used. Further, an arbitrary optical signal communication path may be used as the two different optical signal communication paths. Various devices may be used as the processing device, for example, a computer or the like. As data communicated by the data communication means, digital data (digital signal) is preferably used.
For example, analog data (analog signal) may be used.

In a preferred embodiment, when an optical signal is received by only one of the optical signal communication means, an optical signal corresponding to the optical signal is transmitted by the other optical signal communication means, and two (both of the two) are transmitted. If the optical signals are simultaneously received by the optical signal communication means, an optical signal corresponding to the optical signal received by one optical signal communication means is transmitted by the other optical signal communication means and received by the other optical signal communication means. The optical signal corresponding to the converted optical signal is transmitted by one optical signal communication unit (that is, the optical signal is bidirectionally relayed).

As an optical signal corresponding to the optical signal (herein, referred to as the original optical signal), for example, a signal (substantially) the same as the original optical signal is used. The signal format and the like may be different as long as the information includes the included information. As the data corresponding to the optical signal, for example, data of information included in the optical signal (for example, data obtained by converting the optical signal into data) is used. As the optical signal corresponding to the data, for example, an optical signal including information of the data (for example, a signal obtained by converting the data into an optical signal) is used.

Further, in the optical communication network adapter device, for example, when transmitting an optical signal corresponding to an optical signal received by one optical signal communication means by the other optical signal communication means, the optical signal relayed in this manner is transmitted. An amplifying function (a function of a relay amplifier) may be provided. In such a configuration, the level of an optical signal to be relayed can be maintained at a required level.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned optical communication network adapter device,
When an optical signal is received simultaneously (from each optical signal communication path) by each of the two optical signal communication means via each network connection port, data indicating that the optical signal has collided is sent to the processing device connection port by the data communication means. Optical signal collision control means for transmitting (to the processing device) via

Therefore, even if the reception of the optical signals from the two optical signal communication means collides, data indicating such a collision is transmitted (to the processing device) by the data communication means. Therefore, the occurrence of such a collision can be notified to the processing device.

The technical concept of the optical communication network adapter device as described above can be applied to an optical communication network adapter device having three or more network connection ports as described below. In the optical communication network adapter device according to the present invention, the optical signal is relayed between three or more different optical signal communication paths constituting the optical communication network by the following configuration.
The above optical signal communication path and the processing device are communicably connected.

That is, the optical communication network adapter device has three or more network connection ports (the same number as the number of optical signal communication paths to be described later) and (for example, one) processing device connection port. Do 3
It is possible to connect to each of the above different optical signal communication paths via each network connection port, and to connect to the processing device via the processing device connection port.

In the optical communication network adapter device, the same number (that is, the above-mentioned number) of the network connection ports for communicating (transmitting / receiving) an optical signal via each network connection port (with each optical signal communication path). Optical signal communication means (as many as the number of optical signal communication paths) and data communication means for communicating (transmitting / receiving) data via the processing device connection port (to / from the processing device) are provided.

In the optical communication network adapter device, when an optical signal is received by one of the optical signal communication means via a network connection port (from an optical signal communication path), the reception control means sets the optical signal The optical signal corresponding to the above is transmitted by all the other optical signal communication means through each network connection port (to each optical signal communication path), and the data corresponding to the received optical signal is processed by the data communication means. Transmit (to the processing device) via the device connection port. Also, in the optical communication network adapter device, when data is received (from the processing device) via the processing device connection port by the data communication means,
The transmission control means transmits an optical signal corresponding to the data by all the optical signal communication means via each network connection port (to each optical signal communication path).

Therefore, such an optical communication network adapter device can exhibit, for example, the function of a network adapter and the function of a repeater in an optical communication network. The optical signal can be relayed between three or more different optical signal communication paths, and the three or more optical signal communication paths can be communicably connected to the processing device.

When such an optical communication network adapter is used, for example, the number of optical transceivers required per node in a bus type optical communication network as shown in the above-mentioned conventional example is reduced as compared with the conventional example. Therefore, costs can be reduced.

Here, various optical communication networks may be used. Further, as the three or more different optical signal communication paths, an arbitrary optical signal communication path may be used. Also, as the number of three or more different optical signal communication paths,
Various numbers may be used. Various devices may be used as the processing device, for example, a computer or the like. Further, as data communicated by the data communication means, digital data (digital signal) is preferably used, but for example, analog data (analog signal) may be used.

In a preferred embodiment, when an optical signal is received by only one optical signal communication means, an optical signal corresponding to the optical signal is transmitted by all other optical signal communication means, When an optical signal is received simultaneously by only one optical signal communication means, an optical signal corresponding to the optical signal received by one optical signal communication means is transmitted by the other optical signal communication means, and the other optical signal communication means An optical signal corresponding to the received optical signal is transmitted by one optical signal communication means (that is, the optical signal is relayed only in two directions),
When an optical signal is received simultaneously by three or more optical signal communication means, the optical signal is not relayed.

In the present invention, as a preferred embodiment,
The optical signal corresponding to the optical signal received by any one of the optical signal communication means is transmitted by all the other optical signal communication means. For example, the optical signal is transmitted by another part of the optical signal communication means. It is also possible to adopt a configuration for transmitting. Similarly, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the optical signal corresponding to the data received by the data communication means is transmitted by all the optical signal communication means. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the transmission is performed by the following.

As the optical signal corresponding to the optical signal (here, referred to as the original optical signal), for example, a signal (substantially) the same as the original optical signal is used. The signal format and the like may be different as long as the information includes the included information. As the data corresponding to the optical signal, for example, data of information included in the optical signal (for example, data obtained by converting the optical signal into data) is used. As the optical signal corresponding to the data, for example, an optical signal including information of the data (for example, a signal obtained by converting the data into an optical signal) is used.

Further, in the optical communication network adapter device, for example, when transmitting an optical signal corresponding to an optical signal received by one of the optical signal communication means by another optical signal communication means, May be provided (a function of a relay amplifier), and in such a configuration, the level of the optical signal to be relayed can be maintained at a required level.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the above optical communication network adapter device,
When an optical signal is simultaneously received (from each optical signal communication path) via each network connection port by the above optical signal communication means, an optical signal indicating that the optical signal has collided is transmitted to all other optical signal communication means. Through the respective network connection ports (for each optical signal communication path), and data indicating that an optical signal has collided through the processing device connection port by the data communication means (to the processing device). 2.) Optical signal collision control means for performing transmission.

Therefore, even if reception of optical signals from two or more optical signal communication means has collided, an optical signal indicating such a collision is transmitted by another optical signal communication means (optical signal communication means). Is transmitted (to the optical signal communication path on which the signal has not been received), and data indicating such a collision is transmitted by the data communication means (to the processing device). Can be notified to a device or a processing device connected to another optical signal communication path (that is, an optical signal communication path from which no optical signal was received).

[0037]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An optical communication network adapter according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of the optical communication network adapter device of the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the optical communication network adapter device of the present example includes two optical transceivers 1 and 2, a host interface (I / F) unit 3,
And a control unit 4. FIG. 1 shows a host bus 5 connected to the host interface unit 3.

As described above, the optical communication network adapter device of this embodiment has two network connection ports (network connection ports) for transmitting and receiving optical signals by the two optical transceivers 1 and 2 and the host interface unit 3.
Has a single port for processing device connection (processing device connection port) for transmitting and receiving data, which is the basic minimum configuration of the optical communication network adapter device according to the present invention. That is, the optical communication network adapter device of this example is a dual-port optical communication network adapter device with respect to the network connection port.

Further, the two network connection ports are respectively connected to different optical signal communication paths constituting the optical communication network, and the processing device connection port is a processing device (not shown in the present example, which becomes a node via the host bus 5). Host computer).

Each of the optical transceivers 1 and 2 is a device generally used in an optical communication system for converting an optical signal into an electric signal, for example, and converts an optical signal received from outside (in this example, an optical communication network). Convert to electrical signal and control unit 4
And a function of converting a signal input as an electrical signal from the control unit 4 into an optical signal and transmitting the signal to the outside (in this example, an optical communication network). The optical transceivers 1 and 2 can be configured using, for example, a laser diode or a photodiode. Each of the optical transceivers 1 and 2 of the present example has a function of amplifying a signal. Specifically, the optical transceiver 1 has a light emitting device 6 such as a laser diode for converting an electric signal into an optical signal and transmitting the light signal, and a light receiving device 7 such as a photodiode for receiving the optical signal and converting it into an electric signal. are doing. Similarly, the optical transceiver 2 also has a light emitting device 8 and a light receiving device 9.

The host interface unit 3 is a control circuit for performing communication with the host bus 5, and outputs data (electric signals) input from the control unit 4 to the host bus 5, and inputs data from the host bus 5. It has a function of outputting data (electric signals) to the control unit 4. The control unit 4 controls the operations of the optical transceivers 1 and 2 and the host interface unit 3
This is a circuit for controlling the operation of.

The host bus 5 is a bus used when an add-in card is added to a computer system serving as a node of the optical communication network, and is provided between the optical communication network adapter device and the computer system node serving as the node. Communication.

Next, a specific example of the operation performed by the optical communication network adapter device of this embodiment will be described. As shown in the data transmission operation in FIG. 2, when a data transmission command is issued from the computer system to the optical communication network adapter device via the host bus 5, the optical communication network adapter device operates the optical transceivers 1, 2. Transmit the same commanded data from both at the same time. In this case, the data (electric signal) from the host bus 5 is input to the two optical transceivers 1 and 2 via the host interface unit 3 and the control unit 4, and the data is transmitted by the optical transceivers 1 and 2. Is converted into an optical signal and transmitted.

As shown in FIG. 3, the operation at the time of data reception is as follows when an optical signal is received from either one of the two optical transceivers 1 and 2. That is, for example, when the optical transceiver 1 receives an optical signal, the received data is sent to the computer system via the host bus 5 in this case. At the same time, the received data is relayed to the other optical transceiver 2 and transmitted. In this case, the optical signal received by the optical transceiver 1 is converted into data (electrical signal) and transmitted to the host bus 5 via the control unit 4 and the host interface unit 3, and the data is transmitted to the other optical transceiver 2 Is converted into an optical signal and transmitted.

When an optical signal is received by the optical transceiver 2, the optical signal is relayed to the other optical transceiver 1 and transmitted, and data corresponding to the optical signal is transmitted to the host bus. 5 to the computer system.

As shown in FIG. 4, when two optical transceivers 1 and 2 receive an optical signal at the same time, the signal is processed as a signal collision and the corresponding optical signal is dealt with. The data is not sent to the computer system. In this case, one of the optical transceivers 1
, The data received as an optical signal is relayed to the other optical transceiver 2 and transmitted as an optical signal, and the data received as an optical signal by the other optical transceiver 2 is relayed to one optical transceiver 1 and transmitted as an optical signal. .

By performing the operation described above,
The optical communication network adapter device of the present example can exhibit, for example, a function of a network adapter similar to the conventional one, and also a function of relay-amplifying an optical signal.

FIG. 5 shows that, when the optical communication network adapter device of the present embodiment is used, the (4-port) optical star coupler 12, With respect to 12a to 12d and network connection ports, single-port optical communication network adapter devices 11, 11a to 11k and relay amplifiers 13, 13
An example of the largest network that can be configured using a to 13c is shown. As the single-port optical communication network adapter devices 11 and 11a to 11k with respect to the network connection ports, for example, the devices as shown in FIG. The optical communication network adapter device is used.

This network is composed of five star couplers 12, 12a to 12d, nodes connected by four optical communication network adapter devices 13, 13a to 13c having two network connection ports according to the present embodiment, and 1
Optical communication network adapter device 1 according to two conventional examples
1, and nodes connected by 11a to 11k.

Specifically, one optical star coupler 12d
To four optical communication network adapter devices 1 according to this example
3, 13a to 13c are connected, and the respective optical communication network adapter devices 13, 13a to 1 according to the present example are connected.
3c has one optical star coupler 12, 12a to 12c, respectively.
12c is connected. That is, the optical star coupler 12
d is connected to the four optical star couplers 12, 12a to 12c via the optical communication network adapter devices 13, 13a to 13c according to the present example. Further, three optical communication network adapter devices 11, 11a to 11k according to the conventional example are connected to these four optical star couplers 12, 12a to 12c, respectively.

Then, the optical communication network adapter devices 13, 1 having two network connection ports of this embodiment
Two optical transceivers are included for each of 3a to 13c, and optical communication network adapter devices 11, 11a to
Since one optical transceiver is included for every 11k, there are a total of 20 optical transceivers in this network configuration. Therefore, since the number of nodes is 16, the number of optical transceivers per node is 1.25.

FIG. 6 shows the network components (star coupler, dual port node, single port node, all nodes) when the maximum number of relay amplifiers allowed in the path between the nodes is two, four, or six. Number, optical transceiver). As shown in the figure, the number of optical transceivers per node is 1.308 when the maximum number of relay amplifiers is four, and
If the maximum number of relay amplifiers is 6, it becomes 1.325.

Therefore, in the bus type optical communication network constituted by using the optical communication network adapter device of the present embodiment, compared with the conventional structure as shown in FIGS. The required number of optical transceivers can be reduced, which can reduce the cost per node.

Next, a more specific example of the circuit configuration of the optical communication network adapter device of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 shows a PC
An example of the circuit configuration of the optical communication network adapter device of the present example, which is designed as an I (Peripheral Component Interconnect) add-in card, has two network connection ports and has a relay amplification function is shown.

The optical communication network adapter device shown in the figure has two optical transceivers 21 and 22 and an AS
IC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) chip 23, ROM (Read Only Memory) 24, SR
An AM (Static Random Access Memory) 25 is provided. The ASIC chip 23 includes a PCI controller 31, a data transfer controller 32,
O buffer controller 33 and MAC controller 3
4 and 8B / 10B encoder / decoder (Encode
er / Decoder) 35 and a relay controller 36
And two serial / parallel converters 37 and 38. These components 31 to 38 are mounted together as one ASIC chip 23.

The PCI controller 31 is a circuit for controlling access to a host computer via a PCI bus. The data transfer controller 32 is a circuit that controls data transfer. The data transfer controller 32 sends a bus master DMA (Di
rect Memory Access), and interprets and executes a board (PCI add-in card) status notification and setting change command issued by the host computer.

The ROM 24 is a non-volatile memory for storing information unique to the board, and mainly stores a MAC address of the board, a product serial number, and the like. These data are read by the data transfer controller 32 according to an instruction from the host computer.

The FIFO buffer controller 33 is a circuit that bridges (relays) the flow of data between the data transfer controller 32 and the MAC controller 34.
Asynchronous communication between different clock domains and FIFO
(First In First Out) mechanism to buffer data. The SRAM 25 is an external SRAM circuit controlled by the FIFO buffer controller 33. Here, in this example, since the cost of the RAM as the internal circuit of the ASIC is generally high, the SRAM 25 is
By externally providing a memory for the IFO buffer, a large-capacity buffer is realized at low cost.

The MAC controller 34 is a data link layer (MA according to IEEE802.3z) in the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) hierarchical model of the data communication protocol.
(C layer). The 8B / 10B encoder / decoder 35 is a sublayer of the physical layer (PCS (Personal Communicati) described in IEEE802.3z) in the OSI hierarchical model.
This is a circuit that performs processing corresponding to (on Systems) sublayer), and encodes transmission data from 8 bits (bit) to 10 bits and decodes received data from 10 bits to 8 bits.

The relay controller 36 is a circuit for performing control relating to the relay amplification of the optical signal. Each of the serial / parallel converters 37 and 38 is a circuit that performs serial-parallel conversion of received data and parallel-serial conversion of data to be transmitted.
One for each two.

Each of the optical transceivers 21 and 22 performs optical signal-to-electric signal conversion of the received data and electric signal-to-optical signal conversion of the data to be transmitted, and simultaneously detects the presence or absence of the input of the optical signal. As the optical transceivers 21 and 22, for example, general-purpose components can be used. The electrical I / O (Input / Output) is a standard 1x9 pin assignment, and the electrical interface is PECL (Positive
Emitter Coupled Logic) level.

Next, the flow of the operation of the optical communication network adapter device as described above will be described to specifically describe the features of the device. First, the operation when the host computer transmits data will be described. That is, first, the operating system (OS) of the host computer
The device driver of em) gives a transmission instruction together with the address of the transmission data to the optical communication network adapter via the PCI bus. Then, these addresses and instructions are transmitted to the data transfer controller 32 via the PCI controller 31.

Next, the data transfer controller 32 that has received the transmission instruction transfers the transmission data from the memory of the host computer using the bus master DMA transfer based on the given address, and transfers the transmission data to the FIFO.
Output to the buffer controller 33. Then, the transmission data is transmitted to the M via the FIFO buffer controller 33.
The information is transmitted to the AC controller 34.

Next, the MAC controller 34
A transmission frame is formed according to the protocol, and the transmission frame is output to the relay controller 36 via the 8B / 10B encoder / decoder 35. Next, the relay controller 36 outputs the given transmission frame to both of the serial / parallel conversion units 37 and 38, whereby
The transmission data (transmission frame) is transmitted to both optical transceivers 2.
1 and 22 are transmitted as optical signals to the optical communication network. By such a process, for example, the operation at the time of data transmission as shown in FIG. 2 can be realized.

Next, one of the optical transceivers 2
The operation when data is received from (only) 1, 22 will be described. For example, if an optical signal is received from one optical transceiver 21 and no optical signal is input to the other optical transceiver 22, first, one optical transceiver 2
1 converts the signal received by the serial / parallel conversion unit 37
Thus, the serial signal is converted into a parallel signal and input to the relay controller 36.

Next, the relay controller 36 outputs the signal input from the serial / parallel converter 37 to both the other serial / parallel converter 38 and the 8B / 10B encoder / decoder 35. Then, the serial / parallel converter 38 converts the data passed from the relay controller 36 from a parallel signal to a serial signal and inputs the data to the other optical transceiver 22. Then, this serial signal is transmitted to the optical communication network as an optical signal by the other optical transceiver 22, whereby the optical signal is relayed.

The 8B / 10B encoder / decoder 35 converts a 10-bit parallel signal input from the relay controller 36 into an 8-bit parallel signal, and outputs it to the MAC controller 34. Then, the MAC controller 34 processes the data input from the 8B / 10B encoder / decoder 35 based on the MAC protocol. Normally, the input data is sent to the FIFO buffer controller 33 only when the destination address is addressed to the own node or broadcast, and otherwise, the data is discarded.

The data sent to the FIFO buffer controller 33 is sent to the data transfer controller 32 by the data transfer controller 32.
The data is transferred to the memory of the host computer via the PCI controller 31 by the bus master DMA transfer, and an interrupt indicating that the data has been received is generated.

By the operation as described above, for example, the operation at the time of data reception as shown in FIG. 3 can be realized. As described above, in the optical communication network system of the present example, the receiving function of the network adapter that receives an optical signal and transmits it to the host computer can be realized, and the optical signal input to one optical transceiver is converted to the other. A relay function of relaying to an optical transceiver of the present invention can be realized.

Next, the operation when the optical signals are simultaneously received by both optical transceivers 21 and 22 will be described.
That is, when an optical signal is input to both the optical transceivers 21 and 22 at the same time, first, the signals received by the respective optical transceivers 21 and 22 are converted by the serial / parallel converters 37 and 38 into the relay controller 36.
Sent to

Next, the relay controller 36 outputs the signal input from the one serial / parallel converter 37 to the other serial / parallel converter 38, and outputs the signal input from the other serial / parallel converter 38 to one end. To the serial-to-parallel converter 37. Then
Each of the serial / parallel converters 37 and 38 converts a signal received from the relay controller 36 from a parallel signal to a serial signal and inputs the signal to each of the optical transceivers 21 and 22. The data input to each of the optical transceivers 21 and 22 is stored in the corresponding one of the optical transceivers 21 and 22.
Is transmitted to the optical communication network as an optical signal.

When such processing is performed, the signal received by one optical transceiver 21 is output by the other optical transceiver 22, and the signal received by the other optical transceiver 22 is output by the one optical transceiver 21. Accordingly, a bidirectional optical signal relay operation is realized.

At the same time as the above-described optical signal relay operation is performed, the relay controller 36 sets the 8B / 10B
The irregular code is transmitted to the encoder / decoder 35. Here, the irregular code is a code that does not appear when 8-bit data is converted into 10 bits, and this irregular code means that a transmission error occurs due to signal collision or the like. Further, the illegal code input to the 8B / 10B encoder / decoder 35 is input to the MAC controller 34, whereby the MAC controller 34
Recognizes that a signal collision has occurred. The occurrence of such a signal collision is transmitted to the host computer via the PCI bus.

By the operation as described above, for example, the operation at the time of signal collision as shown in FIG. 4 can be realized. Specifically, the optical signal can be relayed in both directions, and at that time, the host computer can be made to recognize that the signal has collided.

The ASIC used in the optical communication network adapter device of the present embodiment includes a relay controller 3 in the controller of the ordinary optical communication network adapter device.
6 and serial / parallel converters 37 and 38 are added. Here, generally, the relay controller 36 and the serial / parallel converters 37 and 38 do not have a large circuit area, and the number of pins used for connection between the ASIC and the optical transceiver is five (differential PECL is 2).
Since the number of pairs and carrier sense is one), the mass production cost of the ASIC of this example is almost the same as the cost of the ASIC of the controller of the conventional optical communication network adapter device, for example.

Therefore, the controller ASIC as in the present embodiment is shared by the single-port optical communication network adapter device and the dual-port optical communication network adapter device with respect to the network connection port. , 22) can be made to function similarly to the conventional optical communication network adapter device by omitting one. As a result, the effect of component sharing can be obtained, and a dual-port optical communication network adapter device can be manufactured at lower cost.

As a form that looks similar to the present example, there is a conventional technique in which the functions of two optical communication network adapter devices are simply combined into one board. However, in this case, the optical communication network adapter device itself does not have a relay function. It is also possible to implement the relay function by software using this, but in this case, the relay speed is low, the CPU does not operate when the CPU of the host computer is stopped or in standby in the power saving mode, software There is a problem that reliability is low due to the implementation by the ISP. Also, in this case,
Since it is necessary to have two FIFO buffers, there is a problem that the memory capacity is doubled, and the manufacturing cost of the optical communication network adapter device is increased. Therefore, it is difficult to solve the problem to be solved by the present invention.

Here, for example, in the configuration example of the optical communication network shown in FIG. 5, two optical star couplers 12 connected to one optical communication network adapter device of this example are connected. , 12
a to 12d) and two optical signal communication paths (constituting an optical communication network) according to the present invention.
It corresponds to two different optical signal communication paths. In this example,
From the functions of the two optical transceivers 1 and 2,
One optical signal communication means is constituted, and the function of the host interface unit 3 constitutes a data communication means according to the present invention. In this example, the function of performing an operation at the time of data reception under the control of the control unit 4 constitutes the reception control means according to the present invention. Transmission control means according to the present invention is configured. In this example, an optical signal collision control unit is configured by a function of performing an operation at the time of signal collision under the control of the control unit 4.

Next, an optical communication network adapter according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this example, an example is shown in which an optical communication network adapter is configured using three or more optical transceivers. FIG. 8 shows a configuration example of the optical communication network adapter device of the present example. As shown in the figure, the optical communication network adapter device of the present example has three optical transceivers 4.
1 to 43, a host interface unit 44, and a control unit 45. FIG. 2 shows a host bus 46 connected to the host interface unit 44.

As described above, the optical communication network adapter device of the present embodiment has three network connection ports (network connection ports) for transmitting and receiving optical signals by the three optical transceivers 41 to 43 and the host interface unit 44 for data transmission. Has a port for connecting one processing device (processing device connection port). Also,
The three network connection ports are respectively connected to different optical signal communication paths constituting an optical communication network, and the processing device connection port is connected to a processing device (in this example, a host computer) serving as a node via a host bus 46. .

The optical transceivers 41 to 43, the host interface unit 44, and the control unit 45 constituting the optical communication network adapter device of this embodiment are, for example, those of the optical transceiver 1 shown in FIG. 2, the host interface unit 3 and the control unit 4, the detailed description is omitted in this example.

Next, the operation performed by the optical communication network adapter device of this embodiment will be described. Here, the operation as a network adapter performed by the optical communication network adapter device having three or more optical transceivers is as follows.
It is assumed that the processing is performed according to the following three rules (1) to (3). (1) Data transmission from a node (host computer) is simultaneously transmitted from all optical transceivers. (2) Only when a signal is received from only one of the optical transceivers, the signal is sent to the host computer as received data. (3) If a signal is received from two or more of the optical transceivers, it is processed as if a signal collision has occurred;
No receiving operation is performed.

It is assumed that the operation as a repeater performed by the optical communication network adapter device having three or more optical transceivers is performed according to the following three rules (1) to (3). That is, when attention is paid to a certain optical transceiver, (1) If all of the optical transceivers other than the optical transceiver do not receive a signal, no signal is output. (2) When a signal is received from only one of the optical transceivers other than itself, the received signal is transmitted as it is to perform a relay operation. (3) When two or more of the optical transceivers other than the own have received the signal, a jamming signal indicating that a signal collision has occurred is transmitted to notify the occurrence of the collision.

Hereinafter, the operation of the optical communication network adapter device of the present example, which is performed according to the above-described rules, will be specifically described. As shown in FIG. 9, when the data transmission command is issued from the computer system to the optical communication network adapter device via the host bus 46, for example, the optical transceiver shown in the first embodiment is used. As in the two cases, in the optical communication network adapter device, three optical transceivers 41 to 41 are used.
The same instructed data is transmitted from all 43 simultaneously.

FIG. 10 shows an operation at the time of data reception when a signal is input from only one optical transceiver 41. In this case, in the optical communication network adapter device, a reception signal is transmitted from the remaining two optical transceivers 42 and 43 to which no signal is input, the signal is relayed, and the received signal is used as reception data by the host. Transferred to computer.

FIG. 11 shows an operation at the time of data reception when signals are simultaneously input from the two optical transceivers 41 and 42. In this case, in the optical communication network adapter device, a jamming signal indicating the occurrence of a collision is transmitted from the optical transceiver 43 to which no signal has been input, and the two optical transceivers 41 and 42 to which the signal has been input are mutually connected. The other side transmits the received signal to perform a bidirectional relay operation. The host computer is notified that a signal collision has occurred, and the received data is not sent.

FIG. 12 shows an operation at the time of data reception when signals are input from all three optical transceivers 41 to 43. In this case, in the optical communication network adapter device, a jamming signal indicating the occurrence of a collision is transmitted from all the optical transceivers 41 to 43. The host computer is notified that a signal collision has occurred, and the received data is not sent.

FIG. 13 shows an example of an operation (signal output state) corresponding to all signal input states in the optical communication network adapter apparatus having three network connection ports (three optical transceivers) of the present embodiment. Is shown. Also, when the number of optical transceivers provided in the optical communication network adapter device is four or more, the operation is performed according to the same rules as in the present embodiment. As a specific example, FIG.
3 shows an example of an operation (signal output state) corresponding to all signal input states in an optical communication network adapter device having four network connection ports (four optical transceivers).

Here, the table shown in FIG.
In the table shown in FIG. 7, "IN" indicates a signal input state, "OUT" indicates a signal output state, and "A",
“B” and “C” (and “D” in FIG. 14) indicate each network connection port, and “MAC” indicates an output state to the MAC controller. Regarding the signal input state, “0” indicates that there is no signal input, and “1” indicates that there is a signal input. Regarding the signal output state, “n” indicates that no signal is output (no output), and “A”, “B”, “C” (and “D” in FIG. 14) indicate the port (selected port). ) Indicates that the input signal is relay-transmitted, and “J” indicates that a jamming pattern signal is output. Regarding the output state to the MAC controller, “n” indicates that the signal is the MAC
Indicates that it is not output to the controller (no output)
“A”, “B”, and “C” (and “D” in FIG. 14) indicate that an input signal from the port (selected port) is output to the MAC controller, and “J” indicates an illegal code. This indicates that the message is output to the MAC controller.

FIG. 15 shows an example of an overall procedure of a process performed by an optical communication network adapter device having three or more network connection ports. That is, in the optical communication network adapter device,
First, it is determined whether a data transmission request (transmission request) has been input from the host computer (step S).
1) When it is determined that the request has been input, a process of transmitting data relating to the transmission request from all network connection ports is executed (step S2).

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data transmission request has not been input (step S
1) The optical communication network adapter device determines whether an optical signal has been received from a network connection port and, if received, detects how many network connection ports have received the optical signal ( Step S3).

Here, if it is determined that an optical signal has been received from only one network connection port, the optical communication network adapter device receives the optical signal from all other network connection ports that did not receive the optical signal. An optical signal corresponding to the signal is transmitted to relay the received data, and the received data is transferred (transmitted) to the host computer (step S4).

When it is determined that an optical signal has been received from the two network connection ports, the optical communication network adapter device relays the received data between the two network connection ports and receives the optical signal. The jamming signal is output from all the other network connection ports that have not been made, and the host computer is notified that a signal collision has occurred (step S5).

If it is determined that an optical signal has been received from three or more network connection ports, the optical communication network adapter device outputs a jamming signal from all of these network connection ports, and outputs the jamming signal to the host computer. Then, it is notified that a signal collision has occurred (step S6).

As described above, in the multiport optical communication network adapter apparatus shown in the first and second embodiments, the communication between the two or more optical transceivers for transmitting and receiving optical signals and the host bus of the node is performed. It has a host interface for exchanging data with the host, and a controller for controlling the optical transceiver and the host interface. The host interface performs a function as a network adapter, and receives a signal input to the optical transceiver. The function as a repeater for relaying to and outputting to an optical transceiver other than those described above can be exhibited.

In the optical communication network adapter device provided with three or more optical transceivers as shown in the second embodiment, for example, when an optical signal is input to two or more optical transceivers at the same time, By outputting the jamming signal to the optical transceiver, the signal collision can be notified to other nodes of the optical communication network.

Therefore, for example, when the optical communication network adapter device as shown in the first embodiment or the second embodiment is used as the optical communication network adapter device of the node connected to the bus type optical communication network, In the optical communication network adapter device, while exhibiting a communication interface function with the host computer,
The relay (amplification) function between optical communication networks can be exhibited by relaying a signal between each of a plurality of network connection ports, whereby, in such a bus-type optical communication network, for example, Compared with the technology, the number of optical transceivers required per node can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

In this example, three optical transceivers 4
The optical signal communication means (three or more) according to the present invention is constituted by the functions of 1 to 43, and the host interface unit 44
The data communication means according to the present invention is constituted by the above function. In this example, the function of performing a relay operation of received data under the control of the control unit 45 constitutes a reception control unit according to the present invention, and the function of performing an operation at the time of data transmission under the control of the control unit 45 includes The transmission control means according to the present invention is configured. In this example, an optical signal collision control unit is configured by a function of performing an operation at the time of signal collision under the control of the control unit 45.

Here, the configuration of the optical communication network adapter device according to the present invention is not necessarily limited to the one described above, and various configurations may be used. Also,
The field of application of the present invention is not necessarily limited to those described above, and the present invention can be applied to various fields.

The various processes performed by the optical communication network adapter device according to the present invention include, for example, control by executing a control program stored in a ROM by a processor in hardware resources including a processor and a memory. Configuration may be used,
Further, for example, each functional unit for executing the processing may be configured as an independent hardware circuit. In addition, the present invention can be understood as a computer-readable recording medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk or a CD-ROM storing the above-mentioned control program or the program (itself). By inputting the information to a computer and causing the processor to execute the processing, the processing according to the present invention can be performed.

[0101]

As described above, the optical communication network adapter according to the present invention is connected to two different optical signal communication paths constituting the optical communication network via the two network connection ports, and performs processing. In a configuration in which a device is connected to a processing device via a processing device connection port, a function for communicating an optical signal via each network connection port and a function for communicating data via the processing device connection port are provided, and one of the network connection ports When an optical signal is received via the network device, the optical signal corresponding to the optical signal is transmitted via the other network connection port, and the data corresponding to the received optical signal is transmitted via the processing device connection port. When data is received via the processing device connection port, an optical signal corresponding to the data is transmitted to two network devices. Because it is to be sent via the network connection port, it is possible to exhibit the functions of and the repeater network adapter, for example in an optical communication network. When such an optical communication network adapter device is used, the number of optical transceivers required per node in the optical communication network can be reduced as compared with the related art, thereby reducing costs.

In the network adapter device according to the present invention, the optical communication network is connected to three or more different optical signal communication paths via the same number of network connection ports as the optical signal communication paths, and the processing device And the connection through the processing device connection port,
It has a function of communicating an optical signal through each network connection port and a function of communicating data through a processing device connection port. If an optical signal is received through any one of the network connection ports, The optical signal corresponding to the optical signal is transmitted through all other network connection ports, and the data corresponding to the received optical signal is transmitted through the processing device connection port, and also through the processing device connection port. When the data is received, the optical signal corresponding to the data is transmitted through all the network connection ports. For example, the optical communication network adapter device having the two network connection ports described above is used. Similar effects can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an optical communication network adapter device having two network connection ports according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of the operation of the optical communication network adapter device during data transmission.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of the operation of the optical communication network adapter device when receiving data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example of an operation of the optical communication network adapter device at the time of signal collision.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an optical communication network.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the number of components of a network.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a circuit configuration example of the optical communication network adapter device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an optical communication network adapter device having three network connection ports according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining an example of the operation of the optical communication network adapter device during data transmission.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining an example of the operation of the optical communication network adapter device when receiving data.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of the operation of the optical communication network adapter device when receiving data.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining an example of the operation of the optical communication network adapter device when receiving data.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of an input / output state of an optical communication network adapter device having three network connection ports.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of an input / output state of an optical communication network adapter device having four network connection ports.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of a process performed by an optical communication network adapter device having three or more network connection ports.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an optical communication network adapter device having one network connection port.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a bidirectional optical signal relay amplifier.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an optical communication network.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of the number of components of a network.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2, 21, 22, 41 to 43, 51, 61, 62
Optical transceivers 3, 44, 52 host interface (I / F) unit 4, 45, 53 control unit
5, 46, 54... Host bus, 6, 8,.
7, 9,... Light receiver, 11, 11a to 11k, 71, 71
a to 71k... single-port optical communication network adapter device, 12, 12a to 12d, 72, 72a to 7
2d optical star coupler, 13, 13a to 13c dual port optical communication network adapter device, 23
..ASIC, 24..ROM, 25..SRA
M, 31 ··· PCI controller, 32 ··· Data transfer controller, 33 ·· FIFO buffer controller, 34 ··· MAC controller, 35 ·· 8B / 1
0B encoder / decoder, 36 relay controller, 37, 38 serial / parallel converter, 6
3, 64 ··· amplifier, 73, 73a to 73c · · · relay amplifier,

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An optical communication network adapter device connected to two different optical signal communication paths constituting an optical communication network via two network connection ports and connected to a processing device and a processing device connection port. And communicates an optical signal through each network connection port.
Two optical signal communication means, a data communication means for communicating data via the processing device connection port, and an optical signal communication means for receiving an optical signal via the network connection port by one of the optical signal communication means. Receiving control means for transmitting an optical signal via the network connection port by the other optical signal communication means and transmitting data corresponding to the received optical signal via the processing device connection port by the data communication means; When the data is received through the processing device connection port, the optical signal corresponding to the data is
An optical communication network adapter device, comprising: transmission control means for transmitting via each network connection port by two optical signal communication means. 2. An optical communication network comprising three or more different optical signal communication paths connected to each other via the same number of network connection ports as the optical signal communication paths, and connected to the processing apparatus via the processing apparatus connection port. An optical communication network adapter device, comprising: the same number of optical signal communication means as the network connection ports for communicating an optical signal via each network connection port; and data communication means for communicating data via the processing device connection port. When an optical signal is received via the network connection port by any one of the optical signal communication means, an optical signal corresponding to the optical signal is received by each of the other optical signal communication means via each network connection port. While transmitting, the data corresponding to the received optical signal is transmitted through the processing device connection port by the data communication means. Receiving control means for transmitting, and transmitting, when data is received via the processing device connection port by the data communication means, an optical signal corresponding to the data is transmitted via each network connection port by all optical signal communication means. An optical communication network adapter device comprising: a control unit.