JP2013009089A - Transmission side device, receiving side device, relay device, communication device, transmission method, receiving method, and transmission and receiving program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transmission side device, a receiving side device, a relay device, a communication system, a transmission method, a receiving method and a transmission and receiving program, which are capable of integrating various communication data without encapsulating such data in Ethernet (R) frames.SOLUTION: A transmission side device 41 constituting a communication system 40 receives data, which has been transmitted from a plurality of transmission lines having different data formats each other, individually for each transmission line, makes the data redundant by mapping them to MAC frames for data transmission in accordance with a predetermined rule with a receiving side device 42, and transmits such frames by allocating them to a plurality of transmission lines. The receiving side device 42 receives these frames, performs error detection and correction using redundant bits, and restores the frames to the original data formats.

Description

  The present invention relates to a transmission side device, a reception side device, a relay device, a communication system, a transmission method, a reception method, a transmission program, and a reception program. The present invention particularly relates to a transmission side device, a reception side device, a relay device, a communication system, and a transmission method that communicate data of various communication methods using Ethernet (registered trademark) and can easily recover data when a failure occurs. The present invention relates to a reception method, a transmission program, and a reception program.

  Conventionally, various communication methods have been used according to their characteristics. As a result, there are many types of communication devices, and software and circuit devices required for systems and users who use some of these devices in common tend to become more complicated. On the other hand, inexpensive and large-capacity packet communication systems have become widespread, and the need to integrate them has emerged.

  Therefore, proposals for integrating a plurality of communication methods into a packet network have been made conventionally. For example, in the first related technique of the present invention, a TDM signal from a base station is converted into an IP (Internet Protocol) packet. Also in the gateway device, the circuit-switched PCM data is converted into IP packets in the optical accommodation unit (see, for example, Patent Document 1). As described above, in the first related technique, various data are transmitted as IP packets to the transmission line.

  In addition, the second related technology for encapsulating communication data such as ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) and TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) on Ethernet (registered trademark) frames and IP packets and integrating them into the packet network is also proposed. It has been broken. Recently, technologies such as FCOE (Fiber Channel Over Ethernet (registered trademark)) that integrates FC (Fiber Channel) used in the storage field on Ethernet (registered trademark) have also appeared.

Patent No. 436248 (paragraph 0025)

  In the technology using these packet networks, there is a problem that packet loss occurs due to congestion in the packet network. For this reason, it is difficult to integrate communication methods requiring reliability.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a transmission side device, a reception side device, a relay device, a communication system, a transmission method, a reception method, and transmission that can integrate various communication data without encapsulating them in an Ethernet (registered trademark) frame. And providing a receiving program.

  In the present invention, (a) data receiving means for individually receiving data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more), for each transmission line; (B) The data of each of the A transmission lines received by the data receiving means is B ways (where B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device. Within the same frame determined in advance between the mixed data creating means for creating the mixed data distributed to (b) and the device serving as the data destination for each of the B mixed data created by the mixed data creating means. Data body creation means for creating a total of B data bodies by adding redundant bits for the same frame for error checking or error correction, and (d) this data body creation means Therefore, hybrid MAC frame assembling means for data transmission for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC (Media Access Control) frames in which each of the created data bodies is incorporated in the payload, and (e) this hybrid MAC frame assembling means for data transmission The transmission-side device includes data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending means for sending the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled in accordance with the B transmission lines prepared in advance.

  In the present invention, (b) a hybrid MAC frame for data transmission as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more) is used. The data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means for receiving each transmission line individually, and (b) embedded in the payload of each of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means. By distributing the data corresponding to the A transmission lines (where A is an integer of 2 or more) to the data transmission source device for each predetermined bit position in A ways, A Data body reconstruction means for returning to the data body; and (c) reconstructed by the data body reconstruction means. Redundant bit for the same frame for separating the redundant bit for the same frame for error checking or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies and the device that is the data transmission source. And (d) error detection for the same frame for performing error detection or correction of data to be received in A data bodies using the redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundant bit separation means for the same frame. -(E) Converting the data A of the same frame error detection / correction means processing to the data format of the transmission method determined in advance between the data transmission source device and (e) Data format converting means to be used, and (f) A data converted by the data format converting means are used in advance. Receiving device and a transmission line transmitting means for transmitting in association respectively with the A book transmission line comprises.

  Further, according to the present invention, (a) a hybrid MAC frame for data transmission is transmitted as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively transmitted from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). (B) A embedded in each payload of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception means; All of the data corresponding to the transmission lines (where A is an integer equal to or greater than 2) are distributed in A ways for each predetermined bit position between the data transmission device and the relay device. Data body reconstruction means for returning to the A data body in (i), and (c) this data body reconstruction means Therefore, the redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between the reconstructed A data bodies and the above-mentioned data transmission source device are separated. Using the same frame redundant bit separating means and (d) the same frame redundant bits separated by the same frame redundant bit separating means, error detection or correction of data to be received in the A data body is performed. Transmission method in which the same frame error detection / correction means and (e) A data for which the same frame error detection / correction means has been completed are preliminarily decided between the data transmission source device. Data format conversion means for converting to the data format of (1) and (A) A converted by the data format conversion means. Data is distributed again in B ways (where B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance between the data destination device and the relaying device. For error checking within the same frame determined in advance between the creating means and (b) the B destination mixed data created by the mixed data re-creating means and the data destination device and the relay device Alternatively, data body recreating means for re-adding redundant bits for the same frame for error correction to create a total of B data bodies, and (h) each of the data bodies created by this data body recreating means is payload Reassemble a hybrid MAC frame for data transmission that is built into B And (i) a hybrid MAC frame for data transmission which sends out each of the hybrid MAC frames for data transmission assembled by the hybrid MAC frame for data transmission reassembly means again in association with B transmission lines prepared in advance. The relay device includes a re-transmission means.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, (b) data for individually receiving data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more). The data of each of the A transmission lines received by the receiving means and the data receiving means is divided into B types (B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance between the data destination devices. Error check in the same frame determined in advance between the mixed data creating means for creating the mixed data distributed to the data and the B destination mixed data created by the mixed data creating means. Data body creation means for creating a total of B data bodies by adding redundant bits for the same frame for error correction or error correction, and this data body creation means Data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling means for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which each of the formed data bodies is incorporated in the payload, and for each data transmission assembled by this data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling means (B) a transmission side device provided with a hybrid MAC frame sending means for data transmission that sends out a hybrid MAC frame in correspondence with B transmission lines prepared in advance; and (b) sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance. Data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means for individually receiving a hybrid MAC frame for data transmission as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) for each transmission line, and this hybrid MAC for data transmission For each bit position determined in advance between the data corresponding to the A transmission lines incorporated in the respective payloads of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the frame receiving means with the data transmission source device A data body reconstructing means for returning to A data bodies in total by distributing to A ways, and a data transmission source from each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstructing means, The same frame redundant bit separating means for separating error redundant bits for error checking or error correction in the same frame determined in advance with the device to be separated by this redundant bit separating means for the same frame Data to be received in the A data body using each redundant bit for the same frame Between the error detection / correction means for the same frame that detects or corrects the error of the data and the A data that has been processed by the error detection / correction means for the same frame between the data transmission source device described above Data format conversion means for converting to a data format of a predetermined transmission method, and transmission line sending means for sending A data converted by the data format conversion means in correspondence with A transmission lines prepared in advance. The communication system includes a receiving side device including

  In the present invention, (b) data reception for individually receiving data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more). Step (b) The data of each of the A transmission lines received in this data reception step is B-typed for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device (where B is an integer of 2 or more) .) Mixed data creation step for creating mixed data distributed to (1) and (c) the same frame decided in advance between the B mixed data created in this mixed data creation step and the data destination device. A data body creation step for creating a total of B data bodies by adding redundant bits for the same frame for error checking or error correction in ( ) A data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling step for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which each of the data bodies created in this data body creation step is incorporated in the payload; and (e) this data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembly. The transmission method includes a data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending step of sending each of the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled in steps to B transmission lines prepared in advance.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, (b) a hybrid MAC frame for data transmission as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more) is used. A hybrid MAC frame reception step for data transmission received individually for each transmission line, and (b) embedded in the payload of each of the B hybrid MAC frames for data transmission received in the hybrid MAC frame reception step for data transmission. By distributing the data corresponding to the A transmission lines (where A is an integer of 2 or more) to the data transmission source device for each predetermined bit position in A ways, A In the data body reconstruction step to return to the data body, and (c) in this data body reconstruction step The redundant bits for the same frame for error checking or error correction in the same frame determined in advance with the data transmission source device from each of the A data bodies reconstructed in this way are separated. And (d) error detection or correction of data to be received in A data bodies using the same frame redundant bits separated by the same frame redundant bit separation step. An error detection / correction step for the same frame to be performed, and (e) A type of data for which processing in the error detection / correction step for the same frame has been completed, are negotiated in advance with the device serving as the data transmission source. A data format conversion step for converting to the data format of the transmission method; Receiving method and transmission line sending step for sending by respectively associated data converted A street steps previously prepared A book transmission line comprises.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, (b) data sent in an arbitrary transmission system from A transmission lines prepared in advance (A is an integer equal to or greater than 2) are individually transmitted to the computer for each transmission line. (B) The B transmission data received in this data reception process is divided into B types for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device (where B is (C) a mixed data creation process for creating mixed data distributed to (2), and (c) a B data mixture created by this mixed data creation process in advance between the data destination devices. A data body creation process for creating a total of B data bodies by adding redundant bits for the same frame for error checking or error correction in the decided same frame; ) A data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling process for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which each of the data bodies created by the data body creation processing is incorporated in the payload; and (e) this data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembly. A data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending process is performed in which each data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembled by the process is sent in association with B transmission lines prepared in advance.

  In the present invention, (b) a hybrid for data transmission as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from a transmission line of (B) B (B is an integer of 2 or more) prepared in advance to a computer. (B) In each payload of each of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received in the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception processing, the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception processing receives the MAC frame individually for each transmission line. By distributing the data corresponding to the built-in A ways (where A is an integer equal to or greater than 2) to the A transmission device for each bit position determined in advance with the data transmission source device, the data is distributed in total. A data body reconstruction process for returning to the A data body, and (c) this data body reconstruction process The redundant bits for the same frame for error checking or error correction in the same frame determined in advance with the data transmission source device from each of the A data bodies reconstructed in this way are separated. And (d) error detection or correction of data to be received in the A data body using each redundant bit for the same frame separated by the redundant bit separation process for the same frame. The error detection / correction processing for the same frame to be performed, and (e) A data for which the processing in the error detection / correction processing for the same frame has been completed, are negotiated in advance with the device serving as the data transmission source. Data format conversion processing for converting to the data format of the transmission method, and (f) A message converted by this data format conversion processing. Respectively associated with the data in the previously prepared A book of the transmission line to execute a transmission line transmitting process of transmitting to.

  As described above, in the present invention, communication technologies other than Ethernet (registered trademark) and Ethernet (registered trademark) are integrated on the Ethernet (registered trademark) link. At this time, the communication method other than Ethernet (registered trademark) is not integrated on the Ethernet (registered trademark) by encapsulation, but the bit position on the Ethernet (registered trademark) link is specified and the Ethernet (registered trademark) data is specified. And other data are mapped to predetermined bit positions. These mapping methods are determined by agreement with a data destination device or a relay device.

  Therefore, it is possible to ensure data security for a third party who does not know a specific arrangement for data distribution between the hybrid MAC frames for data transmission and data distribution in the payload of the same frame. In addition, by appropriately changing this agreement, it is possible to improve security and efficiently perform transmission according to the situation of a plurality of types of data constituting mixed data.

  Further, in the present invention, redundant bits for error checking or error correction are incorporated to perform data transmission / reception and relaying. As a result, the reliability of data to be transmitted can be improved and the retransmission process can be reduced.

It is a claim corresponding | compatible figure of the transmission side apparatus of this invention. It is a claim corresponding | compatible figure of the receiving side apparatus of this invention. It is a claim corresponding | compatible figure of the relay apparatus of this invention. It is a claim corresponding | compatible figure of the communication system of this invention. It is a claim corresponding | compatible figure of the transmission method of this invention. It is a claim corresponding | compatible figure of the receiving method of this invention. It is a claim corresponding | compatible figure of the transmission program of this invention. It is a claim corresponding | compatible figure of the receiving program of this invention. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an overview of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a format block diagram which showed the format of the hybrid MAC frame transmitted between the transmission side apparatus in this Embodiment, and the reception side apparatus. It is a frame block diagram showing an example of the state which mapped packet data and circuit | line data to the payload part of the hybrid MAC frame in this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which showed the method of mapping the packet data of this Embodiment to a hybrid MAC frame. It is explanatory drawing which showed the method of mapping the circuit | line data of this Embodiment to a hybrid MAC frame. It is explanatory drawing which showed the mode of the production | generation of the parity byte on the hybrid MAC frame which comprises the parity link of this Embodiment. FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram specifically showing an example of a bit arrangement of the first data portion shown in FIG. 14 and a bit arrangement of a second parity byte corresponding to the example. It is explanatory drawing which showed the principle which produces the hybrid MAC frame on the parity link in this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of calculation of the even parity in the hybrid MAC frame on a parity link in this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the decompression | restoration of the data in the data part of a hybrid MAC frame when a failure generate | occur | produces in this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which showed the malfunction in the case of determining transmission timing with a clock position in this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing showing the mode of transmission of the flame | frame at the time of making a transmission timing correspond between two links from which the period of a clock differs. FIG. 10 is a system configuration diagram specifically illustrating configurations of a transmission side device and a reception side device in the communication system illustrated in FIG. 9. It is a schematic block diagram of the data generation part showing the mode of the process of distribution of a MAC frame in this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing showing a part of structure of the database part of this Embodiment. It is a block diagram showing the circuit part which absorbs the delay fluctuation in the data reproducing part of this Embodiment. It is a system block diagram which showed the structure of the communication system in the modification of this invention. It is a system configuration | structure figure showing the fundamental structure of the communication system which was made to match | combine the transmission bit number per unit time between several apparatuses.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to a claim of the transmission side apparatus of the present invention. The transmission side device 10 of the present invention includes a data receiving means 11, a mixed data creating means 12, a data body creating means 13, a data transmission hybrid MAC (Media Access Control) frame assembling means 14, and a data transmission hybrid MAC. Frame sending means 15 is provided. Here, the data receiving means 11 individually receives data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more). The mixed data creating means 12 sends the data of each of the A transmission lines received by the data receiving means 11 to B types (where B is 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device. Create mixed data distributed to integers.). The data body creation means 13 is the same for error checking or error correction in the same frame that is determined in advance with the data destination device for each of the B mixed data created by the mixed data creation means 12. A total of B data bodies are created by adding redundant bits for frames. The data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling means 14 assembles B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which the data bodies created by the data body creating means 13 are incorporated in the payload. The data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending means 15 sends the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame associating with the B transmission lines prepared in advance.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the receiving side apparatus according to the present invention. The receiving side apparatus 20 of the present invention includes a data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means 21, a data body reconfiguring means 22, a same frame redundant bit separating means 23, a same frame error detecting / correcting means 24, a data A format conversion means 25 and a transmission line sending means 26 are provided. Here, the hybrid MAC frame receiving means 21 for data transmission transmits data as MAC frames by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). The hybrid MAC frame is received separately for each transmission line. The data body reconstructing means 22 has A types (where A is an integer of 2 or more) incorporated in the payload of each of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception means 21. The data corresponding to the transmission line is distributed in A ways for each bit position determined in advance with the device that is the data transmission source, thereby returning to the A data bodies in total. The redundant bit separation means 23 for the same frame is used in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstruction means 22 and the above-mentioned data transmission source device. Separate redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction. The same frame error detection / correction means 24 uses the same frame redundant bits separated by the same frame redundant bit separation means 23 to perform error detection or correction of data to be received in the A data bodies. The data format conversion means 25 converts the data A in which the processing of the error detection / correction means 24 for the same frame has been completed into a data format of a transmission method decided in advance with the device as the data transmission source. . The transmission line sending means 26 sends A data converted by the data format conversion means 25 in association with A transmission lines prepared in advance.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram corresponding to the claims of the relay device of the present invention. The relay device 30 of the present invention includes a data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means 31, a data body reconfiguring means 32, a redundant bit separating means 33 for the same frame, an error detecting / correcting means 34 for the same frame, and a data format. A conversion unit 35, a mixed data re-creation unit 36, a data body re-creation unit 37, a data transmission hybrid MAC frame reassembly unit 38, and a data transmission hybrid MAC frame re-transmission unit 39 are provided. Here, the hybrid MAC frame receiving means 31 for data transmission transmits data as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively transmitted from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). The hybrid MAC frame is received separately for each transmission line. The data body reconstructing means 32 has A types (where A is an integer of 2 or more) incorporated in the payload of each of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception means 31. Data corresponding to the transmission line is distributed in A ways for each bit position determined in advance between the data transmission source device and the relaying device, so that the data body is returned to A ways in total. The redundant bit separation means 33 for the same frame is used in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstruction means 32 and the above-mentioned device that is the data transmission source. Separate redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction. The same frame error detection / correction means 34 uses the same frame redundant bits separated by the same frame redundant bit separation means 33 to perform error detection or correction of data to be received in the A data bodies. The data format conversion means 35 converts the A-type data for which the processing of the error detection / correction means 34 for the same frame has been completed into a data format of a transmission method decided in advance with the data transmission source device. . The mixed data re-creating means 36 converts the A data converted by the data format converting means 35 into B data for each bit position determined in advance between the data destination device and the relay device (where B is The mixed data distributed to the integers of 2 or more is created again. The data body re-creating unit 37 performs error checking in the same frame determined in advance between the data destination device and the relaying device for each of the B mixed data created by the mixed data re-creating unit 36. Redundant bits for the same frame for error correction or error correction are added again to create B data bodies in total. The data transmission hybrid MAC frame reassembly means 38 reassembles the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which the data bodies created by the data body recreation means 37 are incorporated in the payload. The data transmission hybrid MAC frame re-sending means 39 sends out again each data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame re-assembling means 38 to the B transmission lines prepared in advance. .

  FIG. 4 shows a claim correspondence diagram of the communication system of the present invention. The communication system 40 of the present invention includes a transmission side device 41 and a reception side device 42. Here, the transmission side device 41 includes a data reception means 41a, a mixed data creation means 41b, a data body creation means 41c, a data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembly means 41d, and a data transmission hybrid MAC frame transmission means 41e. It has. The data receiving means 41a individually receives data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more). The mixed data creating means 41b receives the data of each of the A transmission lines received by the data receiving means 41a in B ways for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device (where B is 2 or more). Create mixed data distributed to integers.). The data body creation means 41c is the same for error check or error correction in the same frame that has been decided in advance with the data destination device for each of the B types of mixed data created by the mixed data creation means 41b. A total of B data bodies are created by adding redundant bits for frames. The data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling means 41d assembles B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which the data bodies created by the data body creating means 41c are incorporated in the payload. The data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending means 41e sends out the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling means 41d in association with the B transmission lines prepared in advance. The receiving side device 42 includes a data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means 42a, a data body reconfiguring means 42b, a redundant bit separating means 42c for the same frame, an error detecting / correcting means 42d for the same frame, and a data format converting means. 42e and transmission line sending means 42f. The data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means 42a individually receives the data transmission hybrid MAC frame as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance for each transmission line. . The data body reconstruction unit 42b transmits data corresponding to the A transmission lines incorporated in the payloads of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception unit 42a. By distributing in A ways for each bit position determined in advance with the original device, the data body is returned to A ways in total. The redundant bit separation means 42c for the same frame is used in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstruction means 42b and the above-mentioned data transmission source device. Separate redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction. The same frame error detection / correction means 42d performs error detection or correction of data to be received in A data bodies using the same frame redundant bits separated by the same frame redundant bit separation means 42c. The data format conversion means 42e converts the data A in which the processing of the error detection / correction means 42d for the same frame has been completed into a data format of a transmission method decided in advance with the data transmission source device. . The transmission line sending means 42f sends the A data converted by the data format conversion means 42e in association with A transmission lines prepared in advance.

  FIG. 5 shows a claim correspondence diagram of the transmission method of the present invention. The transmission method 50 of the present invention includes a data reception step 51, a mixed data creation step 52, a data body creation step 53, a data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembly step 54, and a data transmission hybrid MAC frame transmission step 55. ing. Here, in the data receiving step 51, data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method is individually received for each transmission line from A transmission lines (A is an integer of 2 or more) prepared in advance. In the mixed data creation step 52, the A transmission line data received in the data reception step 51 are divided into B types for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device (where B is 2 or more). Create mixed data distributed to integers.). In the data body creation step 53, each of the B types of mixed data created in the mixed data creation step 52 is the same for error checking or error correction in the same frame that has been decided in advance with the data destination device. A total of B data bodies are created by adding redundant bits for frames. In the data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling step 54, B types of data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which each of the data bodies created in the data body creating step 53 is incorporated in the payload are assembled. In the data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending step 55, the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled in the data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling step 54 are sent out in association with the B transmission lines prepared in advance.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram corresponding to the claims of the receiving method of the present invention. The reception method 60 of the present invention includes a hybrid MAC frame reception step 61 for data transmission, a data body reconstruction step 62, a redundant bit separation step 63 for the same frame, an error detection / correction step 64 for the same frame, and a data format. A conversion step 65 and a transmission line sending step 66 are provided. Here, in the hybrid MAC frame reception step 61 for data transmission, data transmission as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). The hybrid MAC frame is received separately for each transmission line. In the data body reconstruction step 62, there are A ways (where A is an integer of 2 or more) incorporated in the payload of each of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received in the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception step 61. The data corresponding to the transmission line is distributed in A ways for each bit position determined in advance with the device that is the data transmission source, thereby returning to the A data bodies in total. In the same frame redundant bit separation step 63, the A data body reconstructed in the data body reconstruction step 62 and each of the A data bodies reconstructed in the same frame determined in advance with the data transmission source device. Separate redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction. In the error detection / correction step 64 for the same frame, the error detection or correction of data to be received in the A data bodies is performed using the redundant bits for the same frame separated in the redundant bit separation step 63 for the same frame. In the data format conversion step 65, the data A of which the processing in the error detection / correction step 64 for the same frame has been completed is converted into the data format of the transmission method decided in advance with the data transmission source device. To do. In the transmission line sending step 66, the A data converted in the data format conversion step 65 are sent in correspondence with A transmission lines prepared in advance.

  FIG. 7 shows a claim correspondence diagram of the transmission program of the present invention. The transmission program 70 of the present invention is a data reception process 71, a mixed data creation process 72, a data body creation process 73, a data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembly process 74, and a data transmission hybrid MAC frame transmission process. 75 is executed. Here, in the data reception processing 71, data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method is individually received for each transmission line from A transmission lines (A is an integer of 2 or more) prepared in advance. In the mixed data creation processing 72, the A transmission line data received in the data reception processing 71 is B-typed for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device (where B is 2 or more). Create mixed data distributed to integers.). In the data body creation process 73, the same data for error check or error correction in the same frame that has been decided in advance with the data destination device for each of the B types of mixed data created in the mixed data creation process 72. A total of B data bodies are created by adding redundant bits for frames. In the data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembly process 74, B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which each of the data bodies created by the data body creation process 73 is incorporated in the payload are assembled. In the data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending process 75, each data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling process 74 is sent in correspondence with the B transmission lines prepared in advance.

  FIG. 8 shows a claim correspondence diagram of the receiving program of the present invention. The reception program 80 of the present invention is a computer that receives a hybrid MAC frame reception process 81 for data transmission, a data body reconstruction process 82, a redundant bit separation process 83 for the same frame, and an error detection / correction process 84 for the same frame. The data format conversion process 85 and the transmission line transmission process 86 are executed. Here, in the hybrid MAC frame reception process 81 for data transmission, data transmission as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). The hybrid MAC frame is received separately for each transmission line. In the data body reconstruction process 82, there are A types (where A is an integer of 2 or more) incorporated in the payloads of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received in the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception process 81. The data corresponding to the transmission line is distributed in A ways for each bit position determined in advance with the device that is the data transmission source, thereby returning to the A data bodies in total. In the redundant bit separation process 83 for the same frame, each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstruction process 82 is used in the same frame determined in advance with the device that is the data transmission source. Separate redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction. In the error detection / correction processing 84 for the same frame, the error detection or correction of data to be received in the A data bodies is performed using the redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundant bit separation processing 83 for the same frame. In the data format conversion processing 85, the data A of which the processing in the error detection / correction processing 84 for the same frame has been completed is converted into the data format of the transmission method determined in advance with the data transmission source device. To do. In the transmission line sending process 86, the A data converted by the data format conversion process 85 is sent in correspondence with A transmission lines prepared in advance.

  <Embodiment of the Invention>

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 9 shows an outline of a communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention. The communication system 100 has a configuration in which a transmission side device 101 is arranged on the transmission side and a reception side device 102 is arranged on the reception side. In the case of this example, two normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ and a line link 104 are connected to the transmission side apparatus 101 as a transmission side link. Here, the normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ are links (transmission lines) that transmit Ethernet (registered trademark) MAC (Media Access Control) frames. The line link 104 is a link that transmits data other than Ethernet (registered trademark) as a simple bit string.

In this communication system 100, both data of a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) and line data are integrated and transferred from the transmission side apparatus 101 to the reception side apparatus 102. That is, the receiving side apparatus 102 receives the data transmitted from the transmitting side apparatus 101 via the three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ and the one parity link 106 in this example. The receiving side apparatus 102 processes this and sends an Ethernet (registered trademark) MAC frame to the two normal links 107 ₁ and 107 _2, and sends the line data to one line link 108.

Here, the transmission-side apparatus 101 maps the data transmitted by the _two normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ and the line link 104 to a predetermined bit position of the hybrid MAC frame, and thereby three hybrid links 105 _1. ˜105 ₃ are used for transmission to the receiving apparatus 102. The hybrid MAC frame is a special frame that integrates and transmits Ethernet (registered trademark) and line data, and will be specifically described below. In this example, the parity link 106 transmits the parity value of the bit having the same position from the beginning in each data portion of the hybrid MAC frame flowing through the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ on its own data portion. It is a link.

  By the way, devices such as the transmission side device 101 and the reception side device 102 that perform data input / output and relaying, which are connected by a transmission line expressed as an Ethernet (registered trademark) link in this specification, generally have their own clock generation sources. It has. For this reason, the clocks used by these devices are asynchronous with each other. Therefore, in the communication system 100 according to the present embodiment, control is performed so that each device handling a MAC frame has the same number of bits transmitted / received per unit time so that the bit position is specified between these devices. In addition, it is possible to associate data among a plurality of links to realize line redundancy.

As a result, the data on the line link 104 as data other than the data transmitted on the normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ is superimposed on a specific bit position in the MAC frame without being encapsulated, and is transmitted from the transmission side device 101. Transmit to the receiving apparatus 102. These will also be described in detail later.

  FIG. 10 shows a format of a hybrid MAC frame transmitted between the transmission side device and the reception side device. This will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the hybrid MAC frame 120, an 8-byte preamble / SFD (Start Frame Delimiter) unit 121 is arranged at the leading end of the frame facing the transmission direction. Here, the preamble / SFD unit 121 is a bit string for determining the start point of frame transmission, and is configured by a pattern in which the signal “1” and the signal “0” are alternately followed. The SFD is a bit string that has a pattern of “10101011” and determines the boundary with the next MAC header 122.

  The MAC header 122 is a part describing the destination MAC address of the hybrid MAC frame 120 with 14-byte data. The MAC header 122 is followed by a payload 123 for storing data for communication, followed by a 4-byte FCS (Frame Check Sequence) 124 and an IFG (Inter Frame Gap) 125 in this order. IFG has a minimum length of 12 bytes, and is a signal state indicating that the hybrid MAC frame 120 ends and becomes an idle state. The next hybrid MAC frame 120 can be transmitted after the IIFG 125.

  In the portion of the payload 123 in the hybrid MAC frame 120, control information 132, a parity byte 133 for performing a parity check, and a data portion 134 to be transmitted are stored as indicated by a legend 131. Here, data input from the normal link 103 and the line link 104 to the transmitting apparatus 101 is mapped to the “data portion 134”. The “parity byte 133” is data for performing a parity check on the “data portion 134”. The “control information 132” describes at least a sequence number for identifying the hybrid MAC frame 120.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of the hybrid MAC frame 120. In order to simplify the explanation, it is assumed that communication is performed at the same line speed in the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 9, and it is assumed that 10 Gigabit Ethernet (registered trademark) is used as an example. In this communication environment, it is assumed that 1,000,000 frames of hybrid MAC frame 120 are transmitted per second.

  In the case of this example, the hybrid MAC frame 120 shown in FIG. 10 has a total frame length 136 including the 8-byte preamble / SFD unit 121 to the 12-byte minimum IFG 125 from 10,000 bits to a predetermined number of adjustment bits. Set the length to be deducted. Here, the “number of adjustment bits” is the number of bits for absorbing the difference in clock accuracy between the transmission-side apparatus 101 and the reception-side apparatus 102. The IFG 125 between the hybrid MAC frames 120 can be narrowed within the range of the number of adjustment bits, thereby absorbing the clock accuracy difference between links. Absorption of the clock accuracy difference between links will be described in detail later.

  In this specification, data constituting an Ethernet (registered trademark) frame input from the normal link 103 to the transmission side apparatus 101 is referred to as packet data, and data including a bit string input from the line link 104 to the transmission side apparatus 101 is referred to as packet data. This is called line data.

In the present embodiment, the transmitting-side apparatus 101 stores all the data constituting the MAC frame flowing through the _two normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ shown in FIG. This is divided into the hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ and sent to the receiving apparatus 102. The line data flowing through one line link 104 is also incorporated in the payload 123 of the hybrid MAC frame 120 sent to these three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ .

Of course, not all the data constituting the MAC frame that has flowed through the _two normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ , but only the data stored in the payload therein and the line that has flowed through the single line link 104 Data may be assigned to the payload 123 of the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ .

In the example shown in the present embodiment, when the parity link 106 is excluded, three hybrid links 105 ₁ for data transfer with respect to the _two normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ and one line link 104 are used. to 105 ₃ has been prepared. This is because it is necessary in advance that three hybrid links 105 are sufficient when mapping these data in the payload 123 of the hybrid MAC frame 120 based on the reception status of packet data and line data received by the transmission side device 101. It is assumed that this has been confirmed. If three hybrid links 105 are not enough, and four are required, four hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₄ (however, the hybrid link 105 ₄ is not shown) between the transmission side apparatus 101 and the reception side apparatus 102. .) Will be prepared.

  On the other hand, for the parity link 106 prepared between the transmission side apparatus 101 and the reception side apparatus 102, a parity check is performed on the bit at the same bit position of each hybrid link 105, so one is sufficient. When using redundant bits (inter-frame redundant bits) of another method for error detection or correction instead of the parity check, the number of parity links 106 required increases accordingly.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of a state in which packet data and line data are mapped to the payload portion of the hybrid MAC frame. 11, the same parts as those in FIG. 10 are denoted by the same reference numerals. This will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

  In the payload 123, packet data 142 and line data 143 are mapped for each section in the payload 123 as shown in the legend 141. Also, parity bytes for error correction are arranged for each section.

If packet data and line data are allocated to the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ in a time-sharing manner, only packet data 142 is assigned to one section in the payload 123 depending on the reception status of the input packet data and line data. Thus, only one data may be assigned. Further, the total number of partitions comprising the data portion 134 (packet data 142, line data 143) and the parity byte 133 shown in FIG. 10 constituting the payload 123 also varies depending on the length of the payload 123.

  Here, the sections constituting the data portion 134 may be set such that, for example, the packet data 142 and the line data 143 are set at equal intervals of a total of 2 bytes of 1 byte. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the packet data 142 and the line data 143 may be mapped at different ratios in one section, or only one of the packet data and the line data may exist in a certain section. .

A specific method for assigning packet data and line data to the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ for each partition is determined in advance by an agreement between the transmission side device 101 and the reception side device 102. This will be described later as a “database”. The contents of the agreement may be transmitted by packet data transmitted from the transmission side apparatus 101 to the reception side apparatus 102 or may be transmitted by other methods. Depending on the content of the arrangement, the sections need not be evenly arranged.

FIG. 12 shows a method for mapping packet data to a hybrid MAC frame. In FIG. 12, the same parts as those in FIGS. 10 and 11 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the present embodiment, packet data sent through the _two normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ shown in FIG. 9 are assigned to the payload 123 of the hybrid MAC frame flowing through the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 _3. However, here, a description will be given in which packet data transmitted through one normal link 103 as a whole is mapped to the payload 123 of one hybrid link 105 as a whole. Actually, the packet data is mapped to the payloads 123 of the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 _{3 in} a time-sharing manner, but the specific mapping is performed in the order of transmission. According to an agreement between 101 and the receiving apparatus 102.

FIG. 12A shows a state in which MAC frames are sequentially input from the _first frame 151 ₁ to the third frame 151 ₃ to the transmission-side apparatus 101 shown in FIG. These are the frames 151 sent by the _two normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ . Each of the frames 151 _{1 to} 151 ₃ starts at the preamble / SFD unit 121 and ends at the IFG 125. The length of the payload 123 and the IFG 125 varies depending on the data and the frame interval.

FIG. 12B shows a signal configuration in which each part of the _first to third frames 151 _{1 to} 151 ₃ shown in FIG. The 8-byte preamble / SFD unit 121 to the 12-byte minimum IFG 125 all constitute a bit string 152.

FIG. 12C shows a state in which the bit string 152 shown in FIG. 12B is divided into a plurality of data storage areas 153. As an example, four continuous data storage areas 153 _{21 to} 153 ₂₄ include data in a predetermined range such as the payload 123 in FIG. The IFG 125 can be distinguished for each frame 151 by providing a pattern that is not regarded as the preamble / SFD unit 121.

FIG. 12D shows a state in which these data storage areas 153 _{21 to} 153 ₂₄ are allocated to the payload 123 of a certain hybrid MAC frame 154 one by one in a time division manner. The reason why these data storage areas 153 _{21 to} 153 ₂₄ are arranged at an interval is that the line data described in the following FIG. 13 must be mapped in the middle of them, or a parity byte must be arranged for each partition. Because there is.

As described above, the hybrid MAC frame 154 shown in FIG. 12D represents the hybrid MAC frame flowing through the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ as one frame. Therefore, for example, packet data input from the normal link 103 ₁ to the transmission-side apparatus 101 may be sequentially allocated to the hybrid MAC frames 154 that flow through the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ , for example, one hybrid There is also a possibility that only the hybrid MAC frame 154 flowing through the link 105 ₁ is stored.

  FIG. 13 shows a method for mapping line data to a hybrid MAC frame. In FIG. 13, the same parts as those in FIGS.

FIG. 13A shows line data 162 flowing through the line link 104 shown in FIG. Line data 162 does not take the first to third frames 151 _{1 to 151} frame structures such as ₃ shown in FIG. 12 (A). Further, as in the case of transmitting telephone voice data as line data 162, there is no guarantee that there is no valid data over the entire length of the time axis. Therefore, when the line data 162 is received from the line link 104, conversion according to the characteristics of the line may be performed as necessary. For example, if packet-based data is flowing on the line, the packet is identified and the packet interval is adjusted.

  FIG. 13B shows the line data shown in FIG. 13A divided into a data storage area 163 as a bit string 162 of a predetermined unit, like the bit string 152 shown in FIG. 12B. Each data storage area 163 may have the same size as the bit string 152 shown in FIG. 12B or a different size.

FIG. 13C shows a state in which two data storage areas 163 ₂₁ and 163 ₂₂ for line data are allocated to the hybrid MAC frame 154 shown in FIG. The line data in the data storage areas 163 ₂₁ and 163 ₂₂ are inserted as simple bit strings at respective positions in the payload 123.

9 receives the hybrid MAC frame flowing through the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ , the two normal links 103 ₁ from the respective payloads 123 according to the agreement with the transmission side device 101. , 103 ₂ and line data corresponding to one line link 104 are extracted. And, for the two normal link 103 _1, 103 packet data corresponding to _2, binds to the order of each of the normal link 103 _1, 103 form the packet data separated into _two by the link. The combined packet data is sent to the corresponding one of the _two normal links 107 ₁ and 107 ₂ . Similarly, for the line data corresponding to one line link 104, the extracted data is sequentially combined. The combined line data is sent to the line link 108.

  Before these packet data and line data extraction processing, a parity check described below is performed. Each of the transmission side device 101 and the reception side device 102 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), and stores a program executed by the CPU in a storage medium (not shown). The CPUs of the transmission side apparatus 101 and the reception side apparatus 102 execute these programs as appropriate to perform the mapping process shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, data extraction, combination, and error check described below or error. Processing related to correction is executed.

  FIG. 14 shows how parity bytes are generated on a hybrid MAC frame constituting a parity link. In the present embodiment, the “parity byte” is a set of check bits for performing a parity check on the payload 123 for one byte. In the parity check, check bits are arranged to verify later whether the target data is broken. This will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

First, the first parity byte 133 ₁ is arranged for the control information 132 arranged at the head of the payload 123. Next to the first parity byte 133 ₁ , in this example, a set of line data 143 and packet data 142 is arranged as the first data portion 134 ₁ . Therefore, the second parity byte 133 ₂ is arranged after these data.

Thereafter, only the line data 143 are arranged as a second data portion 134 _2. Therefore, after this, a third parity byte 133 ₃ is arranged. Hereinafter, similarly to the third data portion 134 ₃ fourth parity bytes 133 ₄ relative are disposed, fifth parity byte 133 ₅ is located relative to the fourth data portion 134 _4. In this example, this completes the payload 123.

FIG. 15 specifically shows an example of the bit arrangement of the first data portion shown in FIG. 14 and the bit arrangement of the second parity byte corresponding to the bit arrangement. In this example, the first data portion 134 ₁ has a 3-byte configuration. On the other hand, the second parity byte 133 ₂ is calculated with an even parity of “0” or “1” so that the result of adding three bits at the same position in the first data portion 134 ₁ is an even number. ing.

  If the data portion 134 for calculating the parity is short, the ratio of the data portion in the payload is reduced, and the line bandwidth usable for actual data is reduced. For this reason, it is only necessary to determine how many bytes to insert the parity byte in consideration of the physical reliability and bandwidth utilization of the hybrid link. Also, CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) may be used instead of parity for error check or error correction redundant bits such as parity bytes.

  FIG. 16 shows the principle of creating a hybrid MAC frame on a parity link. The same parts as those in FIGS. 9 and 14 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 16, the hybrid MAC frames 161 _{1 to} 161 ₃ on the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ and the hybrid MAC frame 162 on one parity link 106 shown in FIG. It is assumed that playback is performed in synchronization with the device 102.

In calculating the even parity, “0” or “1” at the same bit position in the data portion 134 of the _three hybrid MAC frames 161 _{1 to} 161 ₃ is added. Then, “0” or “1” is sequentially arranged so that the bits of the hybrid MAC frame 161 at the same bit position are even bits.

FIG. 17 shows an example of calculating even parity in a hybrid MAC frame on a parity link. Here, a specific 1-byte data portion 171 _{1 to} 171 ₃ in the payload 123 of each of the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ and a corresponding specific 1 byte in the payload 123 of one parity link 106 It represents the data portion 172 after the minute calculation. It can be seen that the check bytes are calculated and arranged so that the sum of the bits at the same bit positions in the data portions 171 _{1 to} 171 ₃ and the bit positions corresponding to these in the data portion 172 are all even.

Therefore, when the receiving side apparatus 102 shown in FIG. 9 performs the parity check, the added value of four bits at a certain bit position between the _three hybrid MAC frames 161 _{1 to} 161 ₃ does not become an even number. Can be determined that an abnormality has occurred in the value of any of the bits in the same position of the data portions 171 _{1 to} 171 ₃ , 172. As already described, in FIG. 15, a parity check is performed on the data portion 134 of 1 byte in the time axis direction in the same frame.

Accordingly, the parity check between frames described in FIG. 17 and the parity check in the same frame described in FIG. 15 are combined, or a link break that can be normally determined by the physical layer is detected. As a result, it is possible to determine which one of the three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ and one parity link 106 has a link failure for one link failure. As described above, the data portion 134 of one parity link 106 is used for reproducing the bit value of the link in which an abnormality has occurred, and can restore the value of the bit position of the failure.

FIG. 18 shows an example of how data is restored in the data portion of the hybrid MAC frame when a failure occurs. FIG. 4A shows the _first hybrid link 105 ₁ , and FIG. 4B shows the second hybrid link 105 ₂ . FIG. 5C shows the _third hybrid link 1053, which is a broken link.

In such a case, even if the same bit positions are calculated between the _two hybrid links 105 ₁ and 105 ₂ and the parity link 106 shown in FIG. Is not limited. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5E, the bit value with the total value being an even number is set to “0”, and the bit value with the total value being an odd number is set to “1”. The data portion 171 ₃ for the _third hybrid link 105 ₃ that has become can be restored.

  Next, control of the transmission timing of the hybrid MAC frame will be described. In Ethernet (registered trademark), an independent clock generation source is usually used for each link. In such a communication system, the clock accuracy is different for each link. For this reason, when the data transmission timing is determined according to the clock position, the number of bits per unit time differs for each link, and the bit positions cannot be associated between the hybrid links.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining a problem when the transmission timing is determined by the clock position. FIG. 6A shows the _first frame 1811 that flows through the first link, and the transmission timing is determined in synchronization with the first clock 185 shown in FIG. . On the other hand, FIG. 3C shows the second frames 182 ₁ and 182 ₂ flowing through the second link. FIG. 4D shows the second clock 186 for determining the transmission timing of the _second frames 182 ₁ and 182 ₂ .

  As illustrated, the first and second links have different periods of the first and second clocks 185 and 186. Therefore, the number of frames that can be transmitted within the same time generally varies.

(E) shows the first frames 181 ₁ , 181 ₂ ,... Shown in FIG. (A) and the second frames 182 ₁ , 182 ₂ ,. This is shown in comparison with compression on the shaft. Thus, generally, if the links are different, the first frames 181 ₁ , 181 ₂ ,... And the second frames 182 ₁ , 182 ₂ ,. Also, if the transmission rate per unit time differs between devices in the network, it becomes impossible to associate data between multiple links by bit positions.

  In order to solve such a problem, in this embodiment, only one transmission timing is generated in the apparatus, and each hybrid link performs transmission in accordance with this transmission timing.

FIG. 20 shows how frames are transmitted when transmission timings are matched between two links having different clock cycles. FIG. 2A shows the first link. The transmission of the first first frame 2011 ₁ is started at the first transmission timing 191 ₁ and after a predetermined frame interval I ₁ . Transmission of the second first frame 201 ₂ is started at the second transmission timing 191 ₂ . FIG. 5B shows the first clock 211 of the first link used at this time.

On the other hand, in the second link, drawing the second frame 202 ₁ of the first in first transmission timing 191 ₁ as shown in (C) is started to transmit, the after a predetermined frame interval I ₂ 2 Transmission timing 191 ₂ starts transmission of the second second frame 202 ₂ . FIG. 4D shows the second clock 212 of the second link used at this time.

FIG. 8E shows the first frames 201 ₁ , 202 ₂ ,... Shown in FIG. 9A and the second frames 202 ₁ , 202 ₂ ,. This is shown in comparison with compression on the shaft. The first frame 201 ₁ , 201 is appropriately changed by appropriately changing the frame interval I ₁ by the first link shown in FIG. 9A and the frame interval I ₂ by the second link shown in FIG. The transmission timings 191 ₁ , 191 ₂ ,... Of ₂ ,... And the second frames 202 ₁ , 202 ₂ ,.

Here, the two links of the first link and the second link have been described. However, the transmission timing 191 ₁ , 191 ₂ ,... Is changed between two or more links by appropriately changing the frame interval I for each link. Can be shared. Thus, as can be seen from FIG. 5E, when a transmission method is used in which the transmission timings in each link are designated in common, the frames 201, 202,... Transmitted at the same time between a plurality of links. Are the same value. As a result, it is possible to associate with each other by a bit position among a plurality of links.

  As described above, the adjustment between the plurality of links is performed by the frame interval I for each link. Adjustment is also possible by adjusting the length of the minimum IFG 125, but the minimum IFG 125 needs to have a minimum length of 12 bytes. Therefore, it is impossible to adjust the minimum IFG 125 to be less than 12 bytes.

By appropriately setting the “adjustment bit number” in the total frame length 136 shown in FIG. 10, the transmission of the previous and subsequent frames does not overlap even if the transmission timings 191 ₁ , 191 ₂ ,. it can. The “adjustment bit number” may be determined in relation to the accuracy of the clock allowed in the communication standard. In Ethernet (registered trademark), an error of ± 100 ppm (pulse per minute) is allowed as clock accuracy.

  FIG. 21 specifically shows the configuration of the transmission side device and the reception side device in the communication system shown in FIG. Explained with FIG.

Two normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ and a line link 104 are connected to a transmission side device 101 constituting the communication system 100 as a transmission side link. The Ethernet (registered trademark) frame transmitted through the normal link 103 ₁ is subjected to reception processing in the physical layer of the Ethernet (registered trademark) by the corresponding physical layer receiving units 301 ₁ and 301 ₂ , respectively. A switch processing unit 302 is arranged on the output side of the physical layer receiving units 301 ₁ and 301 ₂ . The switch processing unit 302 has a bridge function for transferring MAC frames.

The line link 104 is a link that transmits data other than Ethernet (registered trademark) as a simple bit string. The line conversion unit 303 in the transmission side apparatus 101 receives data as a bit string transmitted through the line link 104 and performs data conversion if necessary before transferring the data to the three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 _3. . The line converter 303 also makes necessary adjustments for timing and bit rate.

  The data generation unit 304 is arranged on the output side of the switch processing unit 302 and the line conversion unit 303. The data generation unit 304 generates a bit string of the data portion 134 (packet data 142, line data 143) shown in FIG. 11 of the hybrid MAC frame from the packet data and line data. Further, the data generation unit 304 generates a data portion of the parity link 106 from the packet data 142 and the line data 143.

On the output side of the data generating unit 304, first through fourth hybrid MAC generation unit 305 ₁ to 305 ₄ are arranged. The first to third hybrid MAC generation units 305 _{1 to} 305 ₃ generate a parity byte from the bit string of the data portion received from the data generation unit 304 and generate a hybrid MAC frame. The fourth hybrid MAC generator 305 ₄ produces a hybrid MAC frame for transmitting a parity link 106.

The transmission timing generation unit 306 supplies the transmission timing signal 307 for instructing the transmission timing of the frame of each link to the first to fourth hybrid MAC generation units 305 _{1 to} 305 _{4 as described with reference} to FIG. First to fourth physical layer transmission units 308 _{1 to} 308 ₄ are arranged on the output side of the _first to fourth hybrid MAC generation units 305 _{1 to} 305 ₄ . Of these, the first physical layer transmitter 308 ₁ is connected to the hybrid link 105 ₁ , the second physical layer transmitter 308 ₂ is connected to the hybrid link 105 ₂ , and the third physical layer transmitter 308 ₃ is connected to the hybrid link 105 ₃ . , Each connected. Fourth physical layer transmission section 308 ₄ is connected to a parity link 106. Therefore, the first to fourth physical layer transmission units 308 _{1 to} 308 ₄ transmit the respective hybrid MAC frames to the three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ and the one parity link 106 according to the instruction of the transmission timing signal 307. Will be sent to.

The receiving-side apparatus 102 includes _first to _third physical layer receiving units 311 _{1 to} 311 ₃ connected in pairs with _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 _3, and a first connected to the parity link 106. and a physical layer receiver 311 ₄ 4. These first to fourth physical layer receivers 311 _{1 to} 311 ₄ have a function of performing reception processing in the physical layer of Ethernet (registered trademark).

First to fourth hybrid MAC terminators 312 _{1 to} 312 ₄ are arranged on the output side of the _first to fourth physical layer receivers 311 _{1 to} 311 ₄ in correspondence with each other. The first to fourth hybrid MAC terminators 312 _{1 to} 312 ₄ confirm the normality of the link state, and confirm whether the data in the hybrid MAC frame in each link is abnormal by the parity byte. As a result, if there is no abnormality, the data portion is extracted. If there is an abnormality, record that there was an abnormality.

On the output side of the _first to fourth hybrid MAC termination units 312 _{1 to} 312 _4, a data reproduction unit 313 and a timing extraction unit 314 are arranged. Data reproducing unit 313 takes out the data from the three hybrid link 105 _{1-105 3} hybrid MAC sequence number and the bit position first to third hybrid MAC terminating unit 312 _{1 to 312 3} by specifying the frame in the . If there is an abnormality in the extracted data, the data portion of the link that has become abnormal is reproduced from the data of the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ and one parity link 106. Further, the packet data 142 and the line data 143 are separated from the bit position. Thereby, the packet data 142 and the line data 143 are reproduced.

Timing extraction unit 314, first through fourth hybrid MAC terminating unit 312 _{1 to 312 4} extracts a timing of receiving the hybrid MAC frame. Then, from this timing, the timing at which the receiving apparatus 102 transmits the hybrid MAC frame is adjusted, and the data extracted from the _first to fourth hybrid MAC terminators 312 _{1 to} 312 ₄ is sent to the data reproducing unit 313. .

On the output side of the data reproduction unit 313, a switch processing unit 315 and a line conversion unit 316 are arranged. The switch processing unit 315 sorts the packet data 142 reproduced by the data reproduction unit 313 and allocates the packet data 142 to the first and second physical layer transmission units 317 ₁ and 317 ₂ arranged on the output side.

The first physical layer transmission unit 317 ₁ is connected to _one normal link 107 ₁ and receives and reproduces packet data input from _one normal link 103 ₁ connected to the transmission side apparatus 101. Is transmitted to the normal link 107 ₁ . The second physical layer transmission unit 317 ₂ is connected to the other normal link 107 ₂ , and receives and reproduces packet data input from the other normal link 103 ₂ connected to the transmission-side apparatus 101. Is transmitted to the normal link 107 ₂ .

  The line conversion unit 316 receives the transfer of the line data 143 separated by the data reproduction unit 313. The line conversion unit 316 is connected to the line link 108. The line conversion unit 316 receives line data transmitted from the line link 104 connected to the transmission side apparatus 101 and transmits the reproduced line data to the line link 108.

  Next, operation | movement of the communication system 100 of this Embodiment is demonstrated more concretely using FIG.

A MAC frame is input to the transmitting apparatus 101 from the _two normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ in FIG. From one line link 104, a bit string of digital data other than the MAC frame is input to the transmission-side apparatus 101.

The physical layer receivers 301 ₁ and 301 ₂ perform physical layer processing on the Ethernet (registered trademark) to reproduce the MAC frame. In the switch processing unit 302, switching is performed with reference to an FDB (Filtering Database).

  A case will be described in which data input to the transmission-side apparatus 101 is transferred to the reception-side apparatus 102 as shown in FIG. The line conversion unit 303 converts the bit string received from the line link 104 into a bit string to be transferred to the receiving side apparatus 102. The converted bit string is passed to the data generation unit 304. The data generation unit 304 analyzes the meaning of the bit string and converts only the information necessary for transfer. If such processing is not necessary, the bit string as it is is passed to the data generation unit 304.

  The data generation unit 304 distributes each MAC link transmitted from the switch processing unit 302 for each hybrid link. The distribution destination may be distributed to the ports determined by the switch processing unit 302, or the MAC frame may be distributed to each link in order in consideration of the bandwidth. The receiving apparatus 102 reproduces data according to the same rule.

  FIG. 22 shows a state of MAC frame distribution processing by the data generation unit. This will be described with reference to FIG.

The data generation unit 304 includes a packet data storage unit 321 that stores packet data sent from the switch processing unit 302 shown in FIG. 21, and a line data storage unit 322 that stores line data sent from the line conversion unit 303. It has. Further, the data generation unit 304 includes a database unit 323 for instructing reading of the data portion from the packet data storage unit 321 and the line data storage unit 322. The bit strings read from the packet data storage unit 321 and the line data storage unit 322 are distributed to the corresponding ones of the _first to fourth hybrid MAC generation units 305 _{1 to} 305 ₄ and transmitted.

  FIG. 23 shows a part of the configuration of the database unit. The database unit 323 registers the type of data existing at each location specified by the sequence number and the bit position (bit number) from the beginning of the hybrid MAC frame in the sequence number. Here, “data type” refers to information indicating whether the data stored at the corresponding position is packet data, line data, or parity byte.

This will be described with reference to FIG. The packet data storage unit 321 and the line data storage unit 322 read the packet data or the line data at an instructed timing in accordance with an instruction from the database unit 323. These read bit sequence is transmitted is distributed to a corresponding one of the first to fourth hybrid MAC generation unit 305 ₁ to 305 _4. The bit string sent out at the timing shown in the database unit 323 becomes the data portion of the payload of the hybrid MAC frame.

No part of the parity byte is mapped. In addition, the data generation unit 304 generates a data portion to be passed to the parity link from data to be passed to the first to third hybrid MAC generation units 305 _{1 to} 305 ₃ , and a fourth hybrid MAC generation unit 305 ₄ for parity link. Pass bit string to.

When there is no corresponding MAC frame at the timing of transmission to the first to fourth hybrid MAC generation units 305 _{1 to} 305 ₄ , it is determined that the data part corresponds to the IFG 125 shown in FIG. In this case, the data generation unit 304 sends a pattern other than the preamble 121 to the corresponding one of the _first to fourth hybrid MAC generation units 305 _{1 to} 305 ₄ .

The timing of transmission to the _first to fourth hybrid MAC generation units 305 _{1 to} 305 ₄ is determined based on the database unit 323. The data generation unit 304 determines a hybrid link that transmits the bit string passed from the line conversion unit 303. The distribution destination may be determined by the line conversion unit 303 or the like. Sorting was MAC frame includes a preamble, SFD, and sends to the first to fourth hybrid MAC generation unit 305 ₁ to 305 ₄ as bits constituting the MAC frame.

The first to third hybrid MAC generation units 305 _{1 to} 305 ₃ add payload data by adding a parity byte to the bit string received from the data generation unit 304. Thereafter, after passing through a transmission timing buffer (not shown), it is copied into the payload 123 (see FIG. 10) of the hybrid MAC frame. This transmission timing buffer is used to absorb the range in which the transmission timing varies. For this reason, when the very first data to start communication is received, after a specific amount of data is buffered, transmission is started according to the transmission timing.

Instructs the transmit respectively first through fourth hybrid MAC generation unit 305 ₁ to 305 ₄ when the transmission timing generating unit 306 which becomes the transmission timing. In response to this instruction, the first to fourth hybrid MAC generation units 305 _{1 to} 305 ₄ start transmission to the _first to fourth physical layer transmission units 308 _{1 to} 308 ₄ . The hybrid MAC frame can be transmitted while copying the data portion to the bits constituting the payload without waiting for the generation of the data portion in the payload to be completed.

The first to fourth physical layer transmission units 308 _{1 to} 308 ₄ perform physical layer processing in Ethernet (registered trademark) such as encoding on the hybrid MAC frame, and then three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105. Transmit to ₃ and 1 parity link 106.

Next, the operation of the receiving apparatus 102 shown in FIG. 21 will be described. The receiving-side apparatus 102 inputs a hybrid MAC frame from the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ and the parity link 106.

The first to fourth physical layer receivers 311 _{1 to} 311 ₄ perform physical layer processing in Ethernet (registered trademark) on the received MAC frame to reproduce the hybrid MAC frame. These hybrid MAC frame playback is passed to the hybrid MAC terminating unit 312 _{1 to 312 4} of the first to fourth.

The first to fourth hybrid MAC terminators 312 _{1 to} 312 ₄ confirm the normality of the link state. Then, the data in each hybrid MAC frame is confirmed by the parity byte for abnormality, and if there is no abnormality, the data portion is extracted. If there is an abnormality, record that there was an abnormality.

The data reproduction unit 313 includes a database unit (not shown) having the same structure as the database unit 323 shown in FIG. Based on this database unit, the data reproducing unit 313 designates the sequence number and bit of the hybrid MAC frame of each hybrid link, and extracts data from the _first to fourth hybrid MAC terminators 312 _{1 to} 312 ₄ . As a result, if there is an abnormality in the extracted data, the data portion of the link having an abnormality is reproduced from the data of the hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ and the parity link 106. Further, the packet data and the line data are reproduced by separating the packet data and the line data from the bit positions. The reproduced packet data is transferred to the switch processing unit 315, and the line data is transferred to the line conversion unit 316.

Incidentally, each of the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ has a different packet delay depending on the wiring length. For this reason, the data reproducing unit 313 needs a waiting time to absorb the delay difference due to the wiring length difference before taking in data from the _first to third hybrid MAC terminators 312 _{1 to} 312 ₃ . The waiting time may be from the start of reception by one of the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ to a fixed time later, or after measuring the delay difference before the start of communication, the maximum delay The difference may be used instead of a fixed time.

For the parity byte, IFG, and packet data of the hybrid MAC frame, line data leads to data delay. For line data, packet data leads to data delay. These delay amounts are not always constant values. For this reason, delay fluctuation occurs with respect to the delay between the packet data and the line data passing through the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ . Further, as already described, there is a delay difference between the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ . This delay difference fluctuates due to fluctuations in transmission timing of the transmission side apparatus 101. For this reason, the data reproducing unit 313 needs to be devised for absorbing delay fluctuations caused by these factors.

  FIG. 24 shows a circuit portion that absorbs delay fluctuations in the data reproducing section. The data reproduction unit 313 includes a packet data jitter buffer 341 and a line data jitter buffer 342 to absorb the delay fluctuation described above. The data reproducing unit 313 includes a database unit 343 having the same structure as the database unit 323 shown in FIG. 22 and a bit distributing unit 344 that distributes packet data and line data.

The database unit 343 distributes the data portion 345 reproduced in the data reproducing unit 313 into packet data and line data in bit units. Packet data sorted of this out is stored in the packet data jitter buffer 341, is delayed by a time to absorb jitter, is distributed to the first to third hybrid MAC generation unit 305 ₁ to 305 ₃ shown in FIG. 21 . The line data is stored in the line data jitter buffer 342, delayed by a time for absorbing jitter, and sent to the _fourth hybrid MAC generation unit 3054 shown in FIG.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the delay fluctuation is absorbed by using the packet data jitter buffer 341 and the line data jitter buffer 342. For this reason, when the receiving side apparatus 102 receives the first data to start communication, after the specific data amount is accumulated in the data jitter buffer 341 and the line data jitter buffer 342, the switch processing unit 315 and the line conversion unit At 316, transfer of these data is started.

Timing extraction unit 314, first through fourth hybrid MAC terminating unit 312 _{1 to 312 4} extracts a timing of receiving the hybrid MAC frame. And the transmission timing of the hybrid MAC frame of the receiving side apparatus 102 as an own apparatus is adjusted.

  According to the communication system 100 of the present embodiment described above, the following effects can be achieved.

  The first effect is that in Ethernet (registered trademark) in which clocks between links are asynchronous, there is means for specifying data by bit positions, and the bit rate per unit time can be controlled. For this reason, Ethernet (registered trademark) and other communication technologies can be integrated on the same Ethernet (registered trademark) link.

  As a second effect, in Ethernet (registered trademark) in which clocks between links are asynchronous, there is a means for specifying data by bit positions, and bit correspondences can be defined among a plurality of links. For this reason, it is possible to calculate the parity of the bit with the same position from the top of multiple links, and by transmitting it on one dedicated link, it is possible to restore data for one link failure Packet loss can be prevented.

  A third effect is that a parity-dedicated link is used in Ethernet (registered trademark) in which clocks between links are asynchronous. As a result, the communication system 100 can be made highly reliable while increasing the line utilization rate rather than duplexing.

  The fourth effect is that, in this embodiment, transfer is performed from a specific bit position on the reception side to a specific bit position on the transmission side as in TDM (Time Division Multiplexing). For this reason, transfer with low delay is possible even if the link speeds are different. In Ethernet (registered trademark) in which clocks between links are asynchronous, when data other than an Ethernet (registered trademark) frame is encapsulated, a transmission delay depending on the packet length occurs, but the communication system 100 according to the present embodiment. Can reduce the delay.

  The fifth effect is that the above-described transmission timing buffer can be used to absorb the width in which the transmission timing fluctuates. Further, the use of the jitter buffer shown in FIG. 24 can absorb the occurrence of fluctuations in the reception rate and transmission rate. Therefore, the line data can be mapped on the Ethernet (registered trademark) link by designating the bit position.

  As a sixth effect, in the present embodiment, congestion at the time of transmission unlike the packet switch does not occur, and it is possible to specify which bit position on the Ethernet (registered trademark) the line data is mapped to. For this reason, when transferring line data, bit-by-bit transfer is possible, delays proportional to the packet length, such as store-and-forward transfer in packet switches, can be suppressed, and technologies that require low delay are also integrated. be able to.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following problems in the prior art can be solved. First, in a packet network, link redundancy was performed due to a link error, but switching may take time, and a delay for retransmission occurs for communications in the form of confirming delivery. There was a problem, but this is solved.

  Second, in conventional packet networks, clock synchronization between devices is often not achieved, and clock accuracy varies from link to link, so use store-and-forward transfer to transfer the entire packet after transfer. There were many. This causes a delay due to the packet length, which is eliminated.

  Furthermore, in the packet network, a delay due to the length of other packets occurs at the time of congestion, so the delay increases and the fluctuation of the delay occurs, so the same buffer level is required on the receiving side, and it is difficult to reduce the delay. However, this can also be solved.

  Further, conventionally, different communication technologies / communication devices have been used depending on applications such as LAN (Local Area Network), storage, cluster, etc., and there has been a problem that it is complicated as described above. Specifically, a technology that uses a different address method and switch method from Ethernet (registered trademark), is based on technology that reduces packet loss by flow control, or that reduces delay by cut-through. As such, different technologies with different characteristics were used.

  In communication technologies that require high link reliability, duplexing is often performed for uninterrupted switching, but bandwidth utilization efficiency is low in duplexing.

  In link aggregation redundancy, a link packet is usually lost when an abnormality occurs. Simple distribution rules are often used, and switching to another port after a link failure has occurred, or distribution is started by narrowing down the distribution target port, so packets are lost before switching.

  In order to use bandwidth effectively, there is a method to specify the distribution destination for each traffic type that can be predicted to some extent by specifying the output port of a packet that satisfies a certain condition, but it is necessary to reset the output port in the event of an abnormality Therefore, switching takes time.

  In the integration method of the communication method by encapsulation into Ethernet (registered trademark), a transmission delay depending on the packet length occurs. In addition, a delay due to the packet length for waiting to transmit other packets occurs during congestion.

  In the present embodiment, basically, the number of transmission bits per unit time is controlled to be the same between devices that are not clock-synchronized, and data between links can be associated by bit positions. Yes. By enabling parity to recover data on the receiving side using parity, links can be made highly reliable and multiple communication methods can be integrated on the Ethernet (registered trademark) link without being encapsulated. However, low latency is realized by enabling transfer equivalent to circuit switching. This makes it possible to integrate communication methods having various characteristics on the Ethernet (registered trademark).

  The receiving side device identifies Ethernet (registered trademark) or other data from a predetermined bit position, extracts the data, and outputs the data as a switch processing unit for Ethernet (registered trademark) or line data, respectively. In addition, in order to improve the link reliability, a dedicated link for transmitting the parity value of each Ethernet (registered trademark) link is introduced, and the reliability is improved while the bandwidth utilization rate is increased rather than the duplex. When communication technologies other than Ethernet (registered trademark) are integrated on Ethernet (registered trademark) by encapsulation, congestion may occur at the output port, and transmission delay proportional to the length of other packets may occur. . In the present embodiment, data can be associated at bit positions between a plurality of links, and low-latency is realized by enabling transfer for each bit as in circuit switching.

  In these methods, the number of transmission bits is made the same among multiple links by adjusting the transmission timing between a plurality of devices on the Ethernet (registered trademark) network whose clocks are asynchronous in the network, and by generating the adjustment bit number and the transmission timing. And a method of integrating data of Ethernet and other lines by a database holding information identifying Ethernet and other data according to a specific frame format and its bit position, and By associating bits between links, a method of configuring a link for transmitting a parity that enables data restoration can be realized for one link abnormality and a device to which these are applied.

  <Modification of the invention>

The communication system 100 according to the present embodiment described above has a configuration in which the transmission-side device 101 and the reception-side device 102 are directly connected by the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ and the one parity link 106. However, it is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can be applied to a communication system using three or more communication devices.

  FIG. 25 shows the configuration of a communication system in a modification of the present invention. The communication system 100A according to the modification has a configuration in which a relay device 401 is arranged between the transmission side device 101 and the reception side device 102 shown in FIG. Therefore, the internal configurations of the transmission-side apparatus 101 and the reception-side apparatus 102 are exactly the same as those shown in FIG. 21, and their illustration is omitted.

However, the three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ connected to the output side of the transmission-side apparatus 101 in FIG. 21 have “A” at the end of each code, with the relay apparatus 401 as the other connection destination in FIG. It is distinguished by adding. The parity link 106 is similarly expressed as a parity link 106A. Similarly, the link connecting the relay apparatus 401 and the receiving apparatus 102 is distinguished by adding “B” to the end of each code.

  Further, regarding the inside of the relay apparatus 401, “A” is added to the end of the same reference numerals for the parts having the same names as the inside of the transmission side apparatus 101 and the reception side apparatus 102 shown in FIG. The functions of these components are the same as those of components that do not have “A” at the end of the reference numerals in the transmission-side apparatus 101 and the reception-side apparatus 102.

  In the relay apparatus 401, a switch processing unit 411 and a line transfer unit 412 are newly arranged. These are arranged between the data reproduction unit 313A and the data generation unit 304A. The switch processing unit 411 has a function having both the switch processing unit 315 in the reception-side device 102 and the switch processing unit 302 in the transmission-side device 101 in FIG. Similarly, the line transfer unit 412 has a function having both the line conversion unit 316 in the reception-side device 102 and the line conversion unit 303 in the transmission-side device 101 in FIG.

In the communication system 100A configured as described above, the transmission-side apparatus 101 simply transmits two normal links 103 ₁ and 103 ₂ as links for transmitting an Ethernet (registered trademark) frame and data other than the Ethernet (registered trademark). Data is input from the line link 104 as a link to be transmitted as a bit string. Then, as described with reference to FIG. 21, the predetermined bits of the normal link and line link data are transferred from the _first to third physical layer transmitters 308 ₁ A to 308 ₃ A to the three hybrid links 105 ₁ A to 105 ₃ A. A hybrid MAC frame mapped to the position is transmitted. The fourth physical layer transmission unit 308 ₄ A puts the parity value of the bit having the same position from the head in the data part of the hybrid MAC frame flowing through the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ on the data part, A hybrid MAC frame is transmitted to 106B.

The relay device 401 includes first to fourth physical layer receivers 311 ₁ A to 311 ₄ A. The first to fourth physical layer receiving units 311 ₁ A to 311 ₄ A have a function of performing reception processing in the physical layer of Ethernet (registered trademark). The first to fourth physical layer transmission units 308 ₁ A to 308 ₄ A have a function of performing transmission processing in the physical layer of Ethernet (registered trademark).

  The switch processing unit 411 has a bridge function for transferring MAC frames. The line transfer unit 412 transfers the data received from the data reproduction unit 313A to the data generation unit 304A.

The data reproduction unit 313A designates the sequence numbers and bits of the hybrid MAC frames of the _three hybrid links 105 ₁ A to 105 ₃ A and transmits data from the _first to third hybrid MAC termination units 3121 _{1 to} 312 ₃ A. Take out. If there is an abnormality in the extracted data, the data reproducing unit 313A reproduces the data portion of the link that has become abnormal from the data of the _three hybrid links 105 ₁ A to 105 ₃ A and one parity link 106A, and the bit Packet data 142 and line data 143 (see FIG. 11) are reproduced by separating packet data and line data from the position. The data reproduction unit 313A transfers the reproduced packet data 142 to the switch processing unit 411 and transfers the line data 143 to the line transfer unit 412.

  The data generation unit 304A generates a bit string of the data portion of the hybrid MAC frame from the packet data 142 and the line data 143. The data generation unit 304A also generates a data part of the parity link 106B from the packet data 142 and the line data 143.

The first to fourth hybrid MAC terminators 312 ₁ A to 312 ₄ A confirm the normality of the link state, and confirm whether data in each hybrid MAC frame is abnormal by the parity byte. If there is no abnormality, the data part is taken out. If there is an abnormality, record that there was an abnormality.

The first to third hybrid MAC generation units 305 ₁ A to 305 ₃ A generate a parity byte from the bit string of the data portion received from the data generation unit 304A, and generate a hybrid MAC frame. The fourth hybrid MAC generation unit 305 ₄ A generates a hybrid MAC frame to be transmitted to the parity link 106B.

The timing extraction unit 314A adjusts the transmission timing of the hybrid MAC frame in the relay device 401 as its own device from the timing at which the hybrid MAC frame is received, and sends timing information to the transmission timing generation unit 306A. The transmission timing generation unit 306A generates transmission timing based on the timing information obtained from the timing extraction unit 314A. Then, the transmission timing of each hybrid MAC frame is instructed to the first to fourth hybrid MAC generation units 305 ₁ A to 305 ₄ A.

The receiving side apparatus 102 receives the hybrid MAC frame via the _three hybrid links 105 ₁ B to 105 ₃ B and one parity link 106 B connected to the relay apparatus 401. Of these, the three hybrid links 105 ₁ B to 105 ₃ B are links having the same characteristics as the _three hybrid links 105 _{1 to} 105 ₃ in FIG. 21, and _one parity link 106 B is one link in FIG. This link has the same character as the parity link 106.

Since the receiving-side apparatus 102 has the same configuration as that shown in FIG. The Ethernet (registered trademark) MAC frame is transmitted to the _two normal links 107 ₁ and 107 ₂ , and the other data is transmitted to the single line link 108.

  By the way, when a hybrid MAC frame is communicated by three or more communication devices including the transmission-side device 101 and the reception-side device 102 as in the communication system 100A of the modification, transmission bits per unit time are transmitted between these devices. It is necessary to match the numbers. This will be described next.

  FIG. 26 shows the basic configuration of a communication system in which the number of transmission bits per unit time is matched between a plurality of devices. In the communication system 430 shown in this figure, first to eighth communication devices 431 to 438 are connected by a normal Ethernet (registered trademark) link. Of these, it is assumed that the second to seventh communication devices 432 to 437 are connected by a hybrid link as indicated by a legend 441. In the connection structure shown in FIG. 26, the connection path of the second to seventh communication devices 432 to 437 is in a loop shape by the hybrid link. For this reason, when a packet for timing control is sent to the hybrid link, this causes a problem that it circulates permanently along the loop.

  Therefore, as an example, the fourth communication device 434 is used as a master, and the second, third, fifth to seventh communication devices 432, 433, and 435 to 437, in which packets may flow in a loop, are used as slaves. Then, a timing distribution tree 451 is formed between the second, third, and fifth to seventh communication devices 432, 433, and 435 to 437, with the master fourth communication device 434 as a vertex. The tree configuration can be created by a mechanism such as STP (Spanning Tree Protocol).

  Ports on the upper side of these trees are set as reference ports shown in the legend 441, and timing is extracted by a hybrid MAC frame received from the reference ports. The first to third, fifth to eighth communication devices 431 to 433 and 435 to 438 serving as communication devices other than the master use the extracted timing as the transmission timing generation unit 306 in FIG. 21 or the transmission timing in FIG. The data is sent to the generation unit 306A and used as the transmission timing of each hybrid link. Accordingly, the first to third, fifth to eighth communication devices 431 to 433 and 435 to 438 other than the master are connected to the fourth communication device 434 as the master by the fourth communication device per unit time. The same number of frames as 434 transmission frames can be transmitted.

  The operation of the communication system 100A in this modification will be described in more detail.

  The fourth communication device 434 in FIG. 26, which becomes the master in this modification, transmits its own clock as a master clock every fixed clock. In the previous embodiment, 1,000,000 hybrid MAC frames are transmitted per second. Similarly, in this modification, it is assumed that 1,000,000 hybrid MAC frames are transmitted per second. In this case, the transmission timing of the master clock may be set every 10,000 clocks at 10 GHz. However, a low frequency clock is usually used. Therefore, the master clock transmission timing may be set for each clock corresponding to 1 / 1,000,000 seconds in the low-frequency clock.

  The first to third, fifth to eighth communication devices 431 to 433 and 435 to 438 in FIG. 26 as devices other than the master are each based on their own clocks, similarly to the fourth communication device 434. Transmission timing is generated at regular intervals. However, when the first to third, fifth to eighth communication apparatuses 431 to 433 and 435 to 438 read the header of the hybrid MAC frame from the reference port, the clock of the own apparatus is more than the master clock. It determines whether it is earlier or later, and corrects the clock transmission timing of its own device. However, the number of clocks after reading the hybrid MAC frame is returned to “0” every transmission cycle.

  That is, when it is determined that the clock of its own device is slower, the transmission cycle of the clock of its own device is shortened, and when it is determined that the clock of its own device is earlier, the clock transmission cycle of its own device is set. Lengthen. By doing in this way, the number of transmission frames of the own device can be made to follow the number of transmission frames of the fourth communication device 434 that has become the master. Further, the first to third, fifth to eighth communication devices 431 to 433 and 435 to 438 as devices other than the master have the number of transmission frames of the fourth communication device 434 that becomes the master per unit time. The same number of frames will be transmitted.

  In the relay apparatus 401 shown in FIG. 25, after the processing of the data reproduction unit 313A, the switch processing unit 411 and the line transfer unit 412 transfer the reproduced MAC frame and line data to the next data generation unit 304A, respectively. The operation of other circuit portions of the relay apparatus 401 is the same as that of the transmission side apparatus 101 and the reception side apparatus 102.

  In the communication system 100A in the modified example described above, the timing at which each communication device such as the transmission side device 101, the reception side device 102, and the relay device 401 receives the hybrid MAC frame using the timing distribution tree 451 shown in FIG. Extract. And the transmission bit number of the data part per unit time in the hybrid link of all the communication apparatuses which comprise the communication system 100A can be equalized using the transmission timing generation mechanism by this.

  If the transmission timing buffer and the jitter buffer described in the above embodiment are used, it is possible to associate bit positions among a plurality of links. For this reason, it becomes possible to restore data against a failure of a single link using a parity link, and high reliability of the link can be realized.

  According to the communication system 100A of the modified example described above, the following effects can be obtained in addition to the effects of the embodiment.

  In this modified example, in Ethernet (registered trademark) in which clocks between links are asynchronous, means for specifying data by bit positions is provided, and the bit rate per unit time can be controlled. For this reason, it is possible to integrate a communication method for exchanging a bit string on a communication method other than Ethernet (registered trademark) via a plurality of devices on the Ethernet (registered trademark).

  In the modification, the timing extraction unit 314A extracts the transmission timing of the transmission-side apparatus 101, thereby correcting the transmission timing of the own apparatus. Selection of the reference port from which the timing is extracted is performed by configuring a distribution tree. Thereby, the number of transmission bits of the data portion per unit time in the hybrid link of all the communication apparatuses constituting the communication system 100A can be made uniform.

  <Possibility of other modifications of the invention>

  In the embodiment and the modification described above, the parity byte is used to detect and correct the error. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) can be used.

  In the embodiment and the modification, the link speed is limited to 10 Gbit Ethernet (registered trademark) and the link speed is unified, but the link speed may be different. In this case, the hybrid MAC frame transmission timing may be adjusted several times according to the speed difference. Packet cut-through transfer is the same as store-and-forward transfer at different link speeds. In the present invention, since bit-by-bit transfer is possible by associating bits, transfer with low delay is possible even when the link speed is different. In addition, transfer of each byte in which 8 bits are bundled rather than each bit is normally assumed, but it is needless to say that a plurality of batches other than bytes may be transferred.

  In the embodiment, the clock itself is not synchronized between devices in the network. However, the present invention is not limited to an asynchronous system, and can be applied to a system that ensures a certain degree of synchronization.

  When integrating communication technologies that require synchronization of the clocks themselves, the present technology can be applied in a state where the clocks are synchronized by introducing a clock synchronization mechanism to a device to which the present invention is applied. Further, the present invention relates to link redundancy. However, by combining the switch unit and the like with a duplex configuration, high reliability of the entire apparatus can be achieved.

  Further, the present invention need not be applied uniformly to all communication systems or communication networks. For example, if there is a need to integrate a plurality of communication methods locally in a limited server area, partial application to these networks is also possible.

  When the present invention is applied, since bits are fixedly assigned to communication technologies other than Ethernet (registered trademark), the bandwidth is wasted when communication other than Ethernet (registered trademark) is not performed. For this reason, bits for line data are allocated only when necessary for large-capacity transfer in a relatively short time, only small-capacity line data is always secured, and even if some bandwidth is wasted, there is a delay. It is complementary to the integrated method by encapsulation, such as using it for purposes that you want to reduce.

  The parity link may be enabled only during large-capacity data transfer, not always. For example, for small-capacity line data, the parity bit is not a parity link, but only the corresponding bit is assigned the same bit position of the two links and used in a duplicated manner. It can be demonstrated. A parity link is effective when the reliability of a plurality of links is improved together. It is effective for traffic of a type that requires large amount of transfer in a short time such as data backup and requires delivery confirmation. This is because the probability of retransmission is reduced and backup can be completed at high speed.

  The present invention can be complementary to the clock synchronization technique. When the clocks of the devices to which the present invention is applied can be synchronized in the network, the bandwidth can be used more effectively. In addition, it is easy to superimpose lines such as SONET / SDH (Synchronous Optical Network / Synchronous Digital Hierarchy), T1, and E1 that are conventionally used in communication carrier networks, and reliability equivalent to duplexing of links is also achieved. To prepare.

  Some or all of the embodiments described above are described as in the following supplementary notes, but are not limited to the following descriptions.

(Appendix 1)
Data receiving means for individually receiving, for each transmission line, data sent by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more);
A mixture in which the data of each of the A transmission lines received by the data receiving means is distributed in B ways (where B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device. Mixed data creation means to create data,
Redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance with the data destination device are added to each of the B types of mixed data created by this mixed data creation means. Data body creation means for creating a total of B data bodies,
Hybrid MAC frame assembling means for data transmission for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC (Media Access Control) frames in which each of the data bodies created by the data body creating means is incorporated in the payload;
Data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending means for sending the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame associating with the B transmission lines prepared in advance, respectively. A transmitting device characterized.

(Appendix 2)
One bit is associated with each bit position of the B data bodies created by the data body creating means, and error checking or error between different frames determined in advance with the data destination device An interframe redundant bit calculation means for calculating an interframe redundant bit for correction;
Hybrid for checking in which inter-frame redundant bits having the same bit length as the B data bodies obtained as a result of the arithmetic operation by the inter-frame redundant bit arithmetic means are incorporated into C (where C is an integer of 1 or more) payload. Hybrid MAC frame assembling means for checking for assembling a MAC frame;
Sending out the hybrid MAC frame for check that sends out the C hybrid MAC frames for check assembled by the hybrid MAC frame assembly for check one by one to the C transmission lines prepared separately from the B transmission lines. The transmitter apparatus according to appendix 1, further comprising: means.

(Appendix 3)
The transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the arbitrary transmission methods is a method of transmitting a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark).

(Appendix 4)
The transmitting apparatus according to appendix 1, wherein at least one of the arbitrary transmission methods is a method of transmitting line data as a bit string.

(Appendix 5)
4. The transmission side device according to appendix 3, wherein the mixed data creating means creates mixed data as data in which an entire MAC frame based on Ethernet (registered trademark) is incorporated into the payload.

(Appendix 6)
4. The transmission side apparatus according to appendix 3, wherein the mixed data creating means creates mixed data as data to be embedded in the payload of a MAC frame based on Ethernet (registered trademark).

(Appendix 7)
The lengths of the hybrid MAC frame for data transmission and the hybrid MAC frame for check sent out to the transmission line by the hybrid MAC frame sending means for data transmission are determined from the length determined in advance with the data destination device. 3. The transmission side apparatus according to appendix 2, wherein the transmission side apparatus is shorter by an adjustment bit having a predetermined number of bits for absorbing a clock error.

(Appendix 8)
The transmission side apparatus according to appendix 1, wherein the redundant bit for the same frame uses a bit for parity check in units of bytes.

(Appendix 9)
The transmission side device according to appendix 1, wherein the redundant bit for the same frame is a bit constituting a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check).

(Appendix 10)
The transmission side apparatus according to appendix 2, wherein the inter-frame redundant bit uses a parity check bit in byte units, and the C transmission lines are one transmission line.

(Appendix 11)
The transmission side apparatus according to appendix 2, wherein the inter-frame redundant bits are configured by the number of bits required for CRC, and the C transmission lines are the number of transmission lines corresponding to the number of bits.

(Appendix 12)
Data for individually receiving hybrid MAC frames for data transmission as MAC frames by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). A hybrid MAC frame receiving means for transmission;
Data corresponding to A transmission lines (where A is an integer greater than or equal to 2) incorporated in the payload of each of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means is data. Data body reconstruction means for returning to A data bodies in total by distributing them in A ways for each bit position determined in advance with the transmission source device;
For the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstructing means and the data transmission source device Redundant bit separation means for the same frame for separating redundant bits;
Error detection / correction means for the same frame for performing error detection or correction of data to be received in A data bodies using the redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundancy bits separation means for the same frame;
A data format conversion means for converting the data A in which the processing of the error detection / correction means for the same frame has been completed into a data format of a transmission method decided in advance with the data transmission source device;
A receiving side device comprising transmission line sending means for sending A data converted by the data format conversion means in correspondence with A transmission lines prepared in advance.

(Appendix 13)
Check hybrid MAC frame receiving means for receiving a check hybrid MAC frame as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from C transmission lines (where C is an integer of 1 or more) prepared in advance; ,
Inter-frame redundant bit separating means for separating error-checking or error-correcting inter-frame redundant bits incorporated in the payloads of the C check hybrid MAC frames received by the checking hybrid MAC frame receiving means;
Inter-frame error processing means for detecting or correcting an error using the inter-frame redundant bit obtained by separating the bits at the same bit position of the A data after processing by the error processing means by the inter-frame redundant bit separating means. Prepared,
13. The reception according to appendix 12, wherein the data format conversion means performs error detection or correction using the inter-frame error processing means for the A data for which the processing of the error detection / correction means for the same frame has been completed. Side device.

(Appendix 14)
Data for individually receiving hybrid MAC frames for data transmission as MAC frames by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). A hybrid MAC frame receiving means for transmission;
Data corresponding to A transmission lines (where A is an integer greater than or equal to 2) incorporated in the payload of each of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means is data. A data body reconstructing means that distributes A ways for each bit position determined in advance between the transmission source device and the relaying device to return to A data bodies in total.
For the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstructing means and the data transmission source device Redundant bit separation means for the same frame for separating redundant bits;
Error detection / correction means for the same frame for performing error detection or correction of data to be received in A data bodies using the redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundancy bits separation means for the same frame;
A data format conversion means for converting the data A in which the processing of the error detection / correction means for the same frame has been completed into a data format of a transmission method decided in advance with the data transmission source device;
The A data converted by the data format conversion means is distributed in B ways (where B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance between the data destination device and the relay device. Mixed data re-creating means to create the mixed data again,
The same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame decided in advance between the data destination device and the relay device for each of the B types of mixed data created by this mixed data re-creating means Data body re-creating means for re-adding redundant bits for creating B data bodies in total,
Data transmission hybrid MAC frame reassembly means for reassembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which each of the data bodies created by the data body recreation means is incorporated in the payload;
A data transmission hybrid MAC frame re-sending means for re-sending the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame re-associating means to the B transmission lines prepared in advance, respectively; A relay device characterized by:

(Appendix 15)
Check hybrid MAC frame receiving means for receiving a check hybrid MAC frame as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from C transmission lines (where C is an integer of 1 or more) prepared in advance; ,
Inter-frame redundant bit separating means for separating error-checking or error-correcting inter-frame redundant bits incorporated in the payloads of the C check hybrid MAC frames received by the checking hybrid MAC frame receiving means;
Inter-frame error detection or correction is performed using the same frame redundant bits at the same position, which are separated by the inter-frame redundant bit separation means, in the A data after processing by the error processing means. Error handling means;
When the mixed data obtained by distributing the A data after the error detection or correction by the inter-frame error processing means to the B data by the mixed data re-creating means is created again, each bit of the B data body is generated. Inter-frame redundancy bit that re-calculates the inter-frame redundancy bit for error check or error correction between different frames determined in advance between the data destination device and the relay device that is associated with the position Recalculation means;
Hybrid MAC for check reassembling a hybrid MAC frame for check in which redundant bits between frames having the same bit length as the B data bodies obtained as a result of computation by the interframe redundant bit recalculation means are incorporated in C payloads Frame reassembly means;
The hybrid MAC for check that is reassigned to the C transmission lines prepared separately from the B transmission lines, and sent again after the C hybrid MAC frames for check assembled by the hybrid MAC frame reassembling means for check are assembled. 15. The relay device according to appendix 14, further comprising a frame re-transmission unit.

(Appendix 16)
A data receiving means for individually receiving data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more), and reception by the data receiving means. Mixed data for creating mixed data in which the data of each of the A transmission lines is distributed in B ways (B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device. Redundancy for the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between the creating means and each of the B mixed data created by the mixed data creating means. A data body creation means for creating a total of B data bodies by adding bits, and a data body created by the data body creation means Data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling means for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames incorporated in the payload, and respective data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling means were prepared in advance. A transmission-side apparatus comprising data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending means for sending out in association with each of the B transmission lines;
Hybrid MAC frame receiving means for data transmission for individually receiving a hybrid MAC frame for data transmission as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance, for each transmission line; and The data corresponding to the A transmission lines incorporated in the payloads of the B data hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means is transmitted in advance to the data transmission source device. The data body reconstructing means for returning to A data bodies in total by distributing A ways for each determined bit position, and the data from each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body restructuring means. The same frame determined in advance with the device that is the transmission source of The same frame redundant bit separating means for separating the same frame redundant bits for error checking or error correction in the same frame, and the same frame redundant bits separated by the same frame redundant bit separating means. Same-frame error detection / correction means for detecting or correcting an error of data to be received in A data bodies, and transmission of the data for the same A-frame data detected and corrected by the same-frame error detection / correction means Data format conversion means for converting to the data format of the transmission system determined in advance with the original apparatus, and A data converted by the data format conversion means are respectively associated with A transmission lines prepared in advance. And a transmission side transmission means for transmitting the communication line. Temu.

(Appendix 17)
The transmission side apparatus associates each bit position of the B data bodies created by the data body creation means one bit at a time, and between different frames determined in advance with the data destination device. Inter-frame redundant bit calculation means for calculating an inter-frame redundant bit for error check or error correction, and a frame having the same bit length as the B data body obtained as a result of calculation by the inter-frame redundant bit calculation means The hybrid MAC frame assembling means for checking for assembling the checking hybrid MAC frame in which the inter-redundant bits are incorporated into C (where C is an integer of 1 or more) payload, and the C assembled by the checking hybrid MAC frame assembling means Hybrid MAC frame for street check Wherein further comprising a check hybrid MAC frame feed unit feeding allocates one on C present in the transmission line which is prepared separately from the B present of the transmission line,
The receiving-side apparatus includes a check hybrid MAC frame receiving means for receiving a check hybrid MAC frame as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from C transmission lines prepared in advance, and for this check Inter-frame redundant bit separating means for separating error checking or error correcting inter-frame redundant bits incorporated in respective payloads of C hybrid MAC frames for check received by the hybrid MAC frame receiving means, and the error processing Inter-frame error processing means for performing error detection or correction using the inter-frame redundant bit obtained by separating the bits at the same bit position of the A data after processing by the inter-frame redundant bit separating means; The communication according to claim 16, wherein the data format conversion means performs error detection or correction using the inter-frame error processing means with respect to the A data for which the processing of the error detection / correction means for the same frame has been completed. system.

(Appendix 18)
Hybrid MAC frame receiving means for data transmission for individually receiving a hybrid MAC frame for data transmission as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance, for each transmission line; and A data transmission source device and a relay device for data corresponding to A transmission lines incorporated in the payloads of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means Data body reconstructing means for returning to A data bodies in total by distributing A ways for each bit position determined in advance, and A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstructing means Between each device and the device that is the source of the data. Redundant bit separation means for the same frame that separates redundant bits for the same frame for error checking or error correction in the decided same frame, and redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundant bit separation means for the same frame The error detection / correction means for the same frame for detecting or correcting the error of the data to be received in the A data body using A, and the A data for which the processing of the error detection / correction means for the same frame has been completed are described above. Data format conversion means for converting to a data format of a transmission method decided in advance with a data transmission source apparatus, and A data converted by the data format conversion means as a data destination apparatus and relay B for each bit position determined in advance with the device performing the processing (where B is 2 or more) The mixed data re-creating means for re-creating the mixed data distributed to the mixed data re-creating means, and the B destination mixed data created by the mixed data re-creating means and the data destination device and the relay device Data body re-creating means for re-adding redundant bits for the same frame for error checking or error correction in the same frame determined in advance, and creating B data bodies in total, and this data body re-creation The data transmission hybrid MAC frame reassembly means for reassembling the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames each incorporating the data body created by the means into the payload, and the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reassembly means Hybrid MAC frame for each data transmission A relay device having a data transmission hybrid MAC frame re-sending means for sending the data again in association with the B transmission lines prepared in advance is provided between the transmitting side device and the receiving side device. D is an integer of 1 or more. The communication system according to supplementary note 16, wherein the communication system is arranged.

(Appendix 19)
The transmission side apparatus associates each bit position of the B data bodies created by the data body creation means one bit at a time, and between different frames determined in advance with the data destination device. Inter-frame redundant bit calculation means for calculating an inter-frame redundant bit for error check or error correction, and a frame having the same bit length as the B data body obtained as a result of calculation by the inter-frame redundant bit calculation means The hybrid MAC frame assembling means for checking for assembling the checking hybrid MAC frame in which the inter-redundant bits are incorporated into C (where C is an integer of 1 or more) payload, and the C assembled by the checking hybrid MAC frame assembling means Hybrid MAC frame for street check Wherein further comprising a check hybrid MAC frame feed unit feeding allocates one on C present in the transmission line which is prepared separately from the B present of the transmission line,
The receiving-side apparatus includes a check hybrid MAC frame receiving means for receiving a check hybrid MAC frame as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from C transmission lines prepared in advance, and for this check Inter-frame redundant bit separating means for separating error checking or error correcting inter-frame redundant bits incorporated in respective payloads of C hybrid MAC frames for check received by the hybrid MAC frame receiving means, and the error processing Inter-frame error processing means for performing error detection or correction using the inter-frame redundant bit obtained by separating the bits at the same bit position of the A data after processing by the inter-frame redundant bit separating means; Serial data format conversion means performs error detection or modified using the interframe error processing means for data of the terminated A Street processing error detection and correction means for the same frame,
The D relay devices also receive the data transmission hybrid MAC frame and the check hybrid MAC frame respectively transmitted using the B transmission lines and the C transmission lines, and perform relay processing. The communication system according to appendix 18, wherein the hybrid MAC frame for data transmission and the hybrid MAC frame for check are transmitted to a next transmission destination device using B transmission lines and C transmission lines.

(Appendix 20)
Of each of the transmission side device, the reception side device, and the relay device, each of which constitutes a path through which packets flow in a loop shape, any one of these devices or another one of the devices is a starting point. As described above, a timing transmission line in which these devices are connected in a tree structure is connected, and this timing transmission line is used to determine transmission transmission timings of the data transmission hybrid MAC frame and the check hybrid MAC frame. The communication system according to appendix 19, wherein the packet is transmitted.

(Appendix 21)
A data receiving step of individually receiving data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more), for each transmission line;
A mixture in which the data of each of the A transmission lines received in the data receiving step is distributed in B ways (B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device. Mixed data creation step to create data,
Redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance with the data destination device are added to each of the B types of mixed data created in this mixed data creation step. A data body creation step for creating a total of B data bodies,
A data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling step for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames each incorporating the data body created in the data body creation step into the payload;
A data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending step for sending each of the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled in the data transmission hybrid MAC frame associating with the B transmission lines prepared in advance. A characteristic transmission method.

(Appendix 22)
One bit is associated with each bit position of the B data bodies created in the data body creating step, and error checking or error between different frames determined in advance with the data destination device An interframe redundant bit calculation step for calculating an interframe redundant bit for correction;
Hybrid for checking in which redundant bits between frames having the same bit length as the B data bodies obtained as a result of the calculation in the redundant frame calculation step between frames are incorporated into C (where C is an integer of 1 or more) payload. Hybrid MAC frame assembly step for checking to assemble a MAC frame;
Sending out the hybrid MAC frame for check that sends out the C hybrid hybrid MAC frames assembled in the hybrid hybrid MAC frame for check one by one to the C transmission lines prepared separately from the B transmission lines. The transmission method according to appendix 21, further comprising a means step.

(Appendix 23)
Data for individually receiving hybrid MAC frames for data transmission as MAC frames by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). Receiving a hybrid MAC frame for transmission; and
Data corresponding to A transmission lines (where A is an integer of 2 or more) incorporated in each payload of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received in the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception step is data. A data body reconstruction step for returning to A data bodies in total by distributing them in A ways for each bit position determined in advance with a device that is a transmission source of
For the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed in this data body reconstruction step and the data transmission source device Redundant bit separation step for the same frame for separating redundant bits;
An error detection / correction step for the same frame for performing error detection or correction of data to be received in the A data bodies using the redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundant bit separation step for the same frame;
A data format conversion step for converting the data A in which processing in the error detection / correction step for the same frame has been completed into a data format of a transmission method determined in advance with the data transmission source device;
A transmission method comprising: a transmission line sending step for sending A data converted in the data format conversion step in correspondence with A transmission lines prepared in advance.

(Appendix 24)
Check hybrid MAC frame reception step of receiving a hybrid MAC frame for check as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from C transmission lines (where C is an integer of 1 or more) prepared in advance; ,
An inter-frame redundant bit separating step for separating error-checking or error-correcting inter-frame redundant bits incorporated in the payloads of the C check hybrid MAC frames received in the checking hybrid MAC frame receiving step;
An inter-frame error processing step for detecting or correcting an error using the inter-frame redundant bit obtained by separating the bit at the same bit position of the A data after the error processing step by the inter-frame redundant bit separating means; Prepared,
24. The reception according to appendix 23, wherein in the data format conversion step, error detection or correction is performed using the inter-frame error processing means on the A data for which the processing of the error detection / correction means for the same frame has been completed. Method.

(Appendix 25)
On the computer,
A data reception process for individually receiving data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more), for each transmission line;
A mixture in which the data of each of the A transmission lines received in this data reception process is distributed in B ways (where B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device. Mixed data creation process to create data,
Redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance with the data destination device are added to each of the B types of mixed data created by this mixed data creation processing. A data body creation process for creating a total of B data bodies,
A data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembly process for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which each of the data bodies created by the data body creation process is incorporated in the payload;
And executing a data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending process in which each data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling process is sent in association with B transmission lines prepared in advance. Feature transmission program.

(Appendix 26)
One bit is associated with each bit position of the B data bodies created by the data body creation process, and error check or error between different frames determined in advance with the data destination device An interframe redundant bit calculation process for calculating an interframe redundant bit for correction;
A hybrid for checking, in which redundant bits between frames having the same bit length as the B data bodies obtained as a result of calculation by the redundant bit calculation process between frames are incorporated into C (where C is an integer of 1 or more) payload. Hybrid MAC frame assembly processing for checking to assemble a MAC frame;
Sending out hybrid MAC frames for check, which are allocated one by one to C transmission lines prepared separately from the B transmission lines, and sent out in C different hybrid MAC frames for check assembled by the check hybrid MAC frame assembling process. 26. The transmission program according to appendix 25, further causing the computer to execute means processing.

(Appendix 27)
On the computer,
Data for individually receiving hybrid MAC frames for data transmission as MAC frames by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). Hybrid MAC frame reception processing for transmission,
Data corresponding to A transmission lines (where A is an integer of 2 or more) incorporated in the payload of each of the B hybrid MAC frames for data transmission received in the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception process is data. Data body reconstruction means for returning to A data bodies in total by distributing them in A ways for each bit position determined in advance with the transmission source device;
For the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstructing means and the data transmission source device Redundant bit separation processing for the same frame for separating redundant bits;
An error detection / correction process for the same frame for performing error detection or correction of data to be received in the A data bodies using the redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundant bit separation process for the same frame;
A data format conversion process for converting the data A in the same frame error detection / correction process to the data format of the transmission method determined in advance with the data transmission source device;
A transmission program for executing transmission line transmission processing for transmitting A data converted by the data format conversion processing in association with A transmission lines prepared in advance.

(Appendix 28)
Check hybrid MAC frame reception processing for receiving a check hybrid MAC frame as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively transmitted from C transmission lines (where C is an integer of 1 or more) prepared in advance; ,
Inter-frame redundant bit separation processing for separating error check or error correction inter-frame redundant bits incorporated in each payload of C check hybrid MAC frames received in this check hybrid MAC frame reception processing;
An inter-frame error processing process for detecting an error or correcting a bit at the same bit position of the A data after processing by the error processing process using the inter-frame redundant bit separated by the inter-frame redundant bit separating means; Is further executed by the computer,
28. The reception according to appendix 27, wherein in the data format conversion processing, error detection or correction is performed using the inter-frame error processing means on the A data for which the processing of the error detection / correction means for the same frame has been completed. program.

  Next, the industrial applicability to which the technical idea described in the embodiment of the present invention or the modification thereof is applied will be described. This technical idea is suitable for an application requiring link redundancy and for increasing the bandwidth utilization rate. In addition, it is suitable for applications that perform large-capacity data transfer, reduce retransmission due to packet loss as much as possible, and perform large-capacity transfer in a short time.

  Moreover, the use about the clustering of a server is also considered. It is a cluster field such as connecting servers with PC Express and performing RDMA (Rimote Direct Memory Access). In applications where cut-through technology such as Infini Band is used, the distance and the number of devices need to be small, but they can also be used via multiple switches.

  Applications for SAN (Storage Area Network) -LAN integration are also conceivable. For example, it is an application in which a line for bridging the route to the SAN is integrated into Ethernet (registered trademark). In addition, it is also suitable for applications that require a short RTT (Round Trip Time) on a low-speed link (a link of 10 M to several tens of Mbit / sec (such as a microwave)).

10, 41, 101 Transmitting device 11, 41a Data receiving means 12, 41b Mixed data creating means 13, 41c Data body creating means 14, 41d Hybrid MAC frame assembling means for data transmission 15, 41e Hybrid MAC frame sending means for data transmission 20, 42, 102 Receiving side device 21, 31, 42a Hybrid MAC frame receiving means for data transmission 22, 32, 42b Data body reconfiguring means 23, 33, 42c Redundant bit separating means for the same frame 24, 34, 42d Same frame Error detection / correction means 25, 35, 42e Data format conversion means 26, 42f Transmission line sending means 30 Relay device 36 Mixed data recreating means 37 Data body recreating means 38 Data transmission hybrid MAC frame reassembling means 39 Data transmission hybrid MAC frame re-sending means 40, 100, 430 communication system 50 transmission method 51 data reception step 52 mixed data creation step 53 data body creation step 54 data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembly step 55 data transmission hybrid MAC frame Transmission step 60 Reception method 61 Data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception step 62 Data body reconstruction step 63 Same frame redundant bit separation step 64 Same frame error detection / correction step 65 Data format conversion step 66 Transmission line transmission step 70 Transmission program 71 Data reception processing 72 Mixed data creation processing 73 Data body creation processing 74 Hybrid MAC frame assembly processing for data transmission 75 Data Hybrid MAC frame transmission processing for transmission 80 Reception program 81 Hybrid MAC frame reception processing for data transmission 82 Data body reconfiguration processing 83 Redundant bit separation processing for the same frame 84 Error detection / correction processing for the same frame 85 Data format conversion processing 86 Transmission line Transmission processing 103, 107 Normal link 104, 108 Line link 105 Hybrid link 106 Parity link 121 Preamble / SFD unit 122 MAC header 123 Payload 124 FCS
125 IFG
132 Control information 133 Parity byte 134, 171, 172 Data portion 142 Packet data 143 Line data 151 Frame 152 Bit string 153, 163 Data storage area 154 Hybrid MAC frame 162 Line data 181, 201 1st frame 182, 202 2nd frame 191 Transmission timing 211 First clock 212 Second clock 301, 311 Physical layer reception unit 303, 316 Line conversion unit 304 Data generation unit 305 Hybrid MAC generation unit 306 Transmission timing generation unit 308, 317 Physical layer transmission unit 312 Hybrid MAC Termination unit 313 Data reproduction unit 314 Timing extraction unit 323, 343 Database unit 451 Timing distribution tree 434 Fourth communication device (master)

Claims (10)

Data receiving means for individually receiving, for each transmission line, data sent by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more);
A mixture in which the data of each of the A transmission lines received by the data receiving means is distributed in B ways (where B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device. Mixed data creation means to create data,
Redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance with the data destination device are added to each of the B types of mixed data created by this mixed data creation means. Data body creation means for creating a total of B data bodies,
Hybrid MAC frame assembling means for data transmission for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC (Media Access Control) frames in which each of the data bodies created by the data body creating means is incorporated in the payload;
Data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending means for sending the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame associating with the B transmission lines prepared in advance, respectively. A transmitting device characterized. One bit is associated with each bit position of the B data bodies created by the data body creating means, and error checking or error between different frames determined in advance with the data destination device An interframe redundant bit calculation means for calculating an interframe redundant bit for correction;
Hybrid for checking in which inter-frame redundant bits having the same bit length as the B data bodies obtained as a result of the arithmetic operation by the inter-frame redundant bit arithmetic means are incorporated into C (where C is an integer of 1 or more) payload. Hybrid MAC frame assembling means for checking for assembling a MAC frame;
Sending out hybrid MAC frames for check, which are allocated one by one to C transmission lines prepared separately from the B transmission lines and sent out in C different hybrid MAC frames for checking assembled by the hybrid MAC frame assembly means for checking. The transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means.   The lengths of the hybrid MAC frame for data transmission and the hybrid MAC frame for check sent out to the transmission line by the hybrid MAC frame sending means for data transmission are determined from the length determined in advance with the data destination device. 3. The transmission side apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the transmission side apparatus is shorter by an adjustment bit having a predetermined number of bits for absorbing a clock error. Data for individually receiving hybrid MAC frames for data transmission as MAC frames by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). A hybrid MAC frame receiving means for transmission;
Data corresponding to A transmission lines (where A is an integer greater than or equal to 2) incorporated in the payload of each of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means is data. Data body reconstruction means for returning to A data bodies in total by distributing them in A ways for each bit position determined in advance with the transmission source device;
For the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstructing means and the data transmission source device Redundant bit separation means for the same frame for separating redundant bits;
Error detection / correction means for the same frame for performing error detection or correction of data to be received in A data bodies using the redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundancy bits separation means for the same frame;
A data format conversion means for converting the data A in which the processing of the error detection / correction means for the same frame has been completed into a data format of a transmission method decided in advance with the data transmission source device;
A receiving side device comprising transmission line sending means for sending A data converted by the data format conversion means in correspondence with A transmission lines prepared in advance. Data for individually receiving hybrid MAC frames for data transmission as MAC frames by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). A hybrid MAC frame receiving means for transmission;
Data corresponding to A transmission lines (where A is an integer greater than or equal to 2) incorporated in the payload of each of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means is data. A data body reconstructing means that distributes A ways for each bit position determined in advance between the transmission source device and the relaying device to return to A data bodies in total.
For the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstructing means and the data transmission source device Redundant bit separation means for the same frame for separating redundant bits;
Error detection / correction means for the same frame for performing error detection or correction of data to be received in A data bodies using the redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundancy bits separation means for the same frame;
A data format conversion means for converting the data A in which the processing of the error detection / correction means for the same frame has been completed into a data format of a transmission method decided in advance with the data transmission source device;
The A data converted by the data format conversion means is distributed in B ways (where B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance between the data destination device and the relay device. Mixed data re-creating means to create the mixed data again,
The same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame decided in advance between the data destination device and the relay device for each of the B types of mixed data created by this mixed data re-creating means Data body re-creating means for re-adding redundant bits for creating B data bodies in total,
Data transmission hybrid MAC frame reassembly means for reassembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which each of the data bodies created by the data body recreation means is incorporated in the payload;
A data transmission hybrid MAC frame re-sending means for re-sending the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame re-associating means to the B transmission lines prepared in advance, respectively; A relay device characterized by: A data receiving means for individually receiving data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more), and reception by the data receiving means. Mixed data for creating mixed data in which the data of each of the A transmission lines is distributed in B ways (B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device. Redundancy for the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between the creating means and each of the B mixed data created by the mixed data creating means. A data body creation means for creating a total of B data bodies by adding bits, and a data body created by the data body creation means Data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling means for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames incorporated in the payload, and respective data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling means were prepared in advance. A transmission-side apparatus comprising data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending means for sending out in association with each of the B transmission lines;
Hybrid MAC frame receiving means for data transmission for individually receiving a hybrid MAC frame for data transmission as a MAC frame by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance, for each transmission line; and The data corresponding to the A transmission lines incorporated in the payloads of the B data hybrid MAC frames received by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame receiving means is transmitted in advance to the data transmission source device. The data body reconstructing means for returning to A data bodies in total by distributing A ways for each determined bit position, and the data from each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body restructuring means. The same frame determined in advance with the device that is the transmission source of The same frame redundant bit separating means for separating the same frame redundant bits for error checking or error correction in the same frame, and the same frame redundant bits separated by the same frame redundant bit separating means. Same-frame error detection / correction means for detecting or correcting an error of data to be received in A data bodies, and transmission of the data for the same A-frame data detected and corrected by the same-frame error detection / correction means Data format conversion means for converting to the data format of the transmission system determined in advance with the original apparatus, and A data converted by the data format conversion means are respectively associated with A transmission lines prepared in advance. And a transmission side transmission means for transmitting the communication line. Temu. A data receiving step of individually receiving data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more), for each transmission line;
A mixture in which the data of each of the A transmission lines received in the data receiving step is distributed in B ways (B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device. Mixed data creation step to create data,
Redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance with the data destination device are added to each of the B types of mixed data created in this mixed data creation step. A data body creation step for creating a total of B data bodies,
A data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling step for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames each incorporating the data body created in the data body creation step into the payload;
A data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending step for sending each of the data transmission hybrid MAC frames assembled in the data transmission hybrid MAC frame associating with the B transmission lines prepared in advance. A characteristic transmission method. Data for individually receiving hybrid MAC frames for data transmission as MAC frames by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). Receiving a hybrid MAC frame for transmission; and
Data corresponding to A transmission lines (where A is an integer of 2 or more) incorporated in each payload of the B data transmission hybrid MAC frames received in the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception step is data. A data body reconstruction step for returning to A data bodies in total by distributing them in A ways for each bit position determined in advance with a device that is a transmission source of
For the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed in this data body reconstruction step and the data transmission source device Redundant bit separation step for the same frame for separating redundant bits;
An error detection / correction step for the same frame for performing error detection or correction of data to be received in the A data bodies using the redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundant bit separation step for the same frame;
A data format conversion step for converting the data A in which processing in the error detection / correction step for the same frame has been completed into a data format of a transmission method determined in advance with the data transmission source device;
A transmission method comprising: a transmission line sending step for sending A data converted in the data format conversion step in correspondence with A transmission lines prepared in advance. On the computer,
A data reception process for individually receiving data transmitted by an arbitrary transmission method from A transmission lines prepared in advance (where A is an integer of 2 or more), for each transmission line;
A mixture in which the data of each of the A transmission lines received in this data reception process is distributed in B ways (where B is an integer of 2 or more) for each bit position determined in advance with the data destination device. Mixed data creation process to create data,
Redundant bits for the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance with the data destination device are added to each of the B types of mixed data created by this mixed data creation processing. A data body creation process for creating a total of B data bodies,
A data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembly process for assembling B data transmission hybrid MAC frames in which each of the data bodies created by the data body creation process is incorporated in the payload;
And executing a data transmission hybrid MAC frame sending process in which each data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembled by the data transmission hybrid MAC frame assembling process is sent in association with B transmission lines prepared in advance. Feature transmission program. On the computer,
Data for individually receiving hybrid MAC frames for data transmission as MAC frames by Ethernet (registered trademark) respectively sent from B transmission lines prepared in advance (B is an integer of 2 or more). Hybrid MAC frame reception processing for transmission,
Data corresponding to A transmission lines (where A is an integer of 2 or more) incorporated in the payload of each of the B hybrid MAC frames for data transmission received in the data transmission hybrid MAC frame reception process is data. Data body reconstruction means for returning to A data bodies in total by distributing them in A ways for each bit position determined in advance with the transmission source device;
For the same frame for error check or error correction in the same frame determined in advance between each of the A data bodies reconstructed by the data body reconstructing means and the data transmission source device Redundant bit separation processing for the same frame for separating redundant bits;
An error detection / correction process for the same frame for performing error detection or correction of data to be received in the A data bodies using the redundant bits for the same frame separated by the redundant bit separation process for the same frame;
A data format conversion process for converting the data A in the same frame error detection / correction process to the data format of the transmission method determined in advance with the data transmission source device;
A transmission program for executing transmission line transmission processing for transmitting A data converted by the data format conversion processing in association with A transmission lines prepared in advance.

Images