JP2023523915A - virtual network device - Google Patents

Abstract

In order for the virtual network device (100) to convert the number of outgoing network physical ports (216) to a larger number, several outgoing virtual ports (vPORTa) and virtual switches (214) and incoming network physical ports To convert the number of (610) to a larger number, it utilizes several receiving virtual ports (vPORTb) and virtual switches (612). [Selection drawing] Fig. 2A

Description

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

A wide area network (WAN) is an interconnected web of network devices, typically local or metropolitan area networks that span large geographic areas, such as statewide or countrywide. interconnect. WANs allow remotely located computers to communicate with each other through network devices.

Conventional network devices typically operate at predetermined fixed data rates, e.g., 10/100/1000 Mbps (megabits per second), 10 Gbps (gigabits per second), 40 Gbps, and 100 Gbps connections. Contains one or more physical network ports. As part of enabling communication between computer systems over a network, conventional network devices negotiate the transfer speed of a network port, during which process the transfer speed of the network port is fixed.

One of the disadvantages of conventional network devices is that there is often a need for more physical ports than are available, which can lead to reduced service or increased costs. bring upgrades. As a result, there is a need for an approach to meet the growing need for ports.

The present invention provides virtual network devices with virtual ports that substantially increase the number of available physical ports. The virtual network device includes a framing circuit that receives a plurality of input frames, examines the plurality of input frames to identify a frame type for each input frame, and based on the frame type: , to identify the virtual egress device associated with each input frame. The framing circuit also encapsulates a plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames. Each virtual egress device has a receiving virtual port. The multiple first encapsulated frames have multiple headers. The multiple headers identify multiple virtual egress devices associated with multiple input frames. Additionally, the virtual network device includes a plurality of transmit virtual ports coupled to the framing circuit. The multiple transmit virtual ports identify multiple next hops in the virtual network for the multiple first encapsulated frames based on virtual egress devices in headers of the multiple first encapsulated frames. The multiple transmit virtual ports further encapsulate the multiple first encapsulated frames to form multiple second encapsulated frames. Each secondary encapsulated frame has a header. The header of the second encapsulated frame identifies the next hop of the second encapsulated frame based on the next hop of the first encapsulated frame and the associated virtual egress device of the input frame. Identifies the incoming virtual port of the The transmit virtual port includes a first portion of memory. Additionally, the virtual network device includes a transmit virtual switch coupled to the plurality of transmit virtual ports. The transmit virtual switch selectively couples transmit virtual ports to network physical ports.

The invention also includes a method of operating a virtual network device. The method includes the steps of receiving a plurality of input frames, examining the plurality of input frames to identify a frame type for each input frame, and associating with each input frame based on the frame type. identifying a virtual egress device that is being accessed. Each virtual egress device has a receiving virtual port. The method also includes encapsulating a plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames. The multiple first encapsulated frames have multiple headers. The multiple headers identify multiple virtual egress devices associated with multiple input frames. Additionally, the method includes identifying a plurality of next hops in the virtual network for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on virtual egress devices in headers of the plurality of first encapsulated frames. . Additionally, the method includes encapsulating the plurality of first encapsulated frames at the plurality of transmit virtual ports to form a plurality of second encapsulated frames. Each secondary encapsulated frame has a header. The header of the second encapsulated frame identifies the next hop of the second encapsulated frame based on the next hop of the first encapsulated frame and the associated virtual egress device of the input frame. Identifies the receiving virtual port of the The transmit virtual port includes a first portion of shared memory. The method further includes selectively coupling the transmission virtual port to the network physical port.

The present invention also provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embedded therein which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of operating a virtual network device. The method includes the steps of receiving a plurality of input frames, examining the plurality of input frames to identify a frame type for each input frame, and associating with each input frame based on the frame type. identifying a virtual egress device that is being accessed. Each virtual egress device has a receiving virtual port. The method also includes encapsulating a plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames. The multiple first encapsulated frames have multiple headers. The multiple headers identify multiple virtual egress devices associated with multiple input frames. Additionally, the method includes identifying a plurality of next hops in a virtual network for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on virtual egress devices in headers of the plurality of first encapsulated frames. . Further, the method includes encapsulating the plurality of first encapsulated frames at a plurality of transmit virtual ports to form a plurality of second encapsulated frames. Each secondary encapsulated frame has a header. The header of the second encapsulated frame identifies the next hop of the second encapsulated frame based on the next hop of the first encapsulated frame and the associated virtual egress device of the input frame. Identifies the receiving virtual port of the The method further includes selectively coupling the transmission virtual port to the network physical port.

A better understanding of the features and advantages of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, which illustrate illustrative embodiments in which the principles of the invention are employed.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a virtual network 100 according to the invention. FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmitter circuit 200 according to the invention. FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmit circuit 250 in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 3A is a flowchart illustrating an example method 300 of operating the transmitter circuit 200 in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 3B is a flow chart illustrating an example method 350 of operating the transmitter circuit 200 in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmit circuit 400 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmit circuit 500 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a receiving circuit 600 according to the invention. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 700 of operation of receiver circuit 600 in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a receiver circuit 800 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of receiver circuitry 900 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention. A better understanding of the features and advantages of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, which illustrate illustrative embodiments in which the principles of the invention are employed.

Best mode for carrying out the invention

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a virtual network device 100 according to the invention. As described in further detail below, a substantial number of local physical ports in the virtual network device 100 transform one or more of those local physical ports into multiple virtual local physical ports. , the effective number of network physical ports is increased by transforming one or more of those network physical ports into multiple virtual network physical ports.

A virtual network device 100 is a component in a virtual network that interconnects a local router/switch with remote routers/switches. A virtual network is a virtual network device 100, coupled to a local router/switch, acting as a virtual ingress device to the virtual network, and coupled to a remote router/switch, acting as a virtual egress device from the virtual network. and a virtual network device 100 .

As shown in FIG. 1, the virtual network device 100 includes a transmission circuit 110 that transmits data from a local network device such as a router/switch to a set-top box (STB), personal computer (PC), etc. ), and a number of local physical ports 112 each receiving frames of data, such as video frames, and a number of network physical ports 114 each outputting frames of data to a virtual network.

As further shown in FIG. 1, the virtual network device 100 also includes receive circuitry 120, which is a number of local network devices that each output frames of data to local network devices such as routers/switches. It has a physical port 122 and a number of network physical ports 124 each receiving frames of data from the virtual network. In one embodiment, one or more of local physical ports 112 and 122 may be shared between transmit circuitry 110 and receive circuitry 120, and network physical ports 114 and 124 may be shared. One or more may be shared between transmit circuitry 110 and receive circuitry 120 .

In addition, virtual network device 100 includes shared memory 130 coupled to both transmit circuitry 110 and receive circuitry 120 . Shared memory 130 includes a transmit queue that temporarily stores frames of data to be output to the virtual network and a receive queue that temporarily stores frames of data received from the virtual network.

FIG. 2A shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmitter circuit 200 according to the invention. As shown in FIG. 2A, transmit circuitry 200 includes a local physical port 210, a framing circuit 212 coupled to local physical port 210, and a number of transmit virtual ports vPORTa1 coupled to framing circuitry 212. ~ vPORTan.

Each transmit virtual port vPORTa then includes a transmit queue and transmit frame formatting circuitry. In addition, transmit circuitry 200 also includes a transmit virtual switch 214 coupled to each of transmit virtual ports vPORTa and a network physical port 216 coupled to transmit virtual switch 214 .

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

Following this, method 300 moves to 316 where framing circuit 212 encapsulates a series of input frames to form a number of first encapsulated (FE) frames. An FE frame has a header that identifies the virtual egress device associated with the sequence of input frames.

After this, the method 300 moves to 318 where the transmitting virtual ports vPORTa1-vPORTan identify the next hop in the virtual network for the FE frame based on the virtual egress device in the header of the FE frame. The method 300 then moves to 320 where the transmit virtual ports vPORTa1-vPORTan encapsulate the FE frame to form a second encapsulated (SE) frame. Each SE frame has a header that identifies the next hop of the SE frame based on the next hop of the FE frame. The header also identifies the receiving virtual port of the associated virtual egress device of the incoming frame. Additionally, the transmit virtual port occupies a first portion of the shared memory.

Following this, the method 300 moves to 322 where the transmit virtual switch 214 cycles through the transmit virtual ports vPORTa1-vPORTan to sequentially forward SE frames from each transmit virtual port vPORTa in a fixed repeating order. to output a sequence of SE frames. For example, virtual switch 214 may output a sequence of SE frames in which the first SE frame is from vPORT1 and the second frame is from vPORT2. , the third frame is from vPORT3 and the fourth frame is again from vPORT1.

If the sending virtual port vPORTa is empty or partially full, no frame is generated. For example, if the transmit virtual port vPORT2 is empty, the network physical port 216 will output a frame sequence including frame 1, no frame, frame 3; The method 300 then moves to 324 where the network physical port 216 transmits the sequence of SE frames to the virtual network.

FIG. 3B shows a flowchart illustrating an example method 350 of operating the transmitter circuit 200, according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention. Method 350 is similar to method 300 and, as a result, utilizes the same reference numerals to denote elements common to both methods.

As shown in FIG. 3B, method 350 first branches from method 300 at 352 where virtual switch 214 determines whether a full signal has been received from any of the outgoing virtual ports vPORTa. do. A full signal indicates that SE frames on the transmit virtual port vPORTa are ready to be transmitted. If the virtual switch 214 detects a full signal from the sending virtual port vPORTa, the method 350 moves to 354 where the virtual switch 214 transmits the SE frame to the network physical port 216 from the sending virtual port vPORTa outputting a full signal. Forward.

For example, virtual switch 214 may sequentially receive full signals from outgoing virtual port vPORTa1, outgoing virtual port vPORTa2, and outgoing virtual port vPORTa3. In this case, virtual switch 214 outputs a sequence of SE frames in which the first SE frame is from transmitting virtual port vPORT1 and the second frame is from transmitting virtual port vPORT2. and the third frame is from the sending virtual port vPORT3.

Alternatively, one of the sources (eg, STB, PC, video source) may have a much faster data rate than the other source (eg, STB, PC, video source), and Thereby, one transmitting virtual port vPORTa outputs a full signal much more often than the other transmitting virtual ports vPORTa.

For example, if the network physical port 216 transmits frames at a frame rate of 5 frames per second, then the sending virtual port vPORTa2 will send frames at a rate three times faster than each of the sending virtual ports vPORTa1 and vPORTa3. frame, sending virtual port vPORTa2 signals full three times before the other ports, sending virtual port vPORTa1 signals before vPORTa3 signals, then virtual switch 214 signals the sending virtual The first frame from port vPORT2, the second frame from sending virtual port vPORT2, the third frame from sending virtual port vPORT2, the fourth frame from sending virtual port vPORT1, and the sending virtual port vPORT3. and the fifth frame from .

In addition to the first-in-first-out approach in which the order in which full signals are received determines the order in which SE frames are output by virtual switch 214 from transmit virtual port vPORTa, transmit virtual ports vPORTa-vPORTan can alternatively be routed from transmit virtual port vPORTa to the network. A priority scheme can be included that allows frames to be transferred to physical ports in any quantity and in any order.

Referring again to FIG. 3B, after virtual switch 214 forwards the SE frame from the outgoing virtual port vPORTa outputting a full signal to network physical port 216, method 350 moves to 356 where network physical port 216 transfers the SE frame to the network physical port 216. Send a frame. Although in method 300 the frames to be output are predictable, while in method 350 the frames to be output are not, the priority scheme provides some level of predictability. I will provide a.

Referring again to the example of FIG. 2A, framing circuit 212 includes virtual switch 220 and framer 222 coupled to virtual switch 220 . Virtual switch 220 senses the type of incoming frame (e.g., STB, PC, video), identifies a route for the frame to the virtual port vPORTa corresponding to that type of frame from its static forwarding table, and forwards the frame to its It outputs toward the virtual port vPORTa.

In this example, virtual switch 220 receives a STB frame sent by a local source router/switch and detects from the source and/or destination MAC address in the STB frame that the received frame is a STB frame. do. The switch 220 then outputs the STB frame on the first virtual port line P1 which is routed towards the virtual port vPORTa1 preselected to receive the STB frame.

Similarly, virtual switch 220 receives a PC frame transmitted by a local source router/switch and detects from the source and/or destination MAC address in the PC frame that the received frame is a PC frame. Switch 220 then outputs the PC frame on second virtual port line P2 which is routed to virtual port vPORTa2 preselected to receive the PC frame.

Virtual switch 220 also receives a video frame transmitted by a local router/switch, detects from the source and/or destination MAC address in the video frame that the received frame is a video frame, and then Output the video frames on the third virtual port line P3 which is routed to the virtual port vPORTa3 preselected to receive the frames.

Framer 222 receives an STB frame on virtual port line P1, encapsulates the STB frame to form a first encapsulated (FE) STB frame, and then sends the FE STB frame to virtual port vPORTa1. Transfer to send queue. Similarly, framer 222 receives a PC frame on virtual port line P2, encapsulates the PC frame to form a first encapsulated (FE) PC frame, and then converts the FE PC frame to a virtual Transfer to the transmit queue of port vPORTa2. Framer 222 also receives a video frame on virtual port line P3, encapsulates the video frame to form a first encapsulated (FE) video frame, and then sends the FE video frame to virtual port vPORTa3. to the transmission queue of

Framer 222 may utilize conventional protocols such as Provider Backbone Bridge Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE) protocol or Transport Multiprotocol Label Switching (T-MPLS) protocol to generate encapsulated frames. be. In addition, FE STB frames, FE PC frames, and FE video frames each have a header with several fields containing the ID of the virtual egress device.

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

The frame formatting circuit at virtual port vPORTa1 of transmit circuit 200 receives the FE STB frame and extracts the FE STB from the static forwarding table based on the virtual egress device's ID, such as the virtual egress device's MAC address, in the header of the FE STB frame. Identify the next hop in the virtual network for the frame and encapsulate the FE STB frame to form a second encapsulated (SE) STB frame.

Similarly, the frame formatting circuit at virtual port vPORTa2 of transmit circuit 200 receives the FE PC frame and configures the static forwarding table based on the virtual egress device's ID, such as the virtual egress device's MAC address, in the header of the FE PC frame. from to identify the next hop in the virtual network for the FE PC frame and encapsulate the FE PC frame to form a second encapsulated (SE) PC frame.

In addition, the frame formatting circuit at virtual port vPORTa3 of transmit circuit 200 receives the FE video frame and creates a static forwarding table based on the virtual egress device's ID, such as the virtual egress device's MAC address, in the header of the FE video frame. to identify the next hop in the virtual network for the FE video frame from and encapsulate the FE video frame to form a second encapsulated (SE) video frame.

The SE STB frame, SE PC frame, and SE video frame each have a next hop field that identifies the MAC address of the next hop in the virtual network, a source field Src_vID that identifies the virtual port number of the virtual ingress device, and a virtual ingress device virtual port number. and a destination field Dst_vID identifying the virtual port number of the virtual egress device corresponding to the virtual port number. In this example, the source field Src_vID for the SE STB frame is the virtual port vPORTa1. Other fields may also be included, such as the last hop field.

In addition, virtual switch 214 cycles through virtual ports vPORTa1-vPORTan, sequentially forwards a second encapsulated (SE) frame from each virtual port vPORTa, and outputs a series of SE frames to physical port 216. . In this example, switch 214 forwards a SE STB frame from virtual port vPORTa1 to physical port 216, followed by a SE PC frame from virtual port vPORTa2 to physical port 216, followed by a SE PC frame from virtual port vPORTa3 to physical port 216. , followed by SE STB frames from virtual port vPORTa1 to physical port 216, and subsequently physical port 216 outputs those frames in the same fashion. Although FIG. 2 depicts transmit circuit 200 as receiving and operating with input from a single local router/switch, transmit circuit 200 may alternatively receive input from multiple routers/switches. It is capable of receiving input and acting accordingly.

FIG. 2B shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmit circuit 250 in accordance with the present invention. Transmitter circuit 250 is similar to transmitter circuit 200 and, as a result, uses the same reference numerals to denote elements that are common to both transmitter circuit 200 and transmitter circuit 250 .

As shown in FIG. 2B, transmission circuitry 250 is configured such that transmission circuitry 250 includes a first network physical port 216A and a second network physical port 216B, both of which are coupled to virtual switch 214. It is different from the transmission circuit 200 in this respect. In addition, virtual switch 214 provides a continuous connection between outgoing virtual port vPORTa1 and network physical port 216A. Additionally, an additional outgoing virtual port vPORTa4 is shown.

Transmit circuitry 250 operates substantially the same as transmit circuitry 200, except that one or more of the sources (e.g., STB, PC, or video sources) are faster than the maximum frame rate of network physical ports 216A and 216B. The difference is that it outputs frames of data at a higher frame rate. For example, each of network physical ports 216A and 216B may have a maximum frame rate of 5 frames/second.

In the example of FIG. 2B, the set top box outputs 7 STB frames per second, the personal computer outputs 2 PC frames per second, and the video device outputs 1 video frame per second. (The numbers given are for illustrative purposes only.) As shown in FIG. 2B, five of the seven STB frames are transmitted from network physical port 216A, while , the remaining two STB frames, two PC frames, and one video frame are transmitted from network physical port 216B in the manner illustrated by methods 300 and 350. FIG. One of the advantages of transmit circuit 250 is that transmit circuit 250 can handle incoming frame rates that are greater than the maximum frame rate of the network physical port.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmit circuit 400 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention. Transmitter circuit 400 is similar to transmitter circuit 200 and, as a result, utilizes the same reference numerals to indicate structures common to both circuits.

As shown in FIG. 4, transmit circuit 400 is a serial-to-parallel virtual port in which framing circuit 212 of transmit circuit 400 is coupled to virtual ports vPORTa1-vPORTan instead of virtual switch 220 followed by framer 222. It differs from transmit circuit 200 in that it utilizes a serial-to-serial framer 410 followed by a switch 412 .

In a further alternative embodiment, framer 410 and virtual switch 412 of transmit circuitry 400 can be physically separated, with framer 410 incorporated into a local router/switch.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a transmitter circuit 500 in accordance with the present invention. Transmitter circuit 500 is similar to transmitter circuit 400 and, as a result, uses the same reference numerals to denote structures common to both circuit 400 and circuit 500 . A local framer router/switch 510 is utilized with transmit circuitry 500 in place of the STB, PC, and local router/switch for receiving and outputting video frames as shown in the example shown in FIG. there is

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a receiving circuit 600 according to the invention. As shown in FIG. 6, receive circuitry 600 includes a network physical port 610 and a receive virtual switch 612 coupled to network physical port 610 . Receive circuit 600 also includes a number of receive virtual ports vPORTb 1 -vPORTbn coupled to switch 612 . Each receive virtual port vPORTb then includes a receive queue and receive frame formatting circuitry. Receive circuitry 600 further includes deframing circuitry 614 coupled to each of receive virtual ports vPORTb and a local physical port 616 coupled to deframing circuitry 614 .

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart illustrating an example method 700 of operation of receiver circuit 600 in accordance with the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, method 700 begins at 710 with network physical port 610 receiving a series of third encapsulated (TE) frames from a virtual network. A TE frame has a header containing the next hop address and the receiving virtual port identifier.

The method 700 then moves to 712 where the network physical port 610 examines the SE frame to identify the next hop address and compares the next hop address to the stored addresses. After this, the method 700 moves to 714 where the network physical port 610 forwards the TE frame with the matching next-hop address as a matching encapsulated (ME) frame. Additionally, port 610 drops a received TE frame if the identity of the next hop address does not match the stored address.

The method 700 then moves to 716 where the receiving virtual switch 612 switchably passes the ME frame based on the receiving virtual port identifier in the header of the ME frame. The method 700 then moves to 718 where the receiving virtual ports vPORTb1-vPORTbn unpack the switchably passed ME frame to extract the first encapsulated frame from the switchably passed ME frame. and thereby each receiving virtual port vPORTb unpacks the ME frame to extract the fourth encapsulated frame. A receiving virtual port occupies a second portion of the shared memory.

Following this, the method 700 moves to 720 where the deframing circuit 614 unpacks the fourth encapsulated frame and extracts the original STB, PC and video from the fourth encapsulated frame. Extract the input frame. The original STB, PC and video input frames are from remote routers/switches and have several frame types. Additionally, each incoming frame has a header that identifies the destination router/switch. The method 700 then moves to 722 where the deframing circuit 614 transfers the STB, PC and video frames to the local physical port 616 which transfers the original STB, PC and video frames to the local Output to router/switch.

In this example, the virtual switch 612 receives the ME STB frame from the network physical port 610 and identifies the destination virtual port as the virtual port vPORTb1 from the destination virtual port number Dst_vID in the header of the ME STB frame. In addition, switch 612 identifies a route to virtual port vPORTb1 from its static forwarding table and then outputs the ME STB frame on the first virtual port line that is routed towards virtual port vPORTb1.

Similarly, virtual switch 612 receives the ME PC frame from network physical port 610 and identifies the destination virtual port as virtual port vPORTb2 from the destination virtual port number Dst_vID in the header of the ME PC frame. In addition, switch 612 identifies a route to virtual port vPORTb2 from its static forwarding table and then outputs the ME PC frame on the second virtual port line being routed towards virtual port vPORTb2.

In addition, virtual switch 612 receives the ME video frame from network physical port 610 and identifies the destination virtual port as virtual port vPORTb3 from the destination virtual port number Dst_vID in the header of the ME video frame. Switch 612 identifies a route to virtual port vPORTb3 from its static forwarding table and then outputs the ME video frame on the third virtual port line which is routed towards virtual port vPORTb3.

The virtual ports vPORTb1-vPORTbn receive the ME frame, unpack the ME frame, and from the ME frame, the fourth encapsulated STB frame, the fourth encapsulated PC frame, and the fourth encapsulation Extract the fourth encapsulated frame, such as the encoded video frame. In the example of FIG. 6, the receive queue of the first virtual port vPORTb1 receives ME STB frames, while the frame formatting circuit of virtual port vPORTb1 unpacks the ME STB frames to generate FE STB frames. The extracted, fourth encapsulated STB frame has a header containing the identity of the virtual egress device.

Similarly, the receive queue of the second virtual port vPORTb2 receives ME PC frames, while the frame formatting circuit of virtual port vPORTb2 unpacks the ME PC frames into a fourth encapsulated PC Extract the frame, the fourth encapsulated PC frame has a header containing the identity of the virtual egress device. In addition, the receive queue of the third virtual port vPORTb3 receives ME video frames while the frame formatting circuit of virtual port vPORTb3 unpacks the ME video frames to produce a fourth encapsulated video A frame is extracted, the fourth encapsulated video frame of which has a header containing the identity of the virtual egress device.

A deframing circuit 614 receives the plurality of fourth encapsulated frames and extracts the original STB, PC, and video input frames from those fourth encapsulated frames. Those input frames have several frame types, eg STB, PC, video. Each input frame has a header containing the identity of the destination router/switch. For each received fourth encapsulated frame, deframing circuit 614 unpacks the fourth encapsulated frame, extracts the input frame, and extracts the destination router/switch identity from the input frame's header. and outputs the incoming frame to the local physical port 616, which outputs the incoming frame to the destination router/switch.

As shown in FIG. 6, deframing circuit 614 includes deframer 620 and virtual switch 622 coupled to deframer 620 . During operation, deframer 620 receives a fourth encapsulated frame from multiple receive virtual ports vPORTb1-vPORTbn and unpacks the fourth encapsulated frame into an original input frame, e.g., STB It extracts frames, PC frames, and video frames and forwards the STB frames, PC frames, and video frames to virtual switch 622 .

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

Virtual switch 622 cycles through the output of deframer 620 to sequentially receive and forward output frames to local physical port 616 . In this example, virtual switch 622 receives the STB frame from deframer 620 , detects the MAC address of the destination router/switch, and outputs the STB frame to local physical port 616 . Similarly, virtual switch 622 receives PC frames from deframer 620 , detects the MAC address of the destination router/switch, and outputs the PC frames to local physical port 616 . Additionally, virtual switch 622 receives video frames from deframer 620 , detects the MAC address of the destination router/switch, and outputs the video frames to local physical port 616 . The local physical port 616 then outputs those frames to the local router/switch.

The example of FIG. 6 shows a deframing circuit 614 with a parallel-to-parallel deframer 620 followed by a parallel-to-serial virtual switch 622 . Deframing circuit 614 may alternatively be implemented using other circuit configurations. For example, deframing circuit 614 may be implemented with a serial-to-parallel virtual switch coupled to virtual ports vPORTb1-vPORTbn followed by a serial-to-serial framer.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a receiver circuit 800 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention. Receive circuit 800 is similar to receive circuit 600 and, as a result, uses the same reference numerals to denote structures common to both circuits.

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

In a further alternative embodiment, virtual switch 810 and deframer 812 can be physically separated, with deframer 812 incorporated into a local router/switch.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram illustrating an example of a receiving circuit 900 according to the invention. Receive circuit 900 is similar to receive circuit 800 and, as a result, uses the same reference numerals to denote structures common to both circuit 800 and circuit 900 . Instead of a local router-switch, a local deframer router/switch 910 is utilized in the receiver circuit 900 as shown in the example shown in FIG.

One of the advantages of the present invention is that it combines multiple streams of STB, PC, and video frames into a single virtual frame stream through several virtual ports, and this , which effectively increases the number of available physical ports.

Reference has now been made in detail to various embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Although described in connection with various embodiments, it will be understood that these various embodiments are not intended to limit the present disclosure. On the contrary, the disclosure is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents that may fall within the scope of the disclosure when interpreted according to the claims.

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

Although methods may be presented herein as a sequence of numbered operations for clarity, the numbering does not necessarily indicate the order of the operations. Please note that. It should be appreciated that some of the operations can be skipped, performed in parallel, or performed without the need to preserve the strict order of the sequence.

The drawings showing various embodiments according to the present disclosure are semi-schematic and not to scale, in particular some of the dimensions are for clarity of presentation and drawn It is exaggerated in the drawing. Similarly, views in the drawings generally show similar orientations for ease of illustration, but this depiction in the figures is for the most part arbitrary. In general, various embodiments according to the present disclosure can be operated in any orientation.

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

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

Note, however, that all of these and similar terms are associated with appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to those quantities. Throughout this disclosure, unless otherwise stated, “generate,” “identify,” “allocate,” “aggregate,” “utilize,” “virtualize,” Discussion utilizing terms such as "do", "process", "access", "execute", "store" and the like refer to the actions and processes of a computer system or similar electronic computing device or processor. is understood to refer to

A computing system, or similar electronic computing device or processor, as a physical (electronic) quantity in the computer system's memory, registers, other such information storage, and/or other computer-readable medium manipulating represented data to transform it into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the memory or registers of a computer system or other such information storage, transmission, or display device do.

In the previous section, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application are clearly and completely described with reference to the drawings of the embodiments of the present application. Terms such as "first", "second", etc. in the description and claims of the present invention and in the above drawings are used to distinguish between similar objects and are not necessarily in a particular sequence. Note that they are not necessarily used to describe order. These numbers can be interchanged, where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the invention described herein are shown or described herein. It should be understood that the steps may be performed out of order.

The functionality described in the method of this embodiment can be implemented in the form of software functional units and stored in a computing device readable storage medium when sold or used as an independent product. be. Based on such an understanding, some of the embodiments of the present application or some of the technical solutions that contribute to the prior art are the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. stored on a storage medium containing a plurality of instructions for causing a computing device (which can be a personal computer, server, mobile computing device, network device, etc.) to execute all or part of It can be embodied in the form of a software product that is Such storage media include USB drives, portable hard disks, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, optical disks, etc., which are capable of storing program code.

Various embodiments in the specification of the present application are described in a progressive fashion, with each embodiment focusing on its own differences from other embodiments and the differences between the various embodiments. Same or similar parts can be referred to in different cases. The described embodiments are merely some, rather than all, of the embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments that can be obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of this application without departing from the skill of the present invention are within the scope of this application.

The above description of the disclosed embodiments will enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present application. Various modifications to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of this application. It is possible to Therefore, the present application is not limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims (20)

receiving a plurality of input frames; examining the plurality of input frames to identify a frame type for each input frame; and based on the frame type, identifying a virtual egress device associated with each input frame. , a framing circuit for encapsulating the plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames, each virtual egress device having a receive virtual port; a framing circuit, wherein one encapsulated frame has a plurality of headers, the plurality of headers identifying a plurality of virtual egress devices associated with the plurality of input frames;
A plurality of transmit virtual ports coupled to the framing circuit for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on the virtual egress devices in the headers of the plurality of first encapsulated frames. a plurality of transmit virtual ports for identifying a plurality of next hops in a virtual network for and encapsulating the plurality of first encapsulated frames to form a plurality of second encapsulated frames; , each second encapsulated frame has a header, and the header of the second encapsulated frame determines the size of the second encapsulated frame based on the next hop of the first encapsulated frame. a plurality of transmitting virtual ports that identify the next hop of the encoded frame and the receiving virtual port of the associated virtual egress device of the input frame;
a transmitting virtual switch coupled to the plurality of transmitting virtual ports for selectively coupling the transmitting virtual ports to network physical ports;
A virtual network device with The transmit virtual switch cycles through the plurality of transmit virtual ports and sequentially forwards second encapsulated frames from each transmit virtual port in a fixed repetition order to form a series of second encapsulations. 2. The virtual network device of claim 1, outputting formatted frames. 2. The virtual network device of claim 1, wherein said sending virtual switch receives a full signal from a sending virtual port and forwards frames from said sending virtual port outputting said full signal to said network physical port. The framing circuit
a virtual switch that identifies a route for a frame to a transmission virtual port based on the frame type and outputs the frame toward the transmission virtual port;
a framer coupled to the virtual switch for encapsulating the input frame;
2. The virtual network device of claim 1, comprising: 5. The virtual network device of claim 4, wherein the framer implements a protocol from a group of protocols including Provider Backbone Bridge Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE) protocol and Transfer Multiprotocol Listing Switch (T-MPLS) protocol. 2. The virtual network device of claim 1, wherein the transmit virtual port comprises a first portion of shared memory. Receive a plurality of third encapsulated frames, examine the plurality of third encapsulated frames to identify a plurality of frame destinations, and compare the plurality of frame destinations to a stored destination. and forwarding the third encapsulated frame as a matching encapsulated frame with a matching destination, wherein the plurality of third encapsulated frames and the matching encapsulation a receiving physical port, wherein the encoded frame has a plurality of headers, the plurality of headers having a plurality of receiving virtual port identifiers;
A receiving virtual switch coupled to the receiving physical port for switchably passing the matching encapsulated frame based on the receiving virtual port identifier in the header of the matching encapsulated frame. a receiving virtual switch of
a plurality of receive virtual ports coupled to the receive virtual switch for unpacking the switchably-passed matching encapsulated frames to generate a plurality of the matching encapsulated frames from the plurality of the matching encapsulated frames; a plurality of receive virtual ports for extracting a fourth encapsulated frame, whereby each receive virtual port unpacks a matching encapsulated frame to form a fourth encapsulated frame; a plurality of receive virtual ports for extracting frames, the receive virtual ports including a second portion of the shared memory;
a deframing circuit coupled to the plurality of receive virtual ports for unpacking the plurality of fourth encapsulated frames to produce a plurality of output frames from the plurality of fourth encapsulated frames; wherein the plurality of output frames have a plurality of frame types, each output frame having a header identifying a destination router/switch;
7. The virtual network device of claim 6, further comprising: The deframing circuit includes a deframer, the deframer receiving the fourth encapsulated frame from the plurality of receive virtual ports, unpacking the fourth encapsulated frame to the input 8. The virtual network device of claim 7, extracting frames. 9. The virtual network device of claim 8, wherein said framing circuit outputs said input frame to a local router/switch. A method of operating a virtual network device, comprising:
receiving a plurality of input frames;
examining the plurality of input frames to identify a frame type for each input frame;
identifying a virtual egress device associated with each input frame based on the frame type, each virtual egress device having a receiving virtual port;
encapsulating the plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames, the plurality of first encapsulated frames having a plurality of headers, the plurality of a header identifying a plurality of virtual egress devices associated with the plurality of input frames;
identifying a plurality of next hops in a virtual network for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on the virtual egress devices in the headers of the plurality of first encapsulated frames;
encapsulating a plurality of first encapsulated frames at a plurality of transmit virtual ports to form a plurality of second encapsulated frames, each second encapsulated frame comprising: a header of a second encapsulated frame, the header of the second encapsulated frame identifying the next hop of the second encapsulated frame based on the next hop of the first encapsulated frame; identifying the receiving virtual port of the associated virtual egress device;
selectively coupling the transmission virtual port to a network physical port;
method including. Cycle through the plurality of transmit virtual ports to sequentially transfer second encapsulated frames from each transmit virtual port in a fixed repeating order to output a series of second encapsulated frames. 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of: 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving a full signal from a transmit virtual port and forwarding frames from said transmit virtual port outputting said full signal to said network physical port. 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising identifying a route for a frame to a transmit virtual port based on said frame type and outputting said frame towards said transmit virtual port. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of input frames are encapsulated using a protocol from a group of protocols including Provider Backbone Bridge Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE) protocol and Transfer Multiprotocol Listing Switch (T-MPLS) protocol. described method. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the transmit virtual port comprises a first portion of shared memory. receiving a plurality of third encapsulated frames;
examining the plurality of third encapsulated frames to identify a plurality of frame destinations;
comparing the plurality of frame destinations to stored destinations;
forwarding the third encapsulated frame as a matching encapsulated frame with a matching destination, wherein the plurality of third encapsulated frames and the matching encapsulated frame; has a plurality of headers, said plurality of headers having a plurality of receiving virtual port identifiers;
switchably passing the matching encapsulated frame based on the received virtual port identifier in the header of the matching encapsulated frame;
unpacking the switchably passed matching encapsulated frames at a plurality of receive virtual ports to extract a plurality of fourth encapsulated frames from the plurality of matching encapsulated frames; whereby each receiving virtual port unpacks a matching encapsulated frame to extract a fourth encapsulated frame, and said receiving virtual port stores a second encapsulated frame in said shared memory; a step comprising a portion of
unpacking the plurality of fourth encapsulated frames to extract a plurality of output frames from the plurality of fourth encapsulated frames, wherein the plurality of output frames is a plurality of frames each outgoing frame having a header identifying a destination router/switch;
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embedded therein which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of operating a virtual network device, the method of operating comprising:
receiving a plurality of input frames;
examining the plurality of input frames to identify a frame type for each input frame;
identifying a virtual egress device associated with each input frame based on the frame type, each virtual egress device having a receiving virtual port;
encapsulating the plurality of input frames to form a plurality of first encapsulated frames, the plurality of first encapsulated frames having a plurality of headers, the plurality of a header identifying a plurality of virtual egress devices associated with the plurality of input frames;
identifying a plurality of next hops in a virtual network for the plurality of first encapsulated frames based on the virtual egress devices in the headers of the plurality of first encapsulated frames;
encapsulating a plurality of first encapsulated frames at a plurality of transmit virtual ports to form a plurality of second encapsulated frames, each second encapsulated frame comprising: a header of a second encapsulated frame, the header of the second encapsulated frame identifying the next hop of the second encapsulated frame based on the next hop of the first encapsulated frame; identifying the receiving virtual port of the associated virtual egress device;
selectively coupling the transmission virtual port to a network physical port;
medium, including The method of operation cycles through the plurality of transmit virtual ports and sequentially forwards second encapsulated frames from each of the transmit virtual ports in a fixed repeating order to form a series of second encapsulations. 18. The medium of claim 17, further comprising outputting the rendered frames. 18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the method of operation further comprises receiving a full signal from a transmit virtual port and forwarding frames from the transmit virtual port outputting the full signal to the network physical port. The method of operation comprises:
receiving a plurality of third encapsulated frames;
examining the plurality of third encapsulated frames to identify a plurality of frame destinations;
comparing the plurality of frame destinations to stored destinations;
forwarding each third encapsulated frame as a matching encapsulated frame with a matching destination to forward a plurality of matching encapsulated frames; the three encapsulated frames and the matching encapsulated frame having a plurality of headers, the plurality of headers having a plurality of receiving virtual port identifiers;
switchably passing the matching encapsulated frame based on the received virtual port identifier in the header of the matching encapsulated frame;
unpacking the switchably passed matching encapsulated frames at a plurality of receive virtual ports to extract a plurality of fourth encapsulated frames from the plurality of matching encapsulated frames; whereby each receiving virtual port unpacks a matching encapsulated frame to extract a fourth encapsulated frame, and said receiving virtual port stores a second encapsulated frame in said shared memory; a step comprising a portion of
unpacking the plurality of fourth encapsulated frames to extract a plurality of output frames from the plurality of fourth encapsulated frames, wherein the plurality of output frames is a plurality of frames each outgoing frame having a header identifying a destination router/switch;
20. The medium of claim 19, further comprising:

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