JPH0522293A - Router with bridge function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To quicken the relay processing for the router with a bridge function. CONSTITUTION:A bridge processor 3 references a header part of a frame data received by a reception buffer 42 and informs the content to a router processor 2 via a common memory 31 and executes the bridge processing of the received frame to a range able to be processed. When the content of the header is a content possible for routing processing, bridge processing of the bridge processor 3 is stopped to execute the routing processing thereby relaying a frame data. On the other hand, when the content of the header is a content disable of routing processing, the bridge processor 3 executes the bridge processing to relay a frame data. Prior to the decision as to whether or not the relay by the bridge processing is implemented, since the bridge processing is progressed, the relay by the bridge processing is implemented at a high speed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network connecting device for connecting a plurality of networks, and more particularly, to a bridge function and a network layer for carrying out a relay process between a plurality of networks at a data link layer level. The present invention relates to a router device with a bridge function, which also has a router function for performing relay processing between a plurality of networks at a level.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An inter-network connecting device for connecting a plurality of networks is an OSI / RM based on ISO.
(# 7498) and CCITT Recommendation X. Data of the network system hierarchy defined in 200 etc.
A bridge device for interconnecting in the link layer (in particular, the media access sublayer defined in IEEE 802),
There is a router device or the like for interconnecting in a network layer which is an upper layer of the data link layer.

The bridge device has a relay address table, and in this relay address table, a MAC used as a communication address in the media access sublayer.
(Media Access Control) Manages addresses.

Then, according to the contents of the destination MAC address in the reception frame and the management contents of the relay address table, it is judged whether or not the reception frame from one network is relayed to another network. To do.

On the other hand, the router device is provided with a route information table for storing route information. Then, a route is determined according to the internetworking address in the reception frame and the contents of the route information table, and the reception frame is determined.
Broadcast the program.

[0006] There are several types of protocols used in the network layer, of which IP is a typical example.
(Internet Protocol) is well known. In this IP protocol, an IP address is used as the internetworking address. In a router that handles this IP protocol, a destination I is stored as route information in the route information table.
Corresponding to the P address, the MAC address of the station to which the frame data is to be sent next is described.

As a technique relating to the bridge device, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 2-13040 is known.

This technique is intended to speed up the address search in the bridge device.

By the way, in recent years, a router device with a bridge function, which has both the function of the bridge device and the function of the router device described above, has been used for connecting different kinds of networks. A router device with a bridge function is sometimes called a router.

In the router device with the bridge function, when the network layer protocol of the received frame data is in accordance with the protocol supported by the router device with the bridge function, The received frame data is routed and interconnected at the network layer. If the network layer protocol of the received frame data is a protocol that is not supported by the router device with the bridge function, the relay processing of the frame data in the media access sublayer, that is,
Performs processing as a bridge device.

A conventional router device having a bridge function will be described below.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a conventional router device having a bridge function.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 61 is a router device with a bridge function, 62 is a brouter module, 4 is a first communication port, and 5 is a second communication port.

The bruta device is designated by reference numeral 6 in FIG.
The first network A indicated by and the second network B indicated by reference numeral 7 are connected.

As shown in the figure, the bruta module 62 includes a bruta processor 63 and an instruction memory 64.
And a data memory 65, a route information table 66, and a relay address table 67.

The communication port 4 includes a receiving circuit 41,
Reception buffer 42, transmission circuit 43, and transmission buffer 44
The communication port 5 includes a receiving circuit 51, a receiving buffer 52, a transmitting circuit 53, and a transmitting buffer 54.

The operation of this conventional router device with a bridge function will be described below.

In FIG. 2, the receiving circuit 41 of the communication port 4 of the router device with the bridge function receives the frame data sent from the first network A6.

The receiving circuit 41 stores the received frame data in the receiving buffer 42 in the format of the MAC frame described below after performing the error detection processing at the media access sublayer level. Also, the bruta module 6
The second bruta processor 63 is notified of the reception of the frame data.

The format of the MAC frame will be described.

The format of the MAC frame is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 70 shows one MAC frame stored in the reception buffer 42.

In the MAC frame 70, 71 is a data link layer level header (hereinafter referred to as "DL header"), 72 is the MAC header, and 73 is a logical link sublayer level header in the data link layer. The LLC header 74 is a type field indicating the network layer protocol type of this frame data.

Further, 75 is the data at the data link layer level.
Data part 76 is a header at the network layer level (hereinafter,
"NL header"), 77 is a network layer level data part.

The MAC header 72 also includes a destination address (DA) and a source address (SA) in the media access sublayer.

When the received frame uses IP as a network layer protocol, the NL header 76 becomes an IP header. The IP header is the source I
At least the P address and the destination IP address are included.

Next, the flow chart will be used to explain the bleeder processing performed by the brouter processor 63 of the brouter module 62 notified of the reception of the frame data.

FIG. 4 shows the main processing of the brouter processing for processing one frame, FIG. 5 shows the bridge processing subroutine, and FIG. 6 shows the router processing subroutine.

The processing shown in FIG. 4 is stored as software in the instruction memory 64 shown in FIG. In addition,
As the work area required to execute the program,
The data memory 65 is used.

In the main processing of the starter processing, first, the MAC frame 70 in the reception buffer 42 is recognized, and a part of the type field and the NL field (protocol version etc.) in the DL header 71 is read (step 401). ), It is determined whether or not the network layer protocol of the received frame data is a supported protocol (step 402). As a result, if the protocol is not a supporting protocol, the router processing is impossible, so the bridge processing shown in FIG. 5 is performed. If the protocol is a supporting protocol, the router processing is possible, so the router processing is shown in FIG. Perform router processing.

In the bridging process shown in FIG. 5, the DA field in the DL header 71 of the received frame is read (step 500) and the relay address table is referred to.
It is determined whether the frame is a transmission frame for a station in the same network (step 501).

As a result, if this frame is addressed to a station in the same network, it is not necessary to relay it to another network and is discarded from the reception buffer (step 505).

On the other hand, if the frame is addressed to a station in another network, the frame data is transferred to the transmission buffers of all communication ports other than the communication port that received the frame data (step 503).

That is, in the bridge device shown in FIG.
When the DA of the received frame from the network A is addressed to the station located in the network A, the relay to the network B is unnecessary and the corresponding received frame data in the receive buffer 42 is discarded. On the other hand, if the DA of the received frame from the network A is not addressed to the station located in the network A, the corresponding received frame data in the receive buffer 42 is transferred to the port B side transmission buffer 54 in order to relay to the network B. Transfer to.

The frame data transferred to the transmission buffer 54 is bridge-relayed to the network B by the transmission circuit 53 (step 504).

In the router processing shown in FIG. 6, the destination IP address in the NL header 76 of the received frame is read (step 600), the route table 66 is searched (step 601), and the network corresponding to the IP address is searched. Obtain the MAC address (step 602).

If the target IP address is not on the network to which this brouter device is connected, the I
The MAC address of the network corresponding to the P address is the pair of the MAC address of the router device to be passed next and the MAC address of the router device with its own bridge function on the network to be passed next. Say. If the target IP address is on the network to which this router is connected, the MAC address of the station to which the IP address is attached and the router device with its own bridge function on the network. A pair of MAC addresses.

Next, in the router processing, the transmission buffer of the port having the MAC address of the own bridge device side among the retrieved MAC address pairs, that is, the transmission of the communication port containing the network to be relayed. The received frame data is transferred to the buffer (step 603), and
As the DA and SA, the pair of MAC addresses obtained by the search is set and transmitted (step 604).

FIG. 7 shows an example in which a plurality of networks are relayed by the router processing in the bruta device described above.

In the illustrated relay example, the WS-1 station is the WS-
In this example, frame data is transmitted to two stations via 01, 02, 03 of the network.

Now, the bruta device A is the port A of its own station.
The router processing is performed on the received frame from No. 1 and the frame data is relayed to the brouter B. On the other hand, it is not relayed to Bruta C.

However, if the network layer protocol of the received frame from the port A1 cannot be processed by the router device A with the bridge function, the router device A with the bridge function performs the bridge process. , Bruta B, and bruta C are relayed. Therefore, in this case, the frame data is propagated to the network 04 where the WS-2 station does not exist.

[0043]

In recent years, FDDI (Fi
ber-Distributed-Data-Inte
With the spread of high-speed networks such as rface), speeding up is strongly desired. However, in order to speed up the relay process of the bruta device, in addition to speeding up the bridge function and the router function, a judgment process as to which of the bridge process and the router process is to be performed is required. It is an important issue to speed up the overall processing including the above.

Therefore, it is not possible to sufficiently speed up the router device with the bridge function only by the speed-up technique proposed in the conventional bridge device and router device.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a router device with a bridge function which can perform relay processing at a higher speed.

[0046]

[Means for Solving the Problems] To achieve the above object,
According to the present invention, a relay that accommodates a plurality of heterogeneous networks and that receives a communication frame between a plurality of heterogeneous networks is a relay based on the network layer header of the communication frame. It is determined whether or not it can be performed by routing relay, and if routing is possible, it is performed by routing relay and the received communication frame is routed.
If the relaying is impossible, the router device with the bridge function for relaying the received communication frame by the bridge relay which is the relay performed based on the data link layer header of the communication frame. At least a bridge means for controlling execution of data link layer level processing for bridge relay, and a routing means for controlling execution of network layer level processing for routing relay. Is provided independently, and the bridging means precedes at least a part of the execution of the processing at the data link layer level before the routing means determines whether or not it can be performed by the routing relay. A router device with a bridge function for controlling is provided.

More specifically, the following router device with a bridge function is provided.

That is, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention accommodates a plurality of heterogeneous networks and relays the received communication frames between the plurality of heterogeneous networks by using the communication frame network. -A relay based on the layer header
If routing relay is possible, it is determined by routing relay, and the received communication frame cannot be routed. In this case, the router device with a bridge function performs the relay of the received communication frame by the bridge relay which is the relay based on the data link layer header of the communication frame, and each router device has one network. Is it possible to connect a plurality of communication ports that carry out the input and output of communication frames between the connected network and the router device with the bridge function and the routing relay of the received communication frames? A first processor that executes a determination process of whether or not there is a network layer level process for routing relay, a data link layer level process for bridge relay, and a route. Data link layer level processing for relaying, communication frame transfer processing between the communication ports for relaying the communication frame, and communication frame from the communication port. And a second processor for executing the transmission processing of the bridge communication in the second processor in parallel with the execution of the processing for determining whether or not the routing relay of the received communication frame is possible in the first processor. There is provided a router device with a first bridge function, which is characterized by executing a data link layer level process for the router.

In the router device with the first bridge function, the second processor performs the processing at the data link layer level for the bridge relay, and additionally, the communication frame between the communication ports. Transfer processing of the communication port for bridge relay based on the processing result of the data link layer level
Communication frame transfer processing between the two processors in parallel with the execution of the processing for determining whether or not the routing relay of the communication frame received by the first processor is possible, and the first processor When it is determined that the routing relay of the received communication frame is impossible, the communication port is instructed to transmit the previously transferred communication frame to the network, and the first processor receives it. If it is determined that the routing relay of the communication frame is possible, according to the processing result at the network layer level for the routing relay in the first processor,
One of the previously transferred communication frames is subjected to data link layer level processing for routing relay, and the processed communication frame is transmitted to the network. Is preferably instructed to the communication port.

In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention accommodates a plurality of heterogeneous networks and a plurality of heterogeneous networks.
A router device with a bridge function for relaying the communication frame between the frames, and determining whether the received communication frame is relayed at the data link layer level. If it is determined and relay is necessary, the communication frame is transmitted to a network other than the network that has received the communication frame, and the received communication frame is relayed by a bridge process. Alternatively, at the network layer level, a route for determining a relay route and relaying a communication frame is performed.
Selecting means for selecting whether to relay according to the communication processing according to the network layer protocol followed by the received communication frame, a bridge means for executing the bridge processing according to the selection of the selecting means, and the selecting means. Router means for executing the routing processing according to the selection of the above, the bridge means, prior to the selection of the selection means, at least the relay processing in the bridge processing for the received communication frame. A second router function-equipped router device is characterized in that the execution of a process for determining whether or not is required is controlled in advance.

In this second router device with a bridge function, the bridge means, prior to the selection by the selecting means, is the communication frame in the bridge processing for the received communication frame. The execution of the process including the execution of the process for determining the necessity of the relay may be controlled in advance, except the transmission of the above.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides:
A router device with a bridge function for accommodating a plurality of heterogeneous networks and relaying a communication frame between a plurality of heterogeneous networks, which is accommodated at the data link layer level. Determines whether or not to relay the communication frame received from the network, and when the relay is necessary, sends the communication frame to a network other than the network that received the communication frame. The bridge means for carrying out the bridge processing for relaying the received communication frame, and the relay frame is determined at the network layer level, and the communication frame is transmitted to the determined route. Router means for performing routing processing for relaying the network, the router means being a program capable of performing the routing processing by the network layer protocol followed by the received communication frame. It determines whether the Col notifies the determination result to the bridge device, and the received communication frame - networks beam conforms - click layer protocol, Le -
If the protocol that cannot be routed is processed, the routing process is stopped, and if the network layer protocol that the received communication frame follows is a protocol that can be routed, the routing process is executed. Then, the communication frame is transmitted, and the bridge means
The bridge processing is interrupted after the processing other than the sending operation of the communication frame in the bridge processing for the received communication frame is executed, the notification from the router means is waited for, and the received communication frame is received. When the network means that the router complies with is a protocol capable of performing routing processing by the router means, the sending operation of the communication frame for relaying is performed. If the network means that the received communication frame follows the network layer protocol is notified by the router means that the router means is not capable of performing routing processing, Provides a router device with a third bridge function, which restarts the bridge process to perform a transmission operation for relaying a communication frame.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides
A router device with a bridge function for accommodating a plurality of heterogeneous networks and relaying communication frames between a plurality of heterogeneous networks, each of which is connected to and connected to one network. Network and bridge with bridge function
A plurality of communication ports that control the input and output of communication frames between data devices, a bridging means for relaying the communication frames at the data link layer level, and a network layer level , A route means for determining a relay route, the communication port having a receiving buffer for storing a communication frame received from a connected network and a communication frame for transmitting to the network. -A transmission buffer for storing a communication frame for storing a frame, wherein the router means is provided by the bridge means with information on a network layer header and a network layer protocol type of the communication frame. Is notified, it is determined whether or not the relay route at the network layer level of the communication frame can be determined based on the type of the notified network layer protocol. The yellowtail If the relay route can be determined at the network layer level, the relay route of the communication frame is determined at the network layer level, and the communication frame is A data link layer header that is to be relayed to the determined relay route is created and notified to the bridging means, and the bridging means stores a communication frame in a communication buffer by any one of the communication ports. In this case, the communication frame stored in the reception buffer of the communication port is read and the network of the communication frame is read.
Information of the network layer header and the type of network layer protocol is notified to the router means, and then the necessity of relay of the read communication frame is determined at the data link layer level, and the relay is required. In this case, the communication frame stored in the reception buffer is transferred to the transmission buffers of all communication ports other than the communication port that received the communication frame, and the router means is used. If there is a notification from the router means that the relay route cannot be determined at the network layer level of the communication frame, The received communication port
To instruct all communication ports except the communication frame to transmit the communication frame transferred to the transmission buffer, and the router means determines the relay route at the network layer level of the communication frame. If there is a notification indicating that the data link layer header can be processed, further wait for the notification of the data link layer header from the router means, and according to the notified content of the data link layer header, a message other than the previously received communication port is received. A data link layer of a valid communication frame by validating one of the communication frames transferred to the transmission buffer to all the communication ports and invalidating the other communication frame. The header is updated to the data link layer header notified by the router means, and the transmission of the valid communication frame is performed by the communication port to which the transmission buffer storing the valid communication frame belongs. The fourth characterized by instructing to Ridge function Lumpur - to provide other equipment.

In the third and fourth router devices with a bridge function, a shared memory used by both the bridge means and the router means is provided, and the router means between the bridge means and the router means is provided. You may make it notify via a shared memory.

In addition, the present invention is a router device with a bridge function for accommodating a plurality of heterogeneous networks and relaying a communication frame between the plurality of heterogeneous networks, The received communication frame is determined at the data link layer level by determining whether or not to relay the received communication frame.
When relaying is required, the communication frame is transmitted to a network other than the network that has received the communication frame, and the received communication frame is relayed by a bridge process, or the network is relayed. -Selecting means for determining a relay route at the layer level and selecting whether to relay by a routing processing for relaying a communication frame; and a bridge unit for controlling execution of the bridge processing according to the selection of the selecting means. And, according to the selection of the selection means, to control the execution of the routing process, it is possible to attach a removable router unit to the router device with a bridge function, the selection means, If the router unit is not equipped with a router device having a bridge function, the received communication frame is selected to be relayed by the bridge process, and the router unit is selected. When the knit is equipped with a router device having a bridge function, the relay of the received communication frame is relayed by the bridge processing according to the network layer protocol followed by the received communication frame. Or a router device with a bridge function, characterized in that a relay route is determined at a network layer level and is relayed by a routing process for relaying a communication frame. To do.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides:
A communication frame that receives a plurality of heterogeneous networks and receives a relay of communication frames between the plurality of heterogeneous networks.
The communication system determines whether routing relay can be performed by network layer level relay processing. If routing relay is possible, the communication is performed by routing relay and received. If the frame is one that cannot be routed, the router device with the bridge function that performs the bridge relay performed by the relay processing of the data link layer receives the received communication frame.
There is also provided a relay processing method characterized in that the processing for bridge relay and the processing for routing relay are executed in parallel until it is determined whether or not the routing relay of the system is possible.

[0057]

According to the router device with the bridge function of the present invention, whether the received communication frame is relayed by the routing processing or the bridge processing is determined by the received frame. It is determined by whether or not the routing means is capable of routing processing.

However, by the time this decision is made, the bridging means proceeds with the bridging process on the assumption that the relaying is performed by the bridging process.

Therefore, the relay by the bridge processing can be performed at a high speed as compared with the conventional router device with the bridge function which starts the bridge processing after it is decided to relay by the bridge processing.

Further, in particular, the bridge means performs transfer between the communication ports of the communication frame for bridge relay until the decision as to whether or not to relay is made by the bridge process. By doing so, even when it is decided to perform the relay by the routing processing instead of the bridge processing, by diverting the communication frame transferred for the bridge relay, It is possible to omit the transfer processing between the communication ports of the communication frame.

Therefore, as compared with the conventional router device with the bridge function, the relay by the routing process can be performed at high speed.

[0062]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the router device with bridge function according to the present invention will be described below.

First, FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a router device with a bridge function according to this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a brouter device, 2 is a router module, 3 is a bridge module, 4 is a first communication port, and 5 is a second communication port.

The bruta device of this embodiment is designated by reference numeral 6 in FIG.
The first network A shown in FIG. 2 and the second network B shown by reference numeral 7 in FIG. 1 are connected. Note that, in FIG. 1, the same functional parts as those of the router device with a bridge function (see FIG. 2) according to the above-described related art are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The router module 2 comprises a router processor 21, an instruction memory 22, a data memory 23 and a route information table 24. The router processor 21
Processing is performed according to the program in the instruction memory 22, and the work area required for executing the program uses the data memory 23.

The bridge module 3 comprises a bridge processor 31, an instruction memory 32, a data memory 33 and a relay address table 34. The bridge processor 31 processes according to the program in the instruction memory 32. The data memory 33 is used as a work area required for program execution.

As a communication means between the router processor 21 and the bridge processor 31, a common memory 25 and a bidirectional interrupt signal 26 are provided.

As the interrupt signal 26, as an interrupt from the bridge processor 31 to the router processor 21, an interrupt for notifying a message on the common memory and an interrupt signal for canceling for stopping the processing of the router processor 21 are prepared. To do. Further, as an interrupt from the router processor 21 to the bridge processor 31, an interrupt signal for reporting a message on the common memory is prepared.

The router processor 31 is. Instruction memory 32
Process according to the program inside. The data memory 33 is used as a work area required for program execution. Similarly, in the router module 2, the router processor 21 processes according to the program in the instruction memory 22, and the work area necessary for executing the program uses the data memory 23.

The communication port 4 includes a receiving circuit 41,
Reception buffer 42, transmission circuit 43, and transmission buffer 44
It consists of. The communication port 5 comprises a receiving circuit 51, a receiving buffer 52, a transmitting circuit 53, and a transmitting buffer 54.

Note that, in FIG. 1, the same functional parts as those of the router device with a bridge function (see FIG. 2) according to the above-mentioned prior art are designated by the same reference numerals.

The operation of the router device with the bridge function according to this embodiment will be described below.

The receiving circuit 41 of the communication port 4 of the router device having the bridge function receives the frame data sent from the first network A6.

The receiving circuit 41 performs the error detection process at the media access sublayer level, and then receives the received frame data from the frame of the above-mentioned MAC frame (see FIG. 3).
The mat is stored in the reception buffer 42. Further, the bridge processor 31 of the bridge module 3 is notified of the reception of the frame data.

The operation procedure of the bridge processor 31 which has received the notification is shown in FIGS.

As shown in the figure, the bridge processor 31 that has received the frame data reception notification reads the data link layer header (DL header) and the network layer (NL header) of the received frame data (step 800).

Of the headers in the received frame,
The type field and the NL header are written in the common memory 22 as message data (step 80).
1).

The bridge processor 31 does not recognize the network layer protocol. Therefore, the bridge processor 31 cannot recognize the information amount of the NL header. Therefore, writing to the common memory 2 (step 2
In 2), the amount of information in the NL header is fixed to the maximum amount of data that can be used for the header in the network layer protocol supported by Bruta.

FIG. 10 shows the format of message data on the common memory.

In the figure, 200 is one message data packet, 201 is a data length field indicating the length of writing by this message data packet bridge processor 31, and 202 is the network of the received frame.
The type field indicating the protocol type of the communication layer protocol, 203 is the NL header field of the received frame, and the fields 201 to 203 are data areas notified from the bridge processor 31 to the router processor 21. The above fields are the bridge processor 31.
Writes.

The fields 204 to 207 are fields written by the bridge processor 31 from the router processor 21 and will be described later.

When the writing of the message data to the common memory 25 is completed, the bridge processor 31 issues an interrupt for message notification to the router processor 21.
And instruct the routing process (step 80).
1).

Next, the bridge processor 31 searches the relay address table 34 using the DA address in the received frame as a key. Then, it is checked whether the destination of the received frame exists in the network to which the communication port that has received the frame is connected (step 80).
2).

Here, the relay address table 34 is a database for bridge processing and is a table for managing MAC addresses.

If it is found as a result of this search that the DA address of the received frame is in the same network,
Since it is not necessary to perform the relay operation, an interrupt for instructing cancel processing is given to the router processor (step 811). Further, the received frame is discarded from the reception buffer (step 812).

On the other hand, if it is found as a result of the search that the DA address of the received frame is not within the same network, the received frame data is sent to a communication port other than the communication port that received the frame. The data is transferred to the internal transmission buffer (step 804). And the router processor 2
Wait for the routing process end report from 1 (step 8)
05).

On the other hand, the processing of the router processor 21 is shown in FIG.
Will be explained.

Upon receiving the message notification interrupt from the bridge processor 31, the router processor 21 first accesses the common memory 25 (step). Then, the type field 202 and the NL header field 203 in the message packet are read (step 10).
00).

Next, the router processor 21 determines whether or not there is the content of the read message packet (step 1001).

As a result, the network of the received frame
If the frame layer protocol is not a protocol supported by the router device with the bridge function, and it is determined that the frame cannot be routed, the message data packet 201 is informed that the frame cannot be processed. Write. Then, the message report interrupt is issued to the bridge processor 31.

Now, the fields denoted by reference numerals 204 to 207 in the message data packet 200 shown in FIG. 11 will be described.

Reference numeral 204 denotes a router relay possible flag field, which indicates the result of determination as to whether or not the received frame can be routed. Reference numeral 205 is a communication port number field for designating a communication port for transmitting the result frame of the routing process.

Reference numeral 206 is a DA, that is, a MAC address field for storing the MAC address of the relay destination, and 207 is S.
A, that is, the MAC of the communication port that relays and transmits the frame
It is a MAC address field that stores an address.

Therefore, if the received frame is not routed, the router processor 21 writes data indicating that the router cannot be routed in the router relay enable flag field 204, and then writes it to the bridge processor 31 as described above. On the other hand, the message report interrupt is issued.

On the other hand, when the received frame can be routed, the router processor 21 uses the IP address data of the NL header and the route information table 24 to determine the destination MAC address of the network to be relayed and its destination MAC address. The communication port number within its own station connecting the relay destination network and its MAC address are obtained (step 1002). This routing process itself is similar to the conventional technique.

Next, the obtained new DA is used as the DA address field 20 in the message data packet 201.
6, and the obtained communication port number in the own station is written in the communication port number field 205, and the obtained MAC address of the communication port in the own station is written in the SA address field 207.

When the routing process is possible as described above, the router processor 21 writes the router processable data in the router relay possible flag field 204, and the DA address field 206 necessary for the frame transmission process, Communication port number field 205, SA
Data necessary for transmission processing is written in the address field 207, and the message report interrupt is issued to the bridge processor 31.

When the above-mentioned cancel interrupt is input from the bridge processor 31 during the above routing processing, the router processor 21 stops the routing processing and ends the processing.

On the other hand, when the bridge processor 31 receives a message report interrupt from the router processor 21,
The process shown in FIG. 8 is performed.

The bridge processor uses the router relay enable flag field 2 in the message data packet 201.
If the contents of No. 04 are read and the contents indicate that router processing is impossible, the frame data transferred to the transmission buffer of the communication port other than the communication port which received the frame first (step 804). Is instructed to the communication port to be transmitted to each network (step 810).

Upon receipt of the transmission instruction, the communication port transmits the frame in the transmission buffer accordingly. This means that bridge relay has been performed.

On the other hand, router relay possible flag field 2
If the content of 04 indicates that the router can be processed, the communication port number of the frame data transferred to the transmission buffer of the communication port other than the communication port that received the frame first. Only the frame data transferred to the transmission buffer of the communication port shown in the field 205 is validated, and the frame data transferred to another communication port is discarded.

The transmission data may be discarded by the communication circuit itself according to an instruction to the communication circuit in the communication port, or the bridge processor may directly change the value of the pointer of the transmission buffer. May be realized by.

Further, the bridge processor 31 changes the contents of the DA address field and the SA address field of the transmission buffer of the communication port considered to be valid,
DA address field 206 and SA address field 207 in the message data packet 201
Update to the contents of. Then, the communication port is instructed to transmit the updated frame data (step 80).
9).

The communication port receiving the transmission instruction transmits the frame in the transmission buffer accordingly.

With the above processing, router relay has been performed.

As described above, according to the bruta apparatus using the present invention, the bridge relay preparatory processing and the routing processing are performed in parallel, so that the relay overhead by the bridge function and the relay overhead by the router function are eliminated. It is possible to overlap in time, and it is possible to realize an overall speedup of relay processing.

That is, at the time of router relay, it is expected that the data transfer process between the communication ports and the routing process are performed in parallel to increase the speed. Also, at the time of bridge relay, processing for determining whether or not the received frame complies with the network layer protocol that cannot be routed, and processing for access to the relay address table and data transfer between communication ports in the bridge processing. It is expected that the speed will be increased by performing the above in parallel. Therefore, it is possible to accelerate the overall processing performance of the bruta device.

Although the common memory of the bridge processor and the router processor is constructed on the router module in this embodiment, the common memory may be constructed on the bridge module.

According to this structure, by using the initial value of the message data packet as the data indicating that routing is impossible, even if the router module is not installed, the router device with the bridge function is used as a bridge. Can work. Therefore, flexibility is given to the applicable range of the router device with the bridge function.

Further, in this embodiment, the router processor 2 is used.
Prior to the notification of the router processing enable / disable determination (steps 1001 and 1004 in FIG. 10), the communication between the communication ports of the communication frame of the bridge processor 3 was performed. You may make it wait for a notification. In this case, when the bridge processor is notified that the router process is possible, the bridge processor only transmits the communication frame to the transmission buffer of the communication port corresponding to the value of the SA field in the common memory.
System transfer.

[0113]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a router device with a bridge function capable of performing relay processing at a higher speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a bruta device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a bruta device according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a format of frame data at a media access sublayer level.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a relay processing procedure of a conventional router device with a bridge function.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a relay processing procedure of a conventional router device with a bridge function.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a relay processing procedure of a conventional router device with a bridge function.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a routing relay state of a router device with a bridge function.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a relay processing procedure of the bridge processor of the bruta device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a relay processing procedure of a bridge processor of a bruta device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows a ruler of a bruta device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart showing a relay processing procedure of the processor.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a message data packet used for communication between a bridge processor and a router processor in a router device with a bridge function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Bruta device 2 router module 3 bridge module 4 First communication port 5 Second communication port 21 Router Processor 24 Route information table 31 bridge processor 34 Relay Address Table 42 Receive buffer 71 DL header 72 MAC header 76 NL header 200 message data packets 204 Router relay possible flag field

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Ken Watanabe             292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Ceremony Hitachi Microelectronics             Device Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Kenji Hirata             292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Ceremony Hitachi Microelectronics             Device Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Osamu Takada             1099 Ozenji Stock Association, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture             Hitachi Systems Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Hiromichi Enomoto             1 Horiyamashita, Hadano City, Kanagawa Japan             Tate Manufacturing Kanagawa Factory (72) Inventor Toshihiko Ogura             292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Ceremony Hitachi Microelectronics             Device Development Laboratory

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A relay between a plurality of heterogeneous networks that accommodates a plurality of heterogeneous networks and receives a communication frame.
It is determined whether or not the routing can be performed by the routing relay, which is the relay based on the network layer header of the communication frame, and if the routing relay is possible, the routing is performed.
If the received communication frame is not capable of routing relaying, the received communication frame is relayed by the relay based on the data link layer header of the communication frame. A router device with a bridge function, which is carried out by a certain bridge relay, is connected to one network, respectively, and is responsible for input / output of a communication frame between the connected network and the router device with the bridge function. A plurality of communication ports, a process for determining whether or not a received communication frame is capable of routing relaying, and a network layer level process for routing relaying. Processor and data link layer level processing for bridge relay,
Data link layer level processing for routing relaying, communication frame transfer processing between the communication ports for relaying the communication frame, and network communication from the communication port. A second processor that executes a process of transmitting a communication frame to the first processor
A router device with a bridge function, characterized in that, at the same time as the execution of the processing for determining whether or not the relaying is possible, the processing at the data link layer level for the bridge relay in the second processor is executed. 2. The router device with a bridge function according to claim 1, wherein the second processor performs a communication between the communication ports in addition to processing at a data link layer level for bridge relay. Frame transfer processing The transfer processing of the communication frame between the communication ports for bridge relaying based on the processing result of the data link layer level is performed according to the rule of the communication frame received by the first processor. If the first processor determines that routing relay of the received communication frame is impossible, the communication frame transferred earlier is executed in parallel with the determination processing as to whether or not routing relay is possible. -When the communication port is instructed to transmit the frame to the network and the first processor determines that the received communication frame can be routed, the routing relay in the first processor is performed. Net for According to the result of processing at the work layer level, one of the communication frames transferred first is processed at the data link layer level for routing relay, and the processed communication is performed. A route with a bridge function characterized by instructing a communication port to transmit a frame to a network
Device. 3. A router device with a bridge function for accommodating a plurality of heterogeneous networks and relaying a communication frame between the plurality of heterogeneous networks, wherein the received communication frame is At the data link layer level, the necessity of relaying the received communication frame is determined, and if relay is necessary, the communication frame is sent to a network other than the network that received the communication frame. Whether the relay is performed by a bridge process that relays the communication frame received by sending the message or by a routing process that determines the relay route at the network layer level and relays the communication frame. Selecting means according to the network layer protocol followed by the received communication frame, bridge means for controlling execution of the bridge processing according to the selection of the selecting means, and the selecting means. Le controls the execution of coating process - - the Le according to the selection of the stage and a motor unit, the bridge unit prior to selection of said selection means,
A router device with a bridge function, which controls at least the execution of a process for deciding the necessity of the relay among the bridge processes for the received communication frame. 4. The router device with bridge function according to claim 3, wherein the bridge means is prior to the selection of the selection means.
A router device with a bridge function, which controls in advance the execution of a process other than the sending of the communication frame in the bridge process for the received communication frame. 5. A router device with a bridge function for accommodating a plurality of heterogeneous networks and for relaying a communication frame between a plurality of heterogeneous networks, at a data link layer level. Determines the necessity of relaying communication frames received from any accommodated network,
When relay is necessary, a bridge means for performing a bridge process for relaying the received communication frame by sending the communication frame to a network other than the network that received the communication frame, At the network layer level, a communication route is determined by determining a relay route and transmitting the communication frame to the determined route.
And a router means for performing a routing process for relaying a network, wherein the router means is a network layer protocol that the received communication frame follows and is a protocol capable of performing the routing process. It is determined whether or not there is, and the determination result is notified to the bridging means, and when the network layer protocol followed by the received communication frame is not a protocol capable of performing routing processing, routing processing is performed. And if the network layer protocol that the received communication frame follows is a protocol capable of routing processing, the routing processing is executed and the communication frame is sent out. The bridging means suspends the bridging processing after executing the processing other than the sending operation of the communication frame in the bridging processing for the received communication frame. Waiting for the notification from the router means, the network means that the received communication frame complies with the network layer protocol is a protocol capable of being routed by the router means. When notified, the network layer protocol on which the communication frame received is followed by stopping the bridge processing without performing the operation of transmitting the communication frame for relaying,
When the router means notifies that the router means is not a protocol capable of performing routing processing, the bridge processing is restarted to perform a transmission operation for relaying a communication frame. Router device with bridge function. 6. A router device with a bridge function for accommodating a plurality of heterogeneous networks and relaying a communication frame between a plurality of heterogeneous networks, each of which is a network. Multiple communication ports, which are responsible for input and output of communication frames between the connected network and the router device with the bridge function, and relay of communication frames at the data link layer level. The communication port is provided with a bridge means for processing and a router means for determining a relay route at a network layer level, and the communication port receives the communication frame received from the connected network. A receiving buffer for storing and a transmitting buffer for storing a communication frame for storing a communication frame to be transmitted to a network are provided, and the router means is a communication frame from the bridge means.
When the network layer header of the network and the information of the network layer protocol type are notified, the relay route at the network layer level of the communication frame concerned from the notified network layer protocol type. Of the communication frame is notified to the bridge means, and if the relay route can be determined at the network layer level, the communication frame is relayed. The route is determined at the network layer level, the communication frame creates a data link layer header to be relayed to the determined relay route and notifies the bridging means, and the bridging means , If any one of the communication ports stores the communication frame in the communication buffer,
The communication frame stored in the receiving buffer of the network is read, the network layer header of the communication frame and the information of the network layer protocol type are notified to the router means, and then read. The necessity of relaying the communication frame concerned is determined at the data link layer level, and when the relay is necessary, the communication frame stored in the reception buffer concerned is determined.
Transfer the frame to the transmission buffers of all communication ports other than the communication port that received the communication frame, and suspend the processing until the determination result is notified from the router means,
If there is a notification from the router means that the relay route cannot be determined at the network layer level of the communication frame, all communication ports other than the received communication port. In the case of instructing the transmission of the communication frame transferred to the transmission buffer, and the router means has notified that the relay route can be determined at the network layer level of the communication frame. Further waits for the notification of the data link layer header from the router means, and according to the notified contents of the data link layer header, the transmission buffer is sent to all communication ports other than the communication port previously received. One of the communication frames transferred to the server is valid and the other communication frame is valid.
The data link layer header of the validated communication frame is updated to the data link layer header notified by the router means, and the valid communication frame is transmitted.
A router device with a bridge function for instructing a communication port to which a transmission buffer storing a valid communication frame belongs. 7. The router device with bridge function according to claim 5, further comprising a shared memory used by both the bridge means and the router means, the bridge means and the router means. A router device with a bridge function, characterized in that notification between them is performed via a shared memory. 8. A router device with a bridge function for accommodating a plurality of heterogeneous networks and relaying a communication frame between the plurality of heterogeneous networks, wherein the received communication frame is At the data link layer level, the necessity of relaying the received communication frame is determined, and if the relay is necessary, the communication frame is transmitted to the network other than the network that received the communication frame. It is relayed by a bridge process that relays the communication frame received by sending the frame, or by a routing process that determines a relay route at the network layer level and relays the communication frame. And a bridge unit for controlling the execution of the bridge processing according to the selection of the selecting means, and controlling the execution of the routing processing according to the selection of the selecting means. It is possible to attach a removable router unit to the router device with a bridge function, and the selecting means receives when the router unit is not attached to the router device with a bridge function. Select to relay the communication frame by bridge processing,
If the router unit is equipped with a router device with a bridge function, the relay of the received communication frame is relayed by the bridge processing according to the network layer protocol followed by the received communication frame. Do it or network
A router device with a bridge function, characterized in that a relay route is determined at a layer level, and whether or not to relay by a routing process for relaying a communication frame is selected. 9. A plurality of heterogeneous networks are accommodated, and a communication frame is relayed between the plurality of heterogeneous networks by a received communication frame at a network layer level relay process. It is determined whether or not the routing relay is possible, and if the routing relay is possible,
If the communication frame received by the tongue relay is one that cannot be routed, it is received by the router device with a bridge function which is performed by the bridge relay performed by the data link layer relay process. A relay processing method characterized in that a process for bridge relay and a process for routing relay are executed in parallel until it is determined whether or not routing relay of a communication frame is possible. 10. A router device with a bridge function according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8, and a plurality of heterogeneous networks connected by the router device with a bridge function. A network system having a network and a plurality of terminal devices connected to the network.