Method and apparatus for providing quality of service across a switched backplane between egress and ingress queue managers
Granted: October 6, 2009
Patent Number:
7599292
A method and system is provided to enable quality of service across a backplane switch. An egress queue manager on one blade communicates with an ingress queue manager on the same or on another blade where each blade is connected via a backplane switch. The egress queue managers communicate the congestion to ingress queue managers using a messaging scheme. The ingress queue managers determine when to reduce or resume the packet sending rates of ingress queues mapped to congested egress…
Access point
Granted: October 6, 2009
Patent Number:
D601551
Method of and system for allocating resources to resource requests based on application of persistence policies
Granted: September 1, 2009
Patent Number:
7584262
A system for and method of allocating a resource to a service request based on application of a persistence policy is described. In one embodiment, upon or after allocation of a resource to a resource request, an entry representing the allocation is made in a data structure using a first index derived from information relating to the resource request if such is available. An entry representing the allocation is also made in the data structure using a second index derived from information…
System for deriving packet quality of service indicator
Granted: August 25, 2009
Patent Number:
7580350
A system for deriving a quality of service indicator for a packet is described. A register holds a control element. A first resource derives a first candidate quality of service indicator for the packet. A second resource derives a second candidate quality of service indicator for the packet responsive at least in part to the control element held in the register. Resolution logic derives the quality of service indicator for the packet from the first and second candidate quality of…
System for and method of communicating control information between entities interconnected by backplane connections
Granted: August 25, 2009
Patent Number:
7580409
A system of and method for communicating control information between two or more entities over one or more backplane connections is described. The control information is stored in a layer of the packet above the physical layer and the packet is then communicated over the one or more backplane connections. A system of and method for performing load balancing over one or more backplane connections is also described. Control information for a packet is mapped into one or more identifiers of…
Method and system for increasing participation in a standby router protocol
Granted: August 25, 2009
Patent Number:
7581024
A method and system is provided for increasing participation in a standby router protocol (SRP) without increasing the amount of network traffic due to SRP messaging. One or more domain master VLANs participate in an SRP on behalf of numerous member VLANs belonging to the domain master VLAN's domain. The domain master VLANs are associated with at least one virtual router. Each domain member VLAN follows the current default routing configuration for the domain master VLAN as determined in…
Apparatus, method and system for improving network security
Granted: August 18, 2009
Patent Number:
7577996
Devices, systems and related methods are disclosed for improving operational security of a network and/or network devices, such as wireless access points (APs). In the disclosed systems, a network device is not fully operational until it is attached to a network and downloads sensitive information. The information is stored in the network device so that when the device is disconnected from the network, the sensitive information is erased from the device, making the device inoperative and…
Method and system for auto discovery of authenticator for network login
Granted: July 28, 2009
Patent Number:
7568107
A method and system for auto discovery of authenticator for network login is described. The system includes an authenticator discovery controller of a packet forwarding device that helps a user discover the IP address of the packet forwarding device and directs the user to a network login page. The method includes intercepting a request for a web page from a user who is connected to a packet forwarding device that prevents the user from accessing a network, directing the user to a…
Methods and systems for associating and translating virtual local area network (VLAN) tags
Granted: July 7, 2009
Patent Number:
7558273
Methods and systems for associating and translating VLAN tags are disclosed. In one implementation, multiple different member VLAN tags are associated with a translation VLAN tag. When a frame addressed to an unknown MAC address and containing one of the member VLAN tags is received, the frame is flooded to the translation VLAN and to ports associated with the source member VLAN other than the originating port. In the copy sent to the translation VLAN, the VLAN tag is replaced with the…
System for accessing content-addressable memory in packet processor
Granted: June 30, 2009
Patent Number:
7554978
A system for accessing a content-addressable memory in a packet processing system is described. A register holds a data element having a key field. Logic derives a value of the key responsive to 1) packet processing state data relating to one or more packets undergoing processing by the packet processing system, and 2) the value of this key field. The derived value of the key is presented to the memory. In response, the memory searches for an entry associated with the presented key…
Method of performing table lookup operation with table index that exceeds CAM key size
Granted: June 23, 2009
Patent Number:
7552275
In a packet switching device or system, such as a router, switch, combination router/switch, or component thereof, a method of and system for performing a table lookup operation using a lookup table index that exceeds a CAM key size is provided. Multiple CAM accesses are performed, each using a CAM key derived from a subset of lookup table index, resulting in one or more CAM entries. One or more matching table entries are derived from the one or more CAM entries resulting from the…
High speed bus with alignment, re-timing and buffer underflow/overflow detection enhancements
Granted: June 9, 2009
Patent Number:
7546480
In a networked system in which high speed busses interconnect sources and destinations of data, systems for and methods of data alignment, data re-timing, and circular buffer underflow/overflow detection, are described. The invention is directed to a system for detecting either or both underflow and overflow of a circular buffer capable of holding n entries. The invention is also directed to a method of detecting either or both underflow and overflow of a circular buffer capable of…
System and method for packet processor status monitoring
Granted: May 26, 2009
Patent Number:
7539750
Disclosed herein are a system and method for status monitoring, including debug error detection, during data packet processing. In general terms, the system for status monitoring during data packet processing can be implemented as a system including a packet processor and a buffer. The packet processor generates processing data based on one or more control structures while revising packet data. The packet processor generates the processing data while performing one or more lookup cycles.…
Exception handling system for packet processing system
Granted: April 21, 2009
Patent Number:
7522516
An exception handling system for a packet processing system is described. In this exception handling system, there are several exception handlers. One of the exception handlers is selected based on packet processing state data relating to a packet undergoing processing by the packet processing system. The selected exception handler is configured to check for the presence of one or more potential exception conditions associated with the selected exception handler. If one or more of these…
System for deriving hash values for packets in a packet processing system
Granted: March 10, 2009
Patent Number:
7502374
A system for deriving hash values for packets in a packet processing system is described. In this system, hash derivation logic is configured to derive a hash value for the packet responsive to a key that drives processing of the packet. The hash value is useful for supporting additional processing of the packet, such as link aggregation and equal cost multi-path.
Methods and systems for hitless switch management module failover and upgrade
Granted: January 27, 2009
Patent Number:
7483370
Methods and systems for hitless switch management module failover and upgrade are disclosed. According to one method, a master switch management module participates in network protocols and performs packet forwarding operations. The master switch management module distributes protocol state and packet forwarding information to the slave switch management module. The slave switch management module continuously monitors the operational state of the master switch management module. In…
Packet data modification processor command instruction set
Granted: December 9, 2008
Patent Number:
7463628
A command instruction set for a packet data modification processor has a format in which a packet address, if present, specifies an encapsulated layer within the packet and a location within this encapsulated layer. The at least one command within the command instruction set specifies deriving at least a portion of a first packet from data taken from a second packet or the command.
Method and system for incrementally updating a checksum in a network data packet
Granted: November 18, 2008
Patent Number:
7453874
An improved technique for incrementally updating a checksum in a network data packet is disclosed. A partial one's complement sum is first computed by subtracting the checksum value of certain packet header fields from the original data packet checksum. One or more of the packet header fields are then modified. An incrementally updated checksum is then computed by adding a checksum value of the modified packet header fields to the previously calculated partial one's complement sum. The…
Switching system
Granted: November 4, 2008
Patent Number:
7447777
Systems and related methods are described for handling one or more resource requests. A protocol engine receives a resource request in accordance with a prescribed protocol, and a classification engine determines a desired class of service for the request. An analysis engine optionally analyzes the request, and, responsive thereto, determines a desired sub-class of service for the request. A policy engine then allocates a resource to the request responsive to one or both of the desired…
Method and apparatus to extend a program
Granted: November 4, 2008
Patent Number:
7448045
A program may be extended to another program in accordance with information stored in a meta data file. A parent program is associated with the meta data file, and a child program is associated with a child description file created to conform to the information provided in the meta data file. The child description file is stored in a well-known location where it may be accessed by the parent program to learn how communicate with the child program, including which arguments and parameters…
