Patent ID: 6389480
Filing Date: 2002-05-14
Classification: H04L,Y10S

Abstract:
A network switch having a programmable arbitration system to determine priority among a plurality of network ports of the network switch, the ports providing an indication for requesting service, said programmable arbitration system comprising:a memory to store priority values indicating the relative priority of each of the ports; a transmit state machine having access to a transmit list that is stored in the memory; a receive state machine having access to a receive list that is stored in the memory; control logic to select one of a plurality of arbitration schemes; monitor logic coupled to said memory and said control logic to monitor each of the ports and to modify said priority values in said memory based on recent traffic patterns at each of the ports, said monitor logic including polling logic to periodically assert a query signal and to receive a transmit status signal and a receive status signal from each of the ports, and arbitration logic coupled to said memory to select a port according to an arbitration scheme and the most recent port priority values.