Patent ID: 7471691
Filing Date: 2008-12-30
Classification: H04L,H04N

Abstract:
1. A packet switching switch for coupling a plurality of node loop (NL) nodes and/or Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop network (FCAL nets) together to all concurrent data exchanges between a plurality of pairs comprised of one NL node or FCAL net and one other NL node or FCAL net, comprising: a crossbar switch; a protocol bus; a plurality of port circuits each having an input and an output for connecting to an FCAL net coupled to one or more NL nodes and capable of implementing a Fibre Channel loop protocol, and each having a crossbar switch port coupled to said crossbar switch; means coupled to said protocol bus for maintaining a scoreboard table containing at least status information and a routing table either centrally located or in each port circuit, said routing table containing data mapping destination addresses of NL nodes to port IDs; and wherein said port circuits are coupled to said means for maintaining a scoreboard table and routing table and wherein said port circuits function to establish connections between themselves by using destination addresses in (Open) OPN primitives received from source nodes to search said routing table to determine the ID of a remote port coupled to the destination node having the destination address in the OPN and, using that port ID to search said scoreboard table to determine status of the remote port, and then exchanging messages with said remote port to cause it to arbitrate for and take control of its local FCAL net and establish a particular channel through said crossbar switch and use said channel to transmit primitives and data frames between said source node and said destination node.