Patent ID: 7443794
Filing Date: 2008-10-28
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A system, comprising: a fibre channel switch with a plurality of fabric ports; a repeater connected to a selected one of the plurality of fabric ports through a fibre channel linklet, wherein the selected one of the plurality of fabric ports includes a number of credits; and an inline link device connected in the fibre channel linklet between the repeater and the fibre channel switch, the inline link device including an outbound receiver associated with a first number of credits to receive data packets from the fibre channel switch, and an inbound receiver associated with a second number of credits, the second number of credits associated with the inbound receiver being larger than the first number of credits associated with the outbound receiver, wherein the inline link device includes: an outbound channel adapted to source data, including the outbound receiver, an outbound transmitter, and an outbound channel buffer connected between the outbound receiver and the outbound transmitter, the outbound channel buffer having the first number of credits; an inbound channel adapted to sink data, including the inbound receiver, an inbound transmitter, and an inbound channel buffer connected between the inbound receiver and the inbound transmitter, the inbound channel buffer having the second number of credits; each of the inbound and outbound channels of the inline link device including: a controller connected to the outbound and inbound channels, the controller being adapted to: