IP Library Granted Patent US 12671661
Granted Patent B2
US 12671661 · App. 18/550,418 · Granted Jun 30, 2026

Converged data exchange method and time-sensitive network switch

Inventor: Xuyang Zhao (Hangzhou City, CN)
Assignee: ZHEJIANG LAB
H04L47/6275H04L47/12H04L47/2433
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12671661
App. No.
18/550,418
Granted
Jun 30, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A converged data exchange method and a time-sensitive network switch are provided in the present disclosure. The network switch device performs sensitivity identification for the data to be forwarded. For the switching transmission of non-time-sensitive data, the push port queue and the pop port queue perform cut-through switching for the data, which reduces the residence time of the data packet in the switch device. For time-sensitive data, the push port queue and pop port queue forward the data according to the corresponding priority scheduling policies.

Claims (44)

1 . A converged data exchange method, performed by a time-sensitive network switch, comprising:

receiving a to-be-forwarded data frame from a front-end link device, and identifying priority flag information of the to-be-forwarded data frame;

identifying a data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame based on the priority flag information of the to-be-forwarded data frame, categorizing the to-be-forwarded data frame as time-sensitive data or non-time-sensitive data according to the data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame; and assigning the time-sensitive data or the non-time-sensitive data to a push port queue according to priority;

wherein, when the to-be-forwarded data frame is categorized as the time-sensitive data, the push port queue schedules the time-sensitive data according to priority during a transmission process of the time-sensitive data, and when the to-be-forwarded data frame is categorized as the non-time sensitive data, the push port queue buffers and stores the non-time-sensitive data during a transmission process of the non-time-sensitive data; the push port queue obtains a destination MAC address of the time-sensitive data or a destination MAC address of the non-time-sensitive data by querying a queue mapping relationship table, and forwards the time-sensitive data or the non-time-sensitive data to a corresponding pop port queue through a queue cross matrix based on the destination MAC address of the time-sensitive data or the destination MAC address of the non-time-sensitive data;

the pop port queue forwards the time-sensitive data or the non-time-sensitive data to a back-end link device according to priority;

wherein identifying the data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame based on the priority flag information of the to-be-forwarded data frame comprises:

analyzing a priority flag, Priority Code Point, in an 802.1Q field of the to-be-forwarded data frame, to obtain the priority flag information of the to-be-forwarded data frame;

wherein a length of the priority flag, Priority Code Point, is 3 bits, identifying the data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame based on the priority flag information of the to-be-forwarded data frame, categorizing the to-be-forwarded data frame as the time-sensitive data or the non-time-sensitive data according to the data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame, comprises:

in response to determining that the priority flag of the to-be-forwarded data frame is a reserved empty byte, determining that the to-be-forwarded data frame is the non-time-sensitive data;

in response to determining that the priority flag of the to-be-forwarded data frame is 000, 001, 010, or 011, determining that the to-be-forwarded data frame is the time-sensitive data.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

extracting a VLAN field, a source MAC address filed, and a destination MAC address field of the to-be-forwarded data frame.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to determining that the data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame is the time-sensitive data, the push port queue and the pop port queue perform scheduling based on priority of the time-sensitive data;

in response to determining that the data type of to-be-forwarded data frame is the non-time-sensitive data, the push port queue and the pop port queue perform Ethernet data frame exchange according to QoS mechanism.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein operation modes of the push port queue comprise: a discard mode, a port flow control mode, and a priority-based flow control mode;

in the discard mode, in response to the push port queue failing to identify congestion status, all frames received by the push port queue are evaluated by a congestion control function, wherein copied frames are discarded;

in the port flow control mode, the front-end link device is notified by a pause frame that the push port queue is not able to accept more data; in response to the front-end link device identifying a pause request, the push port queue does not discard any incoming data; in response to the front-end link device not identifying the pause frame, a buffer control function of the push port queue discards data when the data arrives at the push port queue;

in the priority-based flow control mode, in response to the front-end link device being notified of QoS class congestion policy in the push port queue by a pause frame, the front-end link device stops scheduling QoS class data frames; in response to the front-end link device not identifying the pause frame, a buffer control function of the push port queue discards data before the data arrives at the push port queue.

5 . A time-sensitive network switch, comprising:

a storage medium storing computer executable instructions;

a processor capable of executing the computer executable instructions;

a push port;

a pop port;

wherein, when the computer readable instructions are executed by the processor, the processor is configured to perform operations comprising:

receiving to-be-forwarded data frames from a front-end link device, and identifying priority flag information of the to-be-forwarded data frames;

identifying a data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame based on the priority flag information of the to-be-forwarded data frame, categorizing the to-be-forwarded data frame as time-sensitive data or non-time-sensitive data according to the data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame; and assigning the time-sensitive data or the non-time-sensitive data to a push port queue of the push port according to priority;

wherein, when the to-be-forwarded data frame is categorized as the time-sensitive data, the push port queue schedules the time-sensitive data according to priority during a transmission process of the time-sensitive data, and when the to-be-forwarded data frame is categorized as the non-time sensitive data, the push port queue buffers and stores the non-time-sensitive data during a transmission process of the non-time-sensitive data; the push port queue obtains a destination MAC address of the time-sensitive data or a destination MAC address of the non-time-sensitive data by querying a queue mapping relationship table and forwards the time-sensitive data or the non-time-sensitive data to the push port queue of the push port through a queue cross matrix based on the destination MAC address of the time-sensitive data or the destination MAC address of the non-time-sensitive data;

wherein, the pop port queue forwards the time-sensitive data or the non-time-sensitive data to a back-end link device according to priority;

wherein identifying the data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame based on the priority flag information of the to-be-forwarded data frame, comprises:

analyzing a priority flag, Priority Code Point, in an 802.1Q field of the to-be-forwarded data frame, to obtain the priority flag information of the to-be- forwarded data frame;

wherein a length of the priority flag, Priority Code Point, is 3 bits, identifying the data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame based on the priority flag information of the to-be-forwarded data frame, categorizing the to-be-forwarded data frame as the time-sensitive data or the non-time-sensitive data according to the data type of the to-be-forwarded data frame, comprises:

in response to determining that the priority flag of the to-be-forwarded data frame is a reserved empty byte, determining that the to-be-forwarded data frame is the non-time-sensitive data;

in response to determining that the priority flag of the to-be-forwarded data frame is 000, 001, 010, or 011, determining that the to-be-forwarded data frame is the time-sensitive data.

6 . The time-sensitive switch according to claim 5 , the operations further comprise:

extracting a VLAN field, a source MAC address filed, and a destination MAC address field of the to-be-forwarded data frame;

saving the VLAN field, the source MAC address filed, and the destination MAC address field of the to-be-forwarded data frame in the queue mapping relationship table in the storage medium.

7 . The time-sensitive switch according to claim 5 , wherein,

in response to determining that the data type of to-be-forwarded data frame is the time-sensitive data, the push port queue and the pop port queue perform scheduling based on the priority of the time-sensitive data;

in response to determining that the data type of to-be-forwarded data frame is the non-time-sensitive data, the push port queue and the pop port queue do not distinguish priority, and perform Ethernet data frame exchange according to QoS mechanism.

8 . The time-sensitive switch according to claim 5 , wherein operation modes of the push port queue comprise: a discard mode, a port flow control mode, and a priority-based flow control mode;

in the discard mode, in response to the push port queue failing to identify congestion status, all frames received by the push port queue are evaluated by a congestion control function, wherein copied frames are discarded;

in the port flow control mode, the front-end link device is notified by a pause frame that the push port queue is not able to accept more data; in response to the front-end link device identifying a pause request, the push port queue does not discard any incoming data; in response to the front-end link device not identifying the pause frame, a buffer control function of the push port queue discards data when the data arrives at the push port queue;

in the priority-based flow control mode, in response to the front-end link device being notified of QoS class congestion policy in the push port queue by a pause frame, the front-end link device stops scheduling QoS class data frames; in response to the front-end link device not identifying the pause frame, a buffer control function of the push port queue discards data before the data arrives at the push port queue.