Packet processing switch and methods of operation thereof

1. A packet processing integrated circuit chip, comprising:

a plurality of input ports configured to receive packets from respective external sources, respective ones of the input ports comprising respective sets of one or more lanes;

a plurality of output ports configured to transmit packets to respective external recipients, respective ones of the output ports comprising respective sets of one or more lanes; and

a packet processor configured to extract data from payloads of the received packets, to selectively perform bit extension, bit truncation, bit reordering and/or bit arithmetic operations on the extracted data to produce new packets with payloads having formats compatible with data structures of the external recipients, and to convey the new packets to the output ports, wherein the packet processor is configured to extract data comprising digitized samples of RF signals from payloads of the received packets, to perform bit extension, bit truncation, bit reordering and/or bit arithmetic operations on the extracted data to produce new packets with payloads having formats compatible with data structures of baseband processors, and to convey the new packets to the output ports.

2. A chip according to claim 1 , wherein the packet processor supports a plurality of packet processing scenarios.

3. A chip according to claim 2 , wherein the packet processor selectively applies the packet processing scenarios based on destination addresses in the packets.

4. A packet processing integrated circuit chip, comprising:

a plurality of input ports configured to receive packets from respective external sources, respective ones of the input ports comprising respective sets of one or more lanes;

a plurality of output ports configured to transmit packets to respective external recipients, respective ones of the output ports comprising respective sets of one or more lanes; and

a packet processor configured to extract data from payloads of the received packets, to selectively perform bit extension, bit truncation, bit reordering and/or bit arithmetic operations on the extracted data to produce new packets with payloads having formats compatible with data structures of the external recipients, and to convey the new packets to the output ports, wherein the packet processor supports a plurality of packet processing scenarios and wherein the plurality of packet processing scenarios comprises individual packet processing scenarios and group packet processing scenarios that invoke concurrent processing by selected ones of the individual packet processing scenarios.

5. A chip according to claim 4 , wherein the packet processing scenarios are user-configurable.

6. A chip according to claim 1 , further comprising a packet switching fabric configured to route selected packets from the input ports to selected ones of the output ports without payload modification.

7. A chip according to claim 1 , further comprising an auxiliary serial bus interface, and wherein the packet processor, the input ports and/or the output ports are configurable via the auxiliary serial bus interface.

8. An interface circuit for conveying data between a first plurality of circuit cards and a second plurality of circuit cards, the interface circuit comprising:

a plurality of input ports configured to receive packets from respective ones of the first plurality of circuit cards, respective ones of the input ports comprising respective sets of one or more lanes;

a plurality of output ports configured to transmit packets to respective ones of the second plurality of circuit cards, respective ones of the output ports comprising respective sets of one or more lanes; and

a packet processor configured to extract data comprising digitized samples of radio frequency (RF) signals from payloads of the received packets, to perform bit extension, bit truncation, bit reordering and/or bit arithmetic operations on the extracted data to produce new packets with payloads having formats compatible with data structures of the external recipients, and to convey the new packets to the output ports, wherein the packet processor supports a plurality of packet processing scenarios and wherein the plurality of packet processing scenarios comprises individual packet processing scenarios and group packet processing scenarios that invoke concurrent processing by selected ones of the individual packet processing scenarios.

9. An interface circuit according to claim 8 , wherein the packet processor selectively applies the packet processing scenarios based on destination addresses in the packets.

10. An interface circuit according to claim 8 , wherein the packet processing scenarios are user-configurable.

11. An interface circuit according to claim 8 , further comprising a packet switching fabric configured to route selected packets from the input ports to selected ones of the output ports without payload modification.

12. An interface circuit according to claim 8 :

wherein the plurality of input ports are configured to receive packets from respective ones of a plurality of RF signal processing cards; and

wherein the plurality of output ports are configured to transmit packets to respective ones of a plurality of baseband cards.

13. An interface circuit according to claim 12 , wherein the data structures comprise data structures of baseband processors on the baseband cards.

14. An interface circuit according to claim 8 implemented in a single integrated circuit chip.

15. A chip according to claim 4 , further comprising a packet switching fabric configured to route selected packets from the input ports to selected ones of the output ports without payload modification.

16. A chip according to claim 4 , further comprising a packet switching fabric configured to route selected packets from the input ports to selected ones of the output ports without payload modification.