METHOD AND SWITCH FOR BROADCASTING PACKETS
A switch for broadcasting packets is provided including a plurality of input ports, a switch fabric coupled to the input ports, a plurality of output ports coupled to the suited fabrics and a multicast interconnect coupled between the input ports and output ports for routing multicast packets directly between the input and output ports. The multicast interconnect may include a multicast queue, an arbiter coupled between the multicast queue and the input ports and a plurality of broadcast buffers coupled to the multicast queue, each broadcast buffer coupled to a corresponding output port. The multicast interconnect may include a plurality of egress arbiters coupled between corresponding broadcast buffers and output ports.
1 . A switch for broadcasting packets comprising:
a plurality of input ports;
a switch fabric coupled to the input ports;
a plurality of output ports coupled to the suited fabrics; and
a multicast interconnect coupled between the input ports and output ports for routing multicast packets directly therebetween.
2 . A switch for broadcasting packets as claimed in claim 1 wherein the multicast interconnect includes a multicast queue.
3 . A switch for broadcasting packets as claimed in claim 2 wherein the multcast interconnect includes an arbiter coupled between the multicast queue and the input ports.
4 . A switch for broadcasting packets as claimed in claim 2 wherein the multicast interconnect include a plurality of broadcast buffers coupled to the multicast queue, each broadcast buffer coupled to a corresponding output port.
5 . A switch for broadcasting packets as claimed in claim 4 wherein the multicast interconnect includes a plurality of egress arbiters coupled between corresponding broadcast buffers and output ports.
6 . A switch for broadcasting packets as claimed in claim 1 wherein the input ports include two outputs one coupled to the switch fabric and the other coupled to the multicast interconnect and a switch for switch packets between the two outputs in dependence upon packet type.
7 . A switch for broadcasting packets as claimed in claim 3 wherein the arbiter includes an algorithm for resolving contention between input ports.
8 . A switch for broadcasting packets as claimed in claim 7 wherein the algorithm is a round robin.
9 . A switch for broadcasting packets as claimed in claim 7 wherein the algorithm is a weighted round robin.
10 . A switch for broadcasting packets wherein each egress arbiter include an algorithm for resolving contention at the output ports.
11 . A switch for broadcasting packets as claimed in claim 10 wherein the algorithm is a round robin.
12 . A switch for broadcasting packets as claimed in claim 10 wherein the algorithm is a weighted round robin.
13 . A method of broadcasting packets from an input port to a plurality of output ports comprising the steps of:
at an input port, replicating broadcast packets;
directly coupling the packets to a plurality of output ports.
14 . The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the step of replicating includes the step of identifying the packet as a broadcast packet.
15 . The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the step of replicating includes the step of arbitrating between packets from other input ports.
16 . The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the step of replicating includes the step of queuing a packet for broadcast.
17 . The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the step of replicating includes the buffering packets for output.
18 . The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the step of replicating includes the egress arbitrating broadcast packets for output.