Means and apparatus for a scaleable congestion free switching system with intelligent control III

Abstract

A switching system for routing information packets that can simultaneously receive a variety of packet formats. The packet formats include electronic packet transmissions, optical wave division multiplexed data (WDM) with a single frame consisting of a plurality of packets to be sent to a common output line, with each packet traveling on a separate wavelength, WDM packets where the header of an individual packet travels on a wavelength different from the remainder of the packet (i.e. the payload) and the payload either travels on a single wavelength or is subdivided into a plurality of sub-packets with each sub-packet carried on a separate wavelength, and the like. The system includes input devices, a scheduling unit, a switching unit; and variable delay line units. A deconcentrator in the packet switching system creates a minimum gap between packets.

1 . A switching system for routing information packets, comprising: 
 a plurality of input devices;    a scheduling unit;    a switching unit; and    a plurality of variable delay line units, said scheduling unit controlling the amount of time that a packet spends in a said variable delay line unit before entering said switching unit.    
   
   
       2 . A switching system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein said scheduling unit sets the length of delay of said variable delay line unit based in part on a request from an input device.  
   
   
       3 . A deconcentrator in a packet switching system for creating a minimum gap between packets, said deconcentrator having an input line carrying a plurality of incoming packets and a plurality of output lines carrying a plurality of output packets, said de-concentrator comprising: 
 a plurality of 1×2 switches arranged in a tree structure, said tree structure having a plurality of levels L o , L 1 , . . . L N-1  with 2 J  switches positioned at level J;    a logic unit for setting the switches in the tree structure; and    two integers M and N with o≦M≦N≦N with a switch positioned at level N being of lower cost than a switch positioned at level M.    
   
   
       4 . A switching system having a plurality of incoming lines, a plurality of de-concentrating units, a plurality of incoming packet alignment units, a plurality of header reading units, a plurality of re-sequencing units, a plurality of packet switches, a plurality of outgoing packet alignment units and a plurality of packet concentrators and a switch logic controller, wherein: 
 a packet entering an incoming control line passes through a de-concentrating unit, then an incoming packet alignment unit, then a re-sequencing unit, then a packet switch, then an outgoing packet alignment unit, then an outgoing packet alignment unit;    two packets entering a said packet switch so as to be in said packet switch at the same time are destined for different output ports of said packet switch;    the header reader sends packet header information to said switch logic controller;    the switch logic controller sends information to the said re-sequencing units;    the re-sequencing units contain variable length delay lines;    the non-collision of packets in the packet switch unit is enabled by the variable amount of time that the packets spend in the packet re-sequencing units.    
   
   
       5 . A switching system in accordance with  claim 4  wherein the logic controller is electronic.  
   
   
       6 . A switching system in accordance with  claim 4  wherein optical packets enter the switch and optical packets exit the switch and the payloads of said packets remain in the optical domain and are never converted to the electronic domain.  
   
   
       7 . A method of transparent packet switching comprising: 
 detecting headers of arriving packets;    sending the header information to at least one logic unit;    receiving the packets at a de-concentrating units with a de-concentrating unit having more output lines than input lines;    realigning the packets on the de-concentrator output lines;    comparing the headers of the packets;    utilizing header information for selecting a particular time for a packet to enter a switch.    
   
   
       8 . The step of comparing according to  claim 7 , wherein the headers of the packets are compared based on quality of service and previous scheduling of packets to exit switch output ports.  
   
   
       9 . The step of switching according to  claim 7 , wherein the switching is electronic.  
   
   
       10 . The step of switching according to  claim 7 , wherein the switching is optical.  
   
   
       11 . A transparent optical switching system consisting of a plurality of incoming lines, a plurality of outgoing lines, and a plurality of optical switching units PS 1 , PS 2 , . . . PS K  wherein: 
 data as optical packets enter and leave the transparent optical switching system and headers of said optical packets are never converted to electronics;    the amount of time necessary to switch an optical switching unit PS J  exceeds the amount of time between packets entering the switch;    the packets entering the transparent optical switching unit are de-concentrated an placed on de-concentrated lines;    the amount of time between two packets on a de-concentrated line exceeds the amount of time necessary to set an optical switching unit PS J ;    a packet entering the transparent optical switching system is passes through an optical switching unit PS J  to the target output port of the packet.    
   
   
       12 . The transparent optical switching system in accordance with  claim 11  wherein a packet alignment unit re-aligns the packets so that a group of packets simultaneously enter an optical switching unit PS J .  
   
   
       13 . The transparent optical switching system in accordance with  claim 11  wherein there is a packet re-sequencing unit that re-sequences the packets so that two packets entering an optical switching PS J  at the same time are targeted to different output ports of PS J .