4.0 Ring Interface
(Continued)
4.7 Ring Interface Field Definitions
QuickRing organizes data with a combination of access
symbols and packet symbols.
Access
symbols are vouchers, tickets, nulls, and aborts.
Packet
symbols are those that form packets such as heads
and payloads.
These symbols can also be grouped into routing symbols
and payload symbols.
Routing
symbols hold source and target addresses such as
voucher and ticket for access symbols, and heads for pack-
et symbols.
Payload
symbols are data or frame; they hold the informa-
tion the clients are trying to transmit. At the client ports, a
type field
[
01
]
represents a data symbol, a type field of
[
10
]
a frame symbol. A data or frame symbol at the ring ports are
distinguished by an additional frame bit. The payload sym-
bol, frame or data, at the end of a packet is called a
tail
and
it is encoded as such in the type field.
TABLE 4.1. Dn and Up Stream Port
Symbol Field Definitions
Field
Descriptions
Type
[
1:0
]
At the ring ports, distinguishes access,
head, payload and tail.
F
The Frame bit appears explicitly only at the
upstream and downstream ports. (At the
Tx and Rx ports the frame bit is encoded in
the type fields.)
ACC
[
1:0
]
The access code (ACC
[
1:0
]
) indicates the
type of access symbol on the ring.
Voucher, ticket, null and abort. (Doesn’t
apply to Tx or Rx ports.)
CONN
[
1:0
]
The connection code (CON
[
1:0
]
) provides
to types of transmission, normal and low-
band-width Low-bandwidth streams are
transmitted with higher priority.
TRGT
[
3:0
]
The target field contains the node ID of the
target of the associated payload.
SRCE
[
3:0
]
The source field contains the node ID of
the source of the associated payload.
HOP1
[
3:0
]
HOP2
[
3:0
]
HOP3
[
3:0
]
HOP4
[
3:0
]
HOP5
[
3:0
]
They distinguish between unique streams
whose source-to-target routes are
identical. In a multiple-ring topology, they
supplement source and target ID fields to
route streams as they hop from ring to ring
(See section on Ring of Rings).
Table 4.2 shows the possible values that the access field
(ACC
[
1:0
]
) can take. The ACC field is valid only in the ring
ports, upstream and downstream. At the client ports
ACCess field should be
[
00
]
.
TABLE 4.2. Access Field Definitions
ACC
[
1:0
]
Name
Description
0
Abort
Abort. This symbol is forwarded
by all nodes that receive it. Upon
receipt of an abort symbol each
node asserts an abort signal
which the client uses to detect
that an error has been detected
somewhere on the ring. The
system designer may elect that
all nodes be re-initialized.
1
Voucher
Request to reserve target buffer
space.
2
Ticket
Ackowledgment of reserved
target buffer space.
3
Null
Ignore this symbol.
Table 4.3 shows the values of the connection field
(CONN
[
1:0
]
). If a LB connection is requested, QuickRing
parcels the data or frame symbols presented at the Tx Port
and transmits every payload in 2 symbol packets, 1 head
and 1 payload. LB connections carry higher priority than
normal connections.
TABLE 4.3. Connection Field Definitions
CONN
[
1:0
]
Name
Description
0
Normal
Queue and accumulate
symbols from the same
stream at will, to maximize
system efficiency and
minimize system load.
1
Low Band-
width (LB)
Do not concatenate with
other data symbols from the
same stream. Results in two
symbol packets, head and
payload.
2
N/A
Reserved
3
N/A
Reserved
4.8 Routing Symbols are Common to All Ports
At all ports of the controller, vouchers, tickets and heads
manage the flow of associated payload symbols. Nulls and
aborts are special symbols to fill idle time or to indicate an
anomalous situation respectively. All symbols on the ring
share a common field format of control and status bits.
4.9 Ring Type Fields
The Type fields at the upstream and downstream ports are
mapped onto UpSS/DnSS during sub-symbol time t.
20