DATAPATH SUBSYSTEM, METHOD AND DEVICE UTILIZING MEMORY SHARING

摘要

A packet processing system having a control path memory of a control path subsystem and a datapath memory of a datapath subsystem. The datapath subsystem stores packet data of incoming packets and the control path subsystem performs matches of a subset of packet data, or a hash of the packet data, against the contents of a the control path memory in order to process the packets. The packet processing system enabling a portion of the datapath memory to be used by the control subsystem if needed or a portion of the control path memory to be used by the datapath subsystem if needed.

主权项

1. A datapath subsystem comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable datapath memory logically organized into a plurality of memory banks for storing datapath packet data; and datapath logic communicatively coupled with the datapath memory, wherein the datapath logic controls the writing of the datapath packet data into and the reading of the datapath packet data out of the datapath memory, and further wherein the datapath logic transmits a request for a portion of a control path memory to a datapath unit of a memory allocation element when a quantity of the datapath memory that is currently storing the datapath packet data reaches a threshold value, wherein the control path memory is a part of a control path subsystem including control path logic that controls the writing of control path packet data into and the reading of the control path packet data out of the control path memory.