Network intermediate device and method thereof

Abstract

A network intermediate device and method are provided. The network intermediate device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention comprises a data transmitting/receiving part which receives frames which have header error check information, and a control part which controls the data transmitting/receiving part to start forwarding the frame before the entire frame is received by determining whether there are errors in the header using the header error check information. In this case, the frame may comprise a first field in which header error check flag information is recorded to notify whether to perform the forwarding after checking for errors in the header, and a second field in which the header error check information is recorded. If it is confirmed that the check and forward method is applied by the header error check flag information, the control part may verify the header error check information to determine whether errors occur in the header. Therefore, the relay of the frame can be stably performed within the minimum time.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above aspects and features of the present invention will be more apparent by describing exemplary embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network intermediate device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a frame relayed in the network intermediate device;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a network intermediate device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a residential Ethernet network according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart explaining a method for relaying networks according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart explaining a method for relaying networks according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A network intermediate device comprising: a data transmitting/receiving part for receiving a frame comprising header error check information; anda control part for controlling the data transmitting/receiving part to transmit the received frame to a destination before the entire frame is received if it is determined by using the header error check information that there are no errors in a header.

2. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the frame comprises: a first field for recording header error check flag information; anda second field for recording the header error check information.

3. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the header error check flag information comprises information to notify whether a check and forward method is applied for performing the transmitting after checking for errors in the header.

4. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first and second fields each comprise at least one byte corresponding to a payload in the frame.

5. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a memory part for storing the frame received by the data transmitting/receiving part.

6. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the control part verifies the header error check flag information stored in the first field when the header is completely stored in the memory part, to determine whether the check and forward method is applied, and if it is confirmed that the check and forward method is applied, the control part verifies the header error check information stored in the second field to determine whether errors occur in the header.

7. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control part determines whether there are errors in the entire frame when the entire frame is completely stored in the memory part if it is confirmed that the check and forward method is not applied, and the transmitting of the frame starts if it is confirmed that there are no errors in the frame.

8. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 7, wherein if it is confirmed that the check and forward method is not applied, the control part calculates a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value for the entire frame and compares the calculated CRC value with a frame CRC value contained in the frame to determine whether errors are found for the entire frame.

9. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the header error check information comprises a CRC value.

10. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 9, wherein if it is confirmed that the check and forward method is applied, the control part calculates a CRC value for the header and compares the calculated CRC value with the CRC value recorded in the second field to determine that there are no errors in the header if the two values are the same, and to determine that there are errors in the header if the two values are different.

11. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the header error check information recorded in the second field comprises at least one of a checksum and parity bits.

12. A method for relaying information using a network intermediate device, the method comprising: receiving a frame comprising header error check information;determining whether errors occur in a header by using the header error check information; andtransmitting the frame to a destination before the entire frame is received if it is determined that there are no errors in the header.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the frame comprises: a first field, for recording header error check flag information; anda second field, for recording header error check information.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising notifying, using the header error check flag information, whether a check and forward method is applied for performing the transmitting after checking for errors in a header.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the first and second fields each comprise at least one byte corresponding to a payload in the frame.

16. The method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising: storing the received frame in a memory part; anddetermining whether the check and forward method is applied by verifying the header error check flag information stored in the first field when the header is completely stored in the memory part.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising confirming that the check and forward method is applied prior to the determining of whether errors occur in a header by using the header error check information and prior to the transmitting of the plurality of frames to the destination.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, further comprising: determining whether errors are found for the entire frame when the entire frame is completely stored in the memory part, if it is confirmed that the check and forward method is not applied; andtransmitting the frame to the destination if it is confirmed that errors for the frame are not found.

19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the header error check information comprises a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein if it is confirmed that the check and forward method is applied, the determining of whether errors occur in a header by using the header error check information further comprises calculating a CRC value for the header and comparing the calculated CRC value with the CRC value recorded in the second field, to determine that there are no errors in the header if the two values are the same, and to determine that there are errors in the header if the two values are different.

21. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the header error check information recorded in the second field comprises at least one of a checksum and parity bits.

22. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the network intermediate device forms residential Ethernet networks and is an audio/video (A/V) bridge which relays the transmission of A/V data frames.

23. A network intermediate device comprising: a data transmitting/receiving part for receiving a frame comprising a header wherein the data transmitting/receiving part transmits the received frame if it is determined that there are no errors in the header.

24. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 23, further comprising a control part for performing the determination of errors in the header.

25. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 24, wherein the frame comprises a first field for recording header error check flag information and a second field for recording header error check information.

26. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 25, wherein the control part performs the determination of errors in the header using the header error check information after determining a value of the header error check flag information.

27. The network intermediate device as claimed in claim 26, wherein the data transmitting/receiving part concurrently receives and transmits the frame if the control part determines that there are no errors in the header.

28. A method of relaying information by a network intermediate device in a network, the method comprising: receiving a frame comprising a header;determining if an error exists in the header; andtransmitting the frame if an error does not exist in the header.

29. The method as claimed in claim 28, wherein the header comprises header error check information and the determining if the error exists in the header comprises determining a value of the header error check information.

30. The method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the header comprises header error check flag information, the method further comprising determining a value of the header error check flag information.

31. The method as claimed in claim 30, wherein the transmitting of the frame comprises transmitting by a check and forward method if the header error check flag information comprises a first value and the transmitting of the frame comprises transmitting by a store and forward method if the header error check flag information comprises a second value.