A VLSI self-compacting buffer for DAMQ communication switches

This paper describes a novel VLSI CMOS implementation of a self-compacting buffer (SCB) for the dynamically allocated multi-queue (DAMQ) switch architecture. The SCB is a scheme that dynamically allocates data regions within the input buffer for each output channel. The proposed implementation provides a high-performance solution to buffered communication switches that are required in interconnection networks. This performance comes from not only the DAMQ approach but also the pipelined implementation and novel circuitry. The major components of the SCB are described in detail in this paper. The system has the capability of performing a read, a write, or a simultaneous read/write operation per cycle due to its pipelined architecture