Multiplex communications – Communication techniques for information carried in plural... – Adaptive
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-24
2002-09-17
Chin, Wellington (Department: 2665)
Multiplex communications
Communication techniques for information carried in plural...
Adaptive
C370S248000, C370S392000, C370S395430
Reexamination Certificate
active
06452939
ABSTRACT:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. § 119 from a first application entitled ATM INTERFACE DEVICE WITH DOUBLE HEADER CONVERSION earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on the 24
th
day of March 1998, and there duly assigned Serial No. 98-10130, and additionally from a second application entitled ATM INTERFACE DEVICE WITH DOUBLE HEADER CONVERSION earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on the 18
th
day of May 1998, and there duly assigned Ser. No. 98-17810, copies of which are annexed hereto.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interface device for uniformly allotting virtual path identifier/virtual channel identifier (VPI/VCI) resources, and a method therefor.
2. Related Art
In the field of high speed networking, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is a key component. Asynchronous transfer mode is a telecommunications technique for carriage of a complete range of user traffic, including voice, data, and video signals, on any user-to-network interface (UNI). The asynchronous transfer mode telecommunications technique was defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standards.
American National Standards Institute is nonprofit organization formed in 1918 to coordinate private sector standards development in the United States of America. The International Telecommunications Union is an international standards organization that is part of the United Nations. The International Telecommunications Union, formerly known as the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT), comprises an international committee established to promote standards for the development of telephone, telegraph systems, and data networks and to create the environment for interworking between the networks of the different countries of the world.
ATM is extremely well suited to high speed networking. Asynchronous transfer mode technology can be used to aggregate user traffic from existing applications onto a single user-to-network interface, and to facilitate multimedia networking between high speed devices at high speeds, for example 150 megabits per second.
Packet-switching technologies are used to relay data traffic via an address contained within a packet. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is one of a class of such packet-switching technologies. ATM is a transfer mode in which the information is organized into cells. It is asynchronous in the sense that the recurrence of cells containing information from an individual user is not necessarily periodic.
There are different types of asynchronous transfer mode switches. The term “switch fabric” refers to the method of data being switched from one node to another within a network. The term “cell” refers to a fixed-length unit of data traveling through the switch fabric. Cell switching breaks up data streams into small units that are independently routed through the switch. The routing occurs mostly in hardware through the switching fabric. The combination of cell switching and scaleable switching fabrics are key components of asynchronous transfer mode.
A virtual channel (VC) is a communication channel that provides for the sequential unidirectional transport of ATM cells. A virtual path (VP) is a unidirectional logical association or bundle of virtual channels. A virtual channel identifier (VCI) is an identifier of a virtual channel that can be used to identify a virtual channel. A virtual path identifier (VPI) is an identifier of a virtual path that can be used to identify a virtual path.
I have found that an inconsistent allotment of the VPI/VCI resources in an ATM interface device can be disadvantageous. Efforts have been made to improve networking technology including ATM telecommunications techniques.
Exemplars of recent efforts in the art include U.S. Pat. No. 5,872,918 for SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMAL VIRTUAL PATH CAPACITY DIMENSIONING WITH BROADBAND TRAFFIC issued to Malomsoky et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,480 for METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING CONGESTIONINA NETWORKNODE issued to Thomas et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,556 for MULTIPLEXER FOR AN ATM NETWORK WHICH EMPLOYS A HIERARCHICAL CELL ALLOCATION SCHEME issued to Tibi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,127 for METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE PEAK CELL RATE SPACING OF MULTIPLEXED ATM TRAFFIC issued to Kwak et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,859,835 for TRAFFIC SCHEDULING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PACKET-SWITCHED NETWORKS issued to Varma et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,234 for METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ATM CELL MULTIPLEXING UNDER CONSTANT BIT RATE, VARIABLE BIT RATE AND BEST-EFFORT TRAFFIC issued to Wu et al. , and U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,805 for MULTIPLEXER WITH DYNAMIC BANDWIDTH ALLOCATION issued to Fallin.
While these recent efforts provide advantages, I note that they fail to adequately provide an ATM apparatus and method for efficiently and uniformly allotting VPI/VCI resources.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an ATM interface device for uniformly allotting the VCI/VPI resources by adding an output physical link tag to the overheader of the input cell.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for uniformly allotting the VCI/VPI resources by adding an output physical link tag to the overheader of the input cell.
According to the present invention, an ATM interface device comprises a router/header conversion unit for adding a routing tag to the header of an input cell and converting the cell header into arbitrary virtual path identifier/virtual channel identifier (VPI/VCI), a cell switching unit for routing the cell received from the router/header conversion unit according to the routing tag, a second header conversion unit for converting the cell header received from the cell switching unit into the output VPI/VCI corresponding to the arbitrary VPI/VCI, and a demultiplexing unit for transferring the cell from the second header converter to the output physical link corresponding to the output VPI/VCI.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an ATM interface device comprises a router/header conversion unit for adding a routing tag and an output physical link tag to the header of an input cell and converting the content of the cell header into the output VPI/VCI, a cell switching unit for routing the cell received from the router/header conversion unit according to the routing tag, and a demultiplexing unit for transferring the cell from the cell switching unit to the output physical link represented by the output physical link tag.
To achieve these and other objects in accordance with the principles of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the present invention provides an asynchronous transfer mode apparatus, comprising: a first converting unit receiving a data cell, adding a routing tag to a header of said cell, and converting said header into a first identifier; a switching unit receiving said cell from said routing unit and routing said cell along a plurality of paths according to said routing tag; a second converting unit receiving said cell from said switching unit, converting said header into a second identifier according to said first identifier; and a demultiplexing unit receiving said cell from said second converting unit and transferring said cell to an output physical link corresponding to said second identifier.
To achieve these and other objects in accordance with the principles of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the present invention provides a method, comprising: receiving a cell containing data and a header; adding a routing tag to said header of said cell and converting information in said header into a first virtual path identifier and a first virtual channel identifier; internally routing said cell along a plurality of paths according to said routing tag; transforming said internally routed cell header
Kim Won-Jun
Yang Seung-Yeop
Bushnell , Esq. Robert E.
Chin Wellington
Phan M.
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
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