Multiplex communications – Pathfinding or routing – Combined circuit switching and packet switching
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-08
2004-04-13
Chin, Wellington (Department: 2664)
Multiplex communications
Pathfinding or routing
Combined circuit switching and packet switching
C370S389000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06721308
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wide area network (WAN) access system capable of performing a line switching and a packet switching, and more particularly to a WAN access system, in which a physical layer has a connection speed of the T
1
/E
1
level, and a data layer above a physical layer can back up both the line switching and the packet switching.
2. Description of the Related Art
A WAN access system generally has a hardware, in which a specific physical layer backs up a service of a specific data layer. In this case, the physical layer has to realize different access systems according to whether the data exchanging method backed up by the data layer on a WAN protocol is a line switching method or a packet switching method, in a WAN access system having a corresponding physical layer of T
1
/E
1
level, even though the physical layer is not changed, but is the same.
Especially, it is a noticeable tendency in recent times that, in the case of the same physical layer, the hardware of the system is not changed, but only the software in the system is changed, according to the data exchanging method in the data layer placed above the physical layer.
Meanwhile, in the case where the data layer backs up the line switching method, from the viewpoint of the hardware, the conventional WAN access system includes a user connection process module section
10
for processing requests of corresponding users, a central control process module section
20
for performing a general control process, and a WAN connection process module section
30
for performing a transfer, an extraction, and a conversion of data, as shown in FIG.
1
.
The user connection process module section
10
includes an analog/digital connection section
11
, a serial connection section
12
, and a local area network (LAN) connection section
13
. The analog/digital connection section
11
performs an analog connection with a telephone or a facsimile telegraph and a digital connection with a private switching system, that is, a private branch exchange (PBX). The serial connection section
12
processes a V.35 or recommended standard (RS)-449 interface, and the LAN connection section
13
performs a LAN connection.
The central control process module section
20
includes a time division multiplexing (TDM) switching section
21
, a voice processing section
22
, and a processor module section
23
. The TDM switching section
21
performs a switching between TDM buses, and the voice processing section
22
performs compression/restoration of voice data transmitted/received through the analog/digital connection section
11
. The processor module section
23
backs up a part of an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) layer and controls all sections in respective module sections. In this case, the TDM bus means signals including a frame synchronous signal, a data clock signal, a transmission data signal, and a reception data signal.
The WAN connection process module section
30
includes a physical medium connection section
31
and a frame conversion section
32
. The physical medium connection section
31
performs a physical medium connection with WAN, and the frame conversion section
32
converts a frame available in the physical layer into an electric signal or converts an electric signal received through the physical medium connection section
31
into frame data.
Hereinafter, described will be an operation of the conventional WAN access system having the construction as described above, in which the physical layer has a connection speed of T
1
/E
1
level, and the line switching method used in, e.g., a public telephone network is utilized.
First, information or data processed by the analog/digital connection section
11
of the user connection process module section
10
are transferred through a first TDM bus, the TDM switching section
21
of the central control process module section
20
, and a fourth TDM bus, to the frame conversion section
32
of the WAN connection process module section
30
. Otherwise, the data are transferred to the voice processing section
22
through a third TDM bus by the TDM switching section
21
and then is voice-compressed, and thereafter are transferred through the fourth TDM bus to the frame conversion section
32
of the WAN connection process module section
30
and then are transmitted to the WAN through the physical medium connection section
31
.
Data received through the serial connection section
12
and the LAN connection section
13
of the user connection process module section
10
are transferred respectively through a serial bus and a LAN interface to the processor module section
23
of the central control process module section
20
. Then, data to be transmitted to the WAN are transferred through a second TDM bus, the TDM switching section
21
, and the fourth TDM bus to the frame conversion section
32
of the WAN connection process module section
30
, and then transmitted through the physical medium connection section
31
to the WAN.
On the contrary, data received through the frame conversion section
32
of the WAN connection process module section
30
are transferred to a corresponding user through a reverse process to the above process, in the WAN access system.
Meanwhile, in the case where the data layer uses a packet switching method, the hardware of the conventional WAN access system includes the processor module section
23
and a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) processing section
33
, further to the hardware shown in
FIG. 1
, as shown in FIG.
2
. In the following description, the same construction as in the hardware of
FIG. 1
will be numbered the same and a description about the same construction will be omitted.
A segmentation and reassembly (SAR) processing section
24
is contained in the central control process module section
20
and performs a cell disassembling/assembling function of an ATM adaptation layer
1
(AAL
1
) and an AAL
5
. The PLCP processing section
33
is contained in the WAN connection process module section
30
. The PLCP processing section
33
transforms data received through a universal-test-and-operation-physical-interface-for-ATM (UTOPIA) bus into a frame available in the physical layer and transfers it to the frame conversion section
32
. Further, the PLCP processing section
33
extracts data to be transferred through the UTOPIA bus to the SAR processing section
24
of the central control process module section
20
from the frame in the physical layer received through the frame conversion section
32
. In this case, the UTOPIA bus means signals including transmission/reception signals set as criteria for exchanging transmission/reception data between the physical layer and the data layer.
Hereinafter, described will be an operation of the conventional WAN access system having the construction as described above, in which the physical layer has a connection speed of T
1
/E
1
level, and the packet switching method such as the ATM is utilized.
Data processed by the analog/digital connection section
11
of the user connection process module section
10
are transferred through the first TDM bus, the TDM switching section
21
of the central control process module section
20
, and the second TDM bus, to the processor module section
23
. Thereafter, the data are transformed into the mode of the AAL
1
by the SAR processing section
24
and then transferred to the PLCP processing section
33
of the WAN connection process module section
30
by the UTOPIA bus, or the data are transferred through the third TDM to the voice processing section
22
by the TDM switching section
21
and voice-compressed, and then transferred through a host processor (HP) interface to the SAR processing section
24
and transformed into the mode of AAL
5
. Thereafter, the data are transferred through the UTOPIA bus to the PLCP processing section
33
of the WAN connection process module section
30
. In this case, the HP interface means signals including the address/data bus
Chin Wellington
Fleshner & Kim LLP
LG Electronics Inc.
Pham Brenda
LandOfFree
WAN access system capable of performing a line switching and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with WAN access system capable of performing a line switching and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and WAN access system capable of performing a line switching and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3263749