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EP0596624A2
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Bandwidth allocation, transmission scheduling, and congestion avoidance in broadband asynchronous transfer mode networks
Assignee: AT&T Inc
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Filing: 1993-10-20
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2013-10-20
Abstract
Abstract A wide variety of call traffic is effectively integrated in a single broadband communications network. Calls having widely differing bandwidth requirements and sensitivities to delay are handled by the network with efficient, effective, and fair bandwidth allocation and transmission scheduling. This is accomplished by classifying each call in accordance with certain signal characteristics, such as required bandwidth and sensitivity to delay. Each call class is directed to a separate queuing circuit. Some calls in certain classes, such as those associated with high-bandwidth constant bit rate services, are each directed to their own individual queuing circuits. Other calls within a class are statistically multiplexed into a single queuing circuit for that class. A multiplexing circuit operates in accordance with a dynamic time slice scheme which involves defining a service cycle time period during which the multiplexer withdraws a predetermined number of information packets from each of a plurality of queuing circuits containing information packets and places those predetermined numbers of packets onto an output link. The multiplexer breaks up the cycle time period into a plurality of time slices, each of which determines how many information packets are transmitted from each queuing circuit during the cycle time period. Efficient resource usage and congestion avoidance are further achieved by using one of a number of alternative scheduling techniques for delay insensitive traffic.
Inventors
- 👤 Kotikalapudi Sriram
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 08:12
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/23; H04N21/236; H04N21/2365; H04N21/23655; H04J; H04J3/00; H04J3/24; H04J3/247; H04N21/40; H04N21/43; H04N21/434; H04N21/4347; H04Q; H04Q11/00; H04Q11/04; H04Q11/0428; H04Q11/0478; H04L; H04L12/00; H04L12/54; H04L12/56; H04L12/5601; H04L2012/5614; H04L2012/5616; H04L2012/5629; H04L2012/5631; H04L2012/5632; H04L2012/5638; H04L2012/564; H04L2012/5672; H04L2012/5678; H04L2012/5679
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 25
Claim 1
Independent Claim
73 words
A communications apparatus, comprising: a first queuing means for receiving low-bandwidth calls; a second queuing means for receiving high-bandwidth delay sensitive calls; a third queuing means for receiving high bandwidth delay insensitive calls; and a multiplexing means for sequentially and cyclically drawing a predetermined number of information packets during successive service cycle time periods from each of the first, second, and third queuing means and combining those packets on a single output line.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
33 words
The apparatus of claim 1, in which the first queuing means comprises: a first queue for receiving statistically multiplexed voice calls; and a second queue for receiving statistically multiplexed low bandwidth data calls.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
34 words
The apparatus of claim 1, in which the second queuing means comprises: a first queue for receiving variable bit rate statistically multiplexed video calls; and a second queue for receiving statistically multiplexed LAN-to-LAN calls.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
35 words
The apparatus of claim 1, in which the second queuing means comprises: one or more queues each for receiving a call requiring a guaranteed peak bandwidth for a predetermined part or all of the call.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus of claim 4, in which the one or more queues each receive a constant bit rate call.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
20 words
The apparatus of claim 5, in which the one or more queues each receive a constant bit rate video call.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
29 words
The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: means responsive to unused bandwidth on the single output line for selectively admitting additional calls into selected ones of the queuing means.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
38 words
The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising: a call traffic table containing data relating to levels of call traffic as a function of required bandwidth, the admitting means being responsive to the data in the call traffic table.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 1, in which the third queuing means comprises: one or more queues each for receiving a call relating to a bulk information transfer.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
156 words
A broadband communications network, comprising: a plurality of network nodes, each having at least one input and one output; a plurality of links connecting selected ones of the outputs with selected ones of the inputs; a queuing means associated with each of the links, each of the queuing means comprising: a first queuing circuit for receiving statistically multiplexed low bandwidth calls; a second queuing circuit for receiving a delay sensitive and isochronous high bandwidth call; a third queuing circuit for receiving statistically multiplexed delay sensitive and non-isochronous high bandwidth calls; and a fourth queuing circuit for receiving a delay insensitive high bandwidth call; and a multiplexing means associated with each queuing means for defining a predetermined cycle time period during which the first, second, third, and fourth queuing circuits are each permitted to empty a respective predetermined number of packets onto its respective link during respective predetermined slices of time within the predetermined cycle time period.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
29 words
The network of claim 10, further comprising: means responsive to unused bandwidth on one of the links for selectively admitting additional calls into selected ones of the queuing circuits.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
37 words
The network of claim 11, further comprising: call traffic tables containing data relating to levels of call traffic as a function of required bandwidth, the admitting means being responsive to the data in the call traffic tables.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
29 words
The network of claim 10, further comprising: a variable scheduling means for providing a plurality of selectable scheduling schemes for completing calls related to high bandwidth delay insensitive services.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
78 words
The network of claim 10, in which at least one of the network nodes comprises: a service node having a means for storing in memory bulk information relating to at least one delay insensitive high bandwidth call, a means for delivering the bulk information to a recipient during a low traffic period in the network, and a means for providing a predetermined bandwidth guarantee for the bulk information delivery along a path between the memory and the recipient.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
74 words
The network of claim 10, in which at least one of the network nodes comprises: means for receiving information from a sender relating to a transaction size, a delay tolerance, and a required bandwidth for a call relating to delay insensitive high bandwidth services; and means responsive to the information received from a sender for transmitting bulk information stored in customer premises equipment to a recipient at a low traffic period in the network.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
30 words
The network of claim 10, in which the network nodes comprise: a low priority queue at each link for handling bulk information transfers using spare bandwidth without any bandwidth guarantee.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
15 words
A broadband integrated services digital telecommunications network in accordance with the network of claim 10.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
15 words
A broadband asynchronous transfer mode telecommunications network in accordance with the network of claim 10.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
81 words
A method of allocating bandwidth in a broadband packet-switched telecommunications network, comprising the steps of: classifying calls in the network in accordance with bandwidth, isochronicity, and delay sensitivity; queuing information packets for each call class into a respective queuing circuit; defining a service cycle time period during which a predetermined number of information packets is removed from each of the queuing circuits; and removing the predetermined numbers of information packets from each of the queuing circuits during the cycle time period.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of: admitting additional calls to a queuing circuit in response to unused bandwidth in the network.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of: admitting additional calls to a queuing circuit in response to data contained in a call traffic table which relates levels of call traffic to required bandwidth.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of: providing a plurality of scheduling schemes for completing high-bandwidth delay insensitive calls.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
60 words
The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of: storing at least one high-bandwidth delay insensitive call comprising bulk information in a memory in the network; and delivering that bulk information to a recipient during a low traffic period in the network with a predetermined bandwidth guarantee along a path through the network between the memory and the recipient.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
62 words
The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of: receiving information from a sender relating to a transaction size, a delay tolerance, and a required bandwidth for a high-bandwidth delay insensitive call; and transmitting bulk information stored in customer premises equipment connected to the network in response to the information from the sender during a low traffic period in the network.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of: directing a high-bandwidth delay insensitive call to a low priority queue in the network; and transmitting the call through the network without bandwidth guarantee using spare bandwidth not used by other calls.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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