ATM cell assembling/disassembling system

Claim 1

An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cell assembling/disassembling system comprising: a cell reception buffer connected to a system bus for storing successive received ATM data cells, packet generation means connected to a local area network (LAN) for assembling packet data from the ATM data cells stored in said cell reception buffer, an address table for registering address information included in said received ATM dam cells, a packet reception buffer for storing successive received packet data from the LAN, cell generation means connected to the system bus for disassembling the packet data stored in said packet reception buffer into ATM cell data on the basis of address information retrieved from said address table, and control means for controlling registration and retrieval of address information in said address table, said control means being operative to register all address information of said received ATM data cells in said address table at the time of receiving the ATM data cells and update address information which is the same in said address table only when there is idle time for a process of assembling packet data from said ATM data cells by said packet generation means or when there is no empty area in said address table.

Claim 5

A method for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) data cell assembling/disassembling comprising the steps of: storing successive received asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) data cells from a system bus in a cell reception buffer, assembling packet data for a local area network (LAN) from the ATM data cells stored in said cell reception buffer, registering all address information included in said received ATM data cells in an address table, and updating address information which is the same in said address table when there is idle time for a process of assembling packet data from said ATM data cells or when there is no empty area in said address table, storing in a packet reception buffer successive received packet data from the LAN, and disassembling the packet data stored in said packet reception buffer into ATM data cells on the basis of address information retrieved from said address table.

Claim 6

A method for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) data cell assembling/disassembling comprising the steps of: storing successive received asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) data cells from a system bus in a cell reception buffer, assembling packet data for a local area network (LAN) from the ATM data cells stored in said cell reception buffer, registering all address information included in said received ATM data cells in an address table, and updating address information which is the same in said address table when there is idle time for a process of assembling packet data from said ATM data cells or when there is no empty area in said address table, storing in a packet reception buffer successive received packet data from the LAN, and disassembling the packet data stored in said packet reception buffer into ATM data cells on the basis of address information retrieved from said address table.