US5479401A
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ATM cell interface and method for dispatching an ATM cell
Assignee: Ericsson AB
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Filing: 1994-06-17
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Granted: 1995-12-26
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Expires: 2014-06-17
Abstract
Abstract An ATM cell interface for dispatching an ATM cell having a header. The interface is comprised of N input ports, where N>/=1 and is an integer. The cell is also comprised of a table lookup mechanism that directs a cell from an input port to any desired destination. The table lookup mechanism has entries which identify desired destination for corresponding cells. The number of possible entries in the table lookup mechanism is less than a total number of entries supported by the ATM cell header. Preferably, a cell includes a VCI field having a value and a VPI field having a value. The table lookup mechanism preferably includes a first table which produces a first signal based on the value of the VPI field and a second level table which produces a second signal based on the value of the VCI field. The first and second signals are used to route the cell from an input port to a desired destination. Additionally, there is a method for dispatching an ATM cell. The method comprises the steps of locating a table entry in a first level table corresponding to a value of a VPI field of the cell. Then there is the step of producing a first signal corresponding to the table entry. Next, there is the step of locating a connection entry in a second level table corresponding to a value of a VCI field of the cell and the first signal. Then there is the step of producing a second signal corresponding to the connection entry. Next there is the step of directing a cell to a desired destination corresponding to the second signal. Preferably, the step of producing the first signal include the step of producing the first signal corresponding to a value of a INDEX field of the table entry. Preferably, the step of producing the second signal includes the step of producing the second signal corresponding to a value of a CONNECTION INFORMATION field of the connection entry.
Inventors
- 👤 Francois J. Bitz
- 👤 Onat Menzilcioglu
- 👤 Eric C. Cooper
- 👤 Robert D. Sansom
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 03:35
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L49/00; H04L49/30; H04L49/3081; H04L49/309; H04L12/00; H04L12/28; H04L12/46; H04L12/4604; H04L12/4608; H04L45/00; H04L45/74; H04L45/742; H04L49/25; H04L49/253; H04L49/256; H04L49/3009; H04Q; H04Q11/00; H04Q11/04; H04Q11/0428; H04Q11/0478; H04L12/54; H04L12/56; H04L12/5601; H04L2012/5614; H04L2012/5617; H04L2012/5638; H04L2012/5665; H04L49/55; H04L49/555; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S370/00; Y10S370/901; Y10S370/902; Y10S370/903; Y10S370/905; Y10S370/908; Y10S370/911
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 33
Claim 1
Independent Claim
67 words
A method for dispatching an ATM cell in an ATM network comprising the steps of: producing a first signal corresponding to a value of a VPI field of the cell; producing a second signal corresponding to a value of a VCI field of the cell; and directing the cell to a desired destination in the ATM network corresponding to the first signal and to the second signal.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
67 words
A method for dispatching an ATM cell in an ATM network comprising the steps of: producing a first signal corresponding to a value of a VPI field of the cell; producing a second signal corresponding to a value of a VCI field of the cell; and directing the cell to a desired destination in the ATM network corresponding to the first signal and to the second signal.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
105 words
A method as described in claim 1 wherein the step of producing the first signal includes the steps of locating a table entry in a first level table corresponding to a value of a VPI field of the cell and producing a first signal corresponding to the table entry, and the step of producing the second signal includes the steps of locating a connection entry in a second level table corresponding to a value of a VCI field of the cell and the first signal and producing a second signal corresponding to a value of a VCI field of the cell and the first signal.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
53 words
A method as described in claim 2 wherein the locating a table entry step includes the step of determining whether there is a corresponding table entry for the VPI value of the cell in the first level table; and producing an error signal if there is no corresponding table entry for the cell.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method as described in claim 3 wherein the step of producing the first signal includes the step of producing the first signal corresponding to a value of an INDEX field of the table entry.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
36 words
A method as described in claim 4 wherein the step of producing the second signal includes the step of producing the second signal corresponding to a value of a CONNECTION INFORMATION field of the connection entry.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
48 words
A method as described in claim 5 including after the step of locating the table entry, the step of determining whether the VCI value is within a range of allowable values, and producing the error signal if the VCI value is not within a range of allowable values.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
50 words
A method as described in claim 6 wherein the locating a connection entry step includes the steps of determining whether there is an active connection entry corresponding to the value of the VCI value and the INDEX value; and producing the error signal if there is no active connection entry.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
22 words
A method as described in claim 7 including after the step of producing the error signal, the step of discarding the cell.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
33 words
A method as described in claim 8 including after the step of locating the table entry, the step of determining whether the cell is provided to a terminating connection or a non-terminating connection.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
55 words
A method as described in claim 9 including after the step of determining whether the cell is provided to a terminating or non-terminating connection, the step of translating the VPI and VCI values of the cell to a new VPI value and a new VCI value if the cell is provided to the terminating connection.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
55 words
A method as described in claim 10 wherein the step of determining whether the VCI value is within an allowable range includes the step of checking whether the VCI value is between a LOW BOUND value of a LOW BOUND field and a HIGH BOUND value of a HIGH BOUND field of the table entry.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
37 words
A method as described in claim 11 wherein the step of determining whether there is a corresponding table entry includes the step of determining whether a value of a VALID field is present in the first table.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
42 words
A method as described in claim 12 wherein the step of determining whether there is an active connection entry includes the step of determining whether a value of a VALID field in the connection entry is present in the second level table.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method as described in claim 13 wherein the step of producing a second signal includes the step of producing the second signal corresponding to a value of a ROUTE field of the connection entry.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
195 words
An ATM cell interface for dispatching ATM cells, each ATM cell having a header with a VPI field having a value and a VCI field having a value, comprising: L input ports through which ATM cells enter the interface, where L≧1 and is an integer; P output ports through which ATM cells exit the interface, where P≧1 and is an integer; and means or mechanism that directs the ATM cells from an input port of the L input ports to any desired destinations through at least one output port of the P output ports, said means or mechanism having entries which identify desired destinations for corresponding ATM cells, the number of possible entries in the means or mechanism being less than a total number of entries supported by the ATM cell header, said means or mechanism producing a first signal based on the value of the VPI field and a second signal based on the value of the VCI field for each of the ATM cells which are used to route each of the ATM cells from an input port to a desired destination through at least one output port of the P output ports.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
195 words
An ATM cell interface for dispatching ATM cells, each ATM cell having a header with a VPI field having a value and a VCI field having a value, comprising: L input ports through which ATM cells enter the interface, where L≧1 and is an integer; P output ports through which ATM cells exit the interface, where P≧1 and is an integer; and means or mechanism that directs the ATM cells from an input port of the L input ports to any desired destinations through at least one output port of the P output ports, said means or mechanism having entries which identify desired destinations for corresponding ATM cells, the number of possible entries in the means or mechanism being less than a total number of entries supported by the ATM cell header, said means or mechanism producing a first signal based on the value of the VPI field and a second signal based on the value of the VCI field for each of the ATM cells which are used to route each of the ATM cells from an input port to a desired destination through at least one output port of the P output ports.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
26 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 15 wherein the means or mechanism that directs the ATM cells includes a table lookup means or mechanism.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
96 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 16 wherein the table lookup means or mechanism includes a first level table which produces the first signal based on the value of the VPI field and a second level table which produces the second signal based on the value of the VCI field for each of the ATM cells, said first and second signals being used to route each of the ATM cells from an input port of the L input ports to the desired destinations through at least one output port of the P output ports.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
37 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 17 wherein the first level table has N table entries, where N≧1, and wherein the second level table entry has M connection entries where M≧1 and is an integer.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
62 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 18 wherein each first level table entry has a VALID field which indicates whether the VPI field of a cell is defined in the first level table, and each first level table entry has an INDEX field the value of which is used to identify a corresponding connection entry in the second level table.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
39 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 19 wherein the first level table entry includes a VCI INFORMATION FIELD a value of which identifies whether the VCI value of the cell is supported in the second level table.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
53 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 20 wherein the INFORMATION FIELD includes a low bound field having a value and a high bound field having a value, the values of each of the low bound and high bound field define a range of acceptable VCI values for a given VPI value.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
95 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 21 wherein each connection entry has a VCI VALID field having a value which indicates whether a corresponding connection between an input port and one of the any destinations through at least one input port of the P output ports is realizable, and a CONNECTION INFORMATION field having information about how to form a connection between an input port of the L input ports and a desired destination through at least one output port of the P output ports to direct the cell along a desired path.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
69 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 22 wherein each first table entry also has a PFLAG field having a value of which indicates whether an ATM cell that is to be routed from an input port of the L input ports to a desired one of the any destinations through at least one output port of the P output ports travels along a terminating or nonterminating connection.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
27 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 23 wherein each CONNECTION INFORMATION field includes a ROUTE field value of which is used to direct the cell.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
51 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 24 wherein each CONNECTION INFORMATION field includes a new VPI field and a new VCI field, a value of the new VPI field and the new VCI field can be used to translate the VPI value and VCI value of the cell, respectively.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
153 words
An ATM cell interface for dispatching ATM cells, each ATM cell having a header with a VPI field having a value and a VCI field having a value, comprising: L input ports through which ATM cells enter the interface, where L≧1 and is an integer; P output ports through which ATM cells exit the interface, where P≧1 and is an integer; and means or a mechanism that directs the ATM cells from an input port of the L input ports to any desired destinations through at least one desired output port of the P output ports, said mechanism having entries which identify desired destinations for corresponding ATM cells, the number of possible entries in the means or mechanism being less than a total number of entries supported by the ATM cell header, said means or mechanism identifying whether the desired destination is reached by the cell along a terminating or a nonterminating path.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
153 words
An ATM cell interface for dispatching ATM cells, each ATM cell having a header with a VPI field having a value and a VCI field having a value, comprising: L input ports through which ATM cells enter the interface, where L≧1 and is an integer; P output ports through which ATM cells exit the interface, where P≧1 and is an integer; and means or a mechanism that directs the ATM cells from an input port of the L input ports to any desired destinations through at least one desired output port of the P output ports, said mechanism having entries which identify desired destinations for corresponding ATM cells, the number of possible entries in the means or mechanism being less than a total number of entries supported by the ATM cell header, said means or mechanism identifying whether the desired destination is reached by the cell along a terminating or a nonterminating path.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
26 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 26 wherein the means or mechanism that directs the ATM cells includes a table lookup means or mechanism.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
137 words
An ATM cell interface for dispatching ATM cells, each ATM cell having a header comprising: L input ports through which ATM cells enter the interface, where L≧1 and is an integer; P output ports through which ATM cells exit the interface, where P≧1 and is an integer; and means or a mechanism that directs the ATM cells from an input port of the L input ports to any desired destinations through at least one desired output port of the P output ports, said means or mechanism having entries which identify desired destinations for corresponding ATM cells, the number of possible entries in the means or mechanism being less than a total number of entries supported by the ATM cell header, said means or mechanism supporting any combination of VPI and VCI values without bit stripping the cell.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
137 words
An ATM cell interface for dispatching ATM cells, each ATM cell having a header comprising: L input ports through which ATM cells enter the interface, where L≧1 and is an integer; P output ports through which ATM cells exit the interface, where P≧1 and is an integer; and means or a mechanism that directs the ATM cells from an input port of the L input ports to any desired destinations through at least one desired output port of the P output ports, said means or mechanism having entries which identify desired destinations for corresponding ATM cells, the number of possible entries in the means or mechanism being less than a total number of entries supported by the ATM cell header, said means or mechanism supporting any combination of VPI and VCI values without bit stripping the cell.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
26 words
An ATM cell interface as described in claim 28 wherein the means or mechanism that directs the ATM cells includes a table lookup means or mechanism.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1998-12-25 | 1999-06-26 | 1999-12-26 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2002-12-25 | 2003-06-26 | 2003-12-26 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2006-12-25 | 2007-06-26 | 2007-12-26 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |