US5666353A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Frame based traffic policing for a digital switch
Assignee: Cisco Technology Inc
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Filing: 1995-03-21
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Granted: 1997-09-09
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Expires: 2015-03-21
Abstract
Abstract A frame based traffic policing system that determines if incoming data cells are conforming or non-conforming according to the a traffic contract. The frame based traffic policing system first detects a cell at the beginning or end of a frame and determines if the frame conforms with a traffic contract. If the cell does not exceed the parameters of the traffic contract, then the frame based traffic policing system deems the cell as conforming. If the cell was the first cell of a frame, then frame based traffic policing system treats all the remaining cells in the frame as conforming or non-conforming depending upon if the first data cell was conforming or non-conforming. If the cell was the last cell of a frame, then frame based traffic policing system treats all the cells of the following frame as conforming or non-conforming depending upon if the last cell of a previous frame was conforming or non-conforming. In this manner, all the data cells are from the same frame receive the same treatment by the network. The frame based traffic policing system improves the throughout of the network since the network will be less likely to waste resources transmitting cells from a corrupted frame.
Inventors
- 👤 Daniel E. Klausmeier
- 👤 Charles M. Corbalis
- 👤 Kambiz Hooshmand
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 18:15
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L12/00; H04L12/54; H04L12/56; H04L12/5601; H04L12/5602; H04Q; H04Q11/00; H04Q11/04; H04Q11/0428; H04Q11/0478; H04L2012/5629; H04L2012/5631; H04L2012/5636; H04L2012/5637; H04L2012/5638; H04L2012/5646; H04L2012/5647; H04L2012/5648; H04L2012/5652
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 36
Claim 1
Independent Claim
162 words
A method of regulating incoming traffic on a data communication link, the method comprising the steps of: maintaining a counter for said communication link, said counter having a first limit; receiving incoming cells on said data communication link, said incoming cells grouped into frames; detecting if a received cell is a first cell in a frame, treating the received cell as conforming if the received cell is a first cell of the frame and said counter is within said first limit; treating the received cell as non-conforming if the received cell is a first cell of the frame and said counter is not within said first limit; treating the received cell as conforming if the received cell is not a first cell of the frame and the first cell of the frame was conforming; and treating the received cell as non-conforming if the received cell is not a first cell of the frame and the first cell of the frame was non-conforming.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
162 words
A method of regulating incoming traffic on a data communication link, the method comprising the steps of: maintaining a counter for said communication link, said counter having a first limit; receiving incoming cells on said data communication link, said incoming cells grouped into frames; detecting if a received cell is a first cell in a frame, treating the received cell as conforming if the received cell is a first cell of the frame and said counter is within said first limit; treating the received cell as non-conforming if the received cell is a first cell of the frame and said counter is not within said first limit; treating the received cell as conforming if the received cell is not a first cell of the frame and the first cell of the frame was conforming; and treating the received cell as non-conforming if the received cell is not a first cell of the frame and the first cell of the frame was non-conforming.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of: incrementing said counter by an increment value when a cell is treated as conforming; decrementing said counter by an amount proportional to an elapsed time.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
47 words
The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the counter has a second limit and said method further comprises the step of: treating the received cell as non-conforming if the received cell is not a first cell of the frame and the counter exceeds said second limit.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the non-conforming cells are discarded.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the non-conforming cells are tagged as low priority such that said tagged cells are first to be dropped when congestion occurs.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the counter is permitted to go above said first limit to accommodate an entire data frame.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein some of said cells are End-of-Frame cells and said End-of-Frame cells are always treated as conforming.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein said End-of-Frame cells are used to determine a start of a next frame.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method as claimed in claim 4 wherein an End-of-Frame cell is treated as conforming when a respective frame from which said End-of-Frame cell belongs is conforming or when a frame following said End-of-Frame cell is conforming.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method as claimed in claim 9 wherein said End-of-Frame cells are used to determine a start of a next frame.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
120 words
An apparatus for regulating a data communication link, said data communication link receiving cells grouped into frames, the apparatus comprising the elements of: a counter, the counter having a first limit; a cell detection mechanism, the cell detection mechanism detecting if a received cell is a first cell of a frame; and a traffic policing mechanism, the traffic policing mechanism determining a first cell of a frame to be conforming if the counter is below the first limit else determining said first cell of a frame to be non-conforming, the traffic policing mechanism determining a subsequent cell of said frame to be conforming if the first cell of the frame was conforming else determining said subsequent cell to be non-conforming.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
120 words
An apparatus for regulating a data communication link, said data communication link receiving cells grouped into frames, the apparatus comprising the elements of: a counter, the counter having a first limit; a cell detection mechanism, the cell detection mechanism detecting if a received cell is a first cell of a frame; and a traffic policing mechanism, the traffic policing mechanism determining a first cell of a frame to be conforming if the counter is below the first limit else determining said first cell of a frame to be non-conforming, the traffic policing mechanism determining a subsequent cell of said frame to be conforming if the first cell of the frame was conforming else determining said subsequent cell to be non-conforming.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
29 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the non-conforming cells are tagged as low priority such that said tagged cells are first to be dropped when congestion occurs.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein said non-conforming cells are discarded.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
31 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the counter has a second limit and the traffic policing mechanism deems subsequent cells as non-conforming if said counter exceeds said second limit.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
24 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein the counter is permitted to go above said first limit to accommodate a full data frame.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
24 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein some of said cells are End-of-Frame cells and said End-of-Frame cells are always treated as conforming.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 16 wherein said End-of-Frame cells are used to determine a start of a next frame.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
37 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein an End-of-Frame cell is treated as conforming when a respective frame from which said End-of-Frame cell belongs is conforming or when a frame following said End-of-Frame cell is conforming.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 18 wherein said End-of-Frame cells are used to determine a start of a next frame.
Claim 22
Independent Claim
69 words
A method of regulating incoming traffic on a data communication link, said data communication link receiving cells, said cells organized into frames, said method comprising the steps of: determining if a last cell of a frame would be conforming based upon a traffic policing function; determining that cells in a subsequent frame following said last cell are nonconforming based upon whether said last cell was determined to be nonconforming.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
69 words
A method of regulating incoming traffic on a data communication link, said data communication link receiving cells, said cells organized into frames, said method comprising the steps of: determining if a last cell of a frame would be conforming based upon a traffic policing function; determining that cells in a subsequent frame following said last cell are nonconforming based upon whether said last cell was determined to be nonconforming.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method as claimed in claim 20 wherein said traffic policing function is a continuous state leaky bucket algorithm.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method as claimed in claim 20 wherein said traffic policing function is a virtual scheduling algorithm.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method as claimed in claim 20 wherein said last cell of said frame is treated as conforming if said frame to which said last cell belongs was deemed to be conforming.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
108 words
An apparatus for regulating a data communication link, said data communication link receiving cells grouped into frames, the apparatus comprising the elements of: a counter, the counter having a first limit; a cell detection mechanism, the cell detection mechanism detecting if a received cell is an End-of-Frame cell; and a traffic policing mechanism, the traffic policing mechanism determining an End-of-Frame cell of a frame to be conforming if the counter is below the first limit else determining said End-of-Frame cell to be non-conforming, the traffic policing mechanism determining a subsequent frame to be conforming if said End-of-Frame cell was conforming else determining said subsequent frame to be non-conforming.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
108 words
An apparatus for regulating a data communication link, said data communication link receiving cells grouped into frames, the apparatus comprising the elements of: a counter, the counter having a first limit; a cell detection mechanism, the cell detection mechanism detecting if a received cell is an End-of-Frame cell; and a traffic policing mechanism, the traffic policing mechanism determining an End-of-Frame cell of a frame to be conforming if the counter is below the first limit else determining said End-of-Frame cell to be non-conforming, the traffic policing mechanism determining a subsequent frame to be conforming if said End-of-Frame cell was conforming else determining said subsequent frame to be non-conforming.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
29 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 24 wherein the non-conforming cells are tagged as low priority such that said tagged cells are first to be dropped when congestion occurs.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 24 wherein said non-conforming cells are discarded.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
31 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 24 wherein the counter has a second limit and the traffic policing mechanism deems subsequent cells as non-conforming if said counter exceeds said second limit.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
24 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 24 wherein the counter is permitted to go above said first limit to accommodate a full data frame.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
16 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 24 wherein said End-of-Frame cells are always treated as conforming.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 24 wherein said traffic policing mechanism is a continuous state leaky bucket algorithm.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
17 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 24 wherein said traffic policing mechanism is a virtual scheduling algorithm.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
26 words
The apparatus as claimed in claim 24 wherein an End-of-Frame cell is treated as conforming if a frame to which said End-of-Frame cells belongs is conforming.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2000-09-08 | 2001-03-10 | 2001-09-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2004-09-08 | 2005-03-10 | 2005-09-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2008-09-08 | 2009-03-10 | 2009-09-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |