US5729529A — Timing and synchronization technique for ATM syst…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 201 words

In an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) telecommunications network, a method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates, said method comprising the steps of: generating an extended ATM cell by relating each ATM cell to be transmitted to a timing tag, each ATM cell having a data portion and a header portion, said timing tag being indicative of the time at which the ATM cell is to be transmitted relative to the time of transmission of the immediately preceding ATM cell; storing each ATM cell in a sequentially-accessible buffer; generating an empty cell position (ECP) pattern containing information indicative of a user-selectable delay time for the transmission of the next ATM cell; storing zero or more ECP patterns in said buffer after each ATM cell, the number and contents of said ECP patterns corresponding to the desired time delay before the transmission of the next ATM cell in said buffer; reading data from the output of said buffer; and transmitting each ATM cell emerging from said buffer towards its destination after a delay time period that is determined by the number and contents of the ECP patterns preceding that ATM cell.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 201 words

In an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) telecommunications network, a method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates, said method comprising the steps of: generating an extended ATM cell by relating each ATM cell to be transmitted to a timing tag, each ATM cell having a data portion and a header portion, said timing tag being indicative of the time at which the ATM cell is to be transmitted relative to the time of transmission of the immediately preceding ATM cell; storing each ATM cell in a sequentially-accessible buffer; generating an empty cell position (ECP) pattern containing information indicative of a user-selectable delay time for the transmission of the next ATM cell; storing zero or more ECP patterns in said buffer after each ATM cell, the number and contents of said ECP patterns corresponding to the desired time delay before the transmission of the next ATM cell in said buffer; reading data from the output of said buffer; and transmitting each ATM cell emerging from said buffer towards its destination after a delay time period that is determined by the number and contents of the ECP patterns preceding that ATM cell.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 45 words

The method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 1, wherein said sequentially-accessible buffer used for storing the ATM cells and ECP patterns is a first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer register.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 98 words

The method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 2, wherein: the width of the data registers of the FIFO buffer is one word comprising n bits; each ATM cell occupies m words within the registers of said FIFO buffer; and each ECP pattern is one word comprising n bits, said ECP pattern occupying one data register and being constructed in bit format so as to be readily distinguishable from all or any parts of the first word of an ATM cell.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 44 words

The method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 1, wherein a buffer relating to one or more connections is kept separate from the buffer for other connections.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 63 words

The method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 1, wherein the bits of each ECP pattern are selected in such a manner that the ECP bit pattern never matches the bit sequence of the first word of any of the ATM cells stored in said buffer.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 48 words

The method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 1, wherein the time interval represented by an ECP pattern bears a fixed correspondence to the time interval represented by an ATM cell.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 61 words

The method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 1, wherein the ECP pattern comprises a sequence of zeroes in the portions of the ECP pattern that correspond to the Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) fields of an ATM cell header.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 36 words

The method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 1, wherein the ECP pattern comprises a pure sequence of zeroes.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 69 words

The method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 1, which includes the additional steps of: generating a full signal when said buffer has empty register space corresponding to less than one ATM cell; and terminating said step of generating an extended ATM cell in response to the generation of said full signal.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 57 words

The method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 9, wherein said step of generating a full signal further includes counting the current number of ATM cells and counting the current number of ECP patterns within the register of said buffer.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 61 words

The method for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 1, which includes the additional step of identifying the beginning of a new ATM cell within the registers of said buffer in response to the detection of the end of an ECP pattern within said buffer.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 210 words

In an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) telecommunications network, a system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates, said system comprising: means for generating an extended ATM cell by relating each ATM cell to be transmitted to a timing tag, each ATM cell having a data portion and a header portion, said timing tag being indicative of the time at which the ATM cell is to be transmitted relative to the time of transmission of the immediately preceding ATM cell; means for storing each ATM cell in a sequentially-accessible buffer; means for generating an empty cell position (ECP) pattern containing information indicative of a user-selectable delay time for the transmission of the next ATM cell; means for storing zero or more ECP patterns in said buffer after each ATM cell, the number and contents of said ECP patterns corresponding to the desired time delay before the transmission of the next ATM cell in said buffer; means for reading data from the output of said buffer; and means for transmitting each ATM cell emerging from said buffer towards its destination after a delay time period that is determined by the number and contents of the ECP patterns preceding that ATM cell.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 210 words

In an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) telecommunications network, a system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates, said system comprising: means for generating an extended ATM cell by relating each ATM cell to be transmitted to a timing tag, each ATM cell having a data portion and a header portion, said timing tag being indicative of the time at which the ATM cell is to be transmitted relative to the time of transmission of the immediately preceding ATM cell; means for storing each ATM cell in a sequentially-accessible buffer; means for generating an empty cell position (ECP) pattern containing information indicative of a user-selectable delay time for the transmission of the next ATM cell; means for storing zero or more ECP patterns in said buffer after each ATM cell, the number and contents of said ECP patterns corresponding to the desired time delay before the transmission of the next ATM cell in said buffer; means for reading data from the output of said buffer; and means for transmitting each ATM cell emerging from said buffer towards its destination after a delay time period that is determined by the number and contents of the ECP patterns preceding that ATM cell.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 45 words

The system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 12, wherein said sequentially-accessible buffer used for storing the ATM cells and ECP patterns is a first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer register.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 98 words

The system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 13, wherein: the width of the data registers of the FIFO buffer is one word comprising n bits; each ATM cell occupies m words within the registers of said FIFO buffer; and each ECP pattern is one word comprising n bits, said ECP pattern occupying one data register and being constructed in bit format so as to be readily distinguishable from all or any parts of the first word of an ATM cell.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 44 words

The system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 12, wherein a buffer relating to one or more connections is kept separate from the buffer for other connections.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 63 words

The system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 12, wherein the bits of each ECP pattern are selected in such a manner that the ECP bit pattern never matches the bit sequence of the first word of any of the ATM cells stored in said buffer.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 48 words

The system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 12, wherein the time interval represented by an ECP pattern bears a fixed correspondence to the time interval represented by an ATM cell.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 61 words

The system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 12, wherein the ECP pattern comprises a sequence of zeroes in the portions of the ECP pattern that correspond to the Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and Virtual Channel Identifier /VCI) fields of an ATM cell header.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 36 words

The system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating an various data rates as set forth in claim 12, wherein the ECP pattern comprises a pure sequence of zeroes.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 69 words

The system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 12, additionally including: means for generating a full signal when said buffer has empty register space corresponding to less than one ATM cell; and means for terminating said step of generating an extended ATM cell in response to the generation of said full signal.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 61 words

The system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 20, wherein said means for generating a full signal further includes means for counting the current number of ATM cells and means for counting the current number of ECP patterns within the register of said buffer.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 59 words

The system for regulating the time of transmission of ATM cells over several virtual connections operating at various data rates as set forth in claim 12, additionally including means for identifying the beginning of a new ATM cell within the registers of said buffer in response to the detection of the end of an ECP pattern within said buffer.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 224 words

In a telecommunications network, a method for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format, said method comprising the steps of: generating an extended data cell by relating a data cell to be transmitted with a timing tag, each data cell having a data portion and a header portion, said timing tag being indicative of the time at which the data cell is to be transmitted relative to the time of transmission of the immediately preceding data cell; storing each data cell in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer register; generating an empty cell position (ECP) pattern containing information indicative of a user-selectable delay time for the transmission of the next data cell, the structure of said ECP pattern being distinguishably different from the first word of each of said data cells; storing zero or more ECP patterns in said FIFO buffer after each data cell, the number and contents of said ECP patterns corresponding to the desired time delay before the transmission of the next data cell in said FIFO buffer; reading data from the output of said FIFO buffer; and transmitting each data cell emerging from said FIFO buffer towards its destination after a delay time period that is determined by the number and contents of the ECP patterns preceding that data cell.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 224 words

In a telecommunications network, a method for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format, said method comprising the steps of: generating an extended data cell by relating a data cell to be transmitted with a timing tag, each data cell having a data portion and a header portion, said timing tag being indicative of the time at which the data cell is to be transmitted relative to the time of transmission of the immediately preceding data cell; storing each data cell in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer register; generating an empty cell position (ECP) pattern containing information indicative of a user-selectable delay time for the transmission of the next data cell, the structure of said ECP pattern being distinguishably different from the first word of each of said data cells; storing zero or more ECP patterns in said FIFO buffer after each data cell, the number and contents of said ECP patterns corresponding to the desired time delay before the transmission of the next data cell in said FIFO buffer; reading data from the output of said FIFO buffer; and transmitting each data cell emerging from said FIFO buffer towards its destination after a delay time period that is determined by the number and contents of the ECP patterns preceding that data cell.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 75 words

The method for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 23, wherein: the width of the data registers of said FIFO buffer is one word comprising n bits; each data cell occupies m words within the registers of said FIFO buffer; and each ECP pattern is one word comprising n bits, said ECP pattern occupying one data register.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 67 words

The method for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 23, wherein the bit pattern of each ECP pattern is selected in such a manner that the ECP bit pattern never matches the bit sequence of the first word of any of the data cells stored in said FIFO buffer.

Claim 29

Dependent Claim 50 words

The method for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 23, wherein the time interval represented by an ECP pattern bears a fixed correspondence to the time interval represented by a data cell.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 38 words

The method for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 23, wherein the ECP pattern comprises a pure sequence of zeroes.

Claim 31

Dependent Claim 72 words

The method for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 23, which includes the additional steps of: generating a full signal when said FIFO buffer has empty register space corresponding to less than one data cell; and terminating said step of generating an extended data cell in response to the generation of said full signal.

Claim 32

Dependent Claim 60 words

The method for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 28, wherein said step of generating a full signal further includes counting the current number of data cells and counting the current number of ECP patterns within the register of said FIFO buffer.

Claim 33

Dependent Claim 65 words

The method for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 23, which includes the additional step of identifying the beginning of a new data cell within the registers of said FIFO buffer in response to the detection of the end of an ECP pattern within said FIFO buffer.

Claim 34

Dependent Claim 233 words

In a telecommunications network, a system for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format, said system comprising: means for generating an extended data cell by relating a data cell to be transmitted to a timing tag, each data cell having a data portion and a header portion, said timing tag being indicative of the time at which the data cell is to be transmitted relative to the time of transmission of the immediately preceding data cell; means for storing each data cell in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer register; means for generating an empty cell position (ECP) pattern containing information indicative of a user-selectable delay time for the transmission of the next data cell, the structure of said ECP pattern being distinguishably different from the first word of each of said data cells; means for storing zero or more ECP patterns in said FIFO buffer after each data cell, the number and contents of said ECP patterns corresponding to the desired time delay before the transmission of the next data cell in said FIFO buffer; means for reading data from the output of said FIFO buffer; and means for transmitting each data cell emerging from said FIFO buffer towards its destination after a delay time period that is determined by the number and contents of the ECP patterns preceding that data cell.

Claim 35

Dependent Claim 233 words

In a telecommunications network, a system for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format, said system comprising: means for generating an extended data cell by relating a data cell to be transmitted to a timing tag, each data cell having a data portion and a header portion, said timing tag being indicative of the time at which the data cell is to be transmitted relative to the time of transmission of the immediately preceding data cell; means for storing each data cell in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer register; means for generating an empty cell position (ECP) pattern containing information indicative of a user-selectable delay time for the transmission of the next data cell, the structure of said ECP pattern being distinguishably different from the first word of each of said data cells; means for storing zero or more ECP patterns in said FIFO buffer after each data cell, the number and contents of said ECP patterns corresponding to the desired time delay before the transmission of the next data cell in said FIFO buffer; means for reading data from the output of said FIFO buffer; and means for transmitting each data cell emerging from said FIFO buffer towards its destination after a delay time period that is determined by the number and contents of the ECP patterns preceding that data cell.

Claim 36

Dependent Claim 75 words

The system for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 31, wherein: the width of the data registers of said FIFO buffer is one word comprising n bits; each data cell occupies m words within the registers of said FIFO buffer; and each ECP pattern is one word comprising n bits, said ECP pattern occupying one data register.

Claim 37

Dependent Claim 67 words

The system for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 31, wherein the bit pattern of each ECP pattern is selected in such a manner that the ECP bit pattern never matches the bit sequence of the first word of any of the data cells stored in said FIFO buffer.

Claim 38

Dependent Claim 50 words

The system for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 31, wherein the time interval represented by an ECP pattern bears a fixed correspondence to the time interval represented by a data cell.

Claim 39

Dependent Claim 38 words

The system for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 31, wherein the ECP pattern comprises a pure sequence of zeroes.

Claim 40

Dependent Claim 73 words

The system for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 31, which additionally includes: means for generating a full signal when said FIFO buffer has empty register space corresponding to less than one data cell; and means for terminating said step of generating an extended data cell in response to the generation of said full signal.

Claim 41

Dependent Claim 64 words

The system for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 36, wherein said means for generating a full signal further includes means for counting the current number of data cells and means for counting the current number of ECP patterns within the register of said FIFO buffer.

Claim 42

Dependent Claim 64 words

The system for regulating the transmission time and the transmission data rate of a sequence of data cells having a fixed format as set forth in claim 31, which additionally includes means for identifying the beginning of a new data cell within the registers of said FIFO buffer in response to the detection of the end of an ECP pattern within said FIFO buffer.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2001-03-16	2001-09-15	2002-03-17	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2005-03-16	2005-09-15	2006-03-17	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2009-03-16	2009-09-15	2010-03-17	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Timing and synchronization technique for ATM system

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