ATM switch

Claim 2

An ATM switch which is designed in such a way that an input cell which has been received through an input line is temporarily stored, and then is outputted to one of output lines which is determined on the basis of header information of said input cell, said ATM switch comprising: cell discard controlling means for subjecting, when discarding of a first cell occurs, a second cell constituting the same superior protocol message as that of the discarded first cell out of subsequent cells each having the same logical connection as that of the discarded cell to a cell discarding process, wherein said cell discard controlling means sends a cell for informing a reception terminal of the discarding of the subsequent cells.

Claim 3

An ATM switch according to claim 1, wherein said cell discard controlling means determines whether a cell is to be discarded or not for each of all cells constituting the same superior protocol message as that of the discard cell out of the subsequent cells on the basis of either a parameter value which is previously specified by a maintenance command or a parameter value which is reported by a terminal when setting a call.

Claim 4

An ATM switch comprising: a plurality of input lines, a plurality of output lines, a buffer memory and buffer control means for storing temporarily an input cell received through one of said input lines while forming queues in correspondence to said output lines and for outputting the input cell to any one of said output lines determined on the basis of header information; means for storing at least a processing mode and a type of a superior protocol message in correspondence to connection identifying information included in each of the input cells; means for detecting an omission of a cell occurring in said switch; means for detecting a cell as a demarkation of a message, in which the omission of the cell occurs, out of the subsequent input cells; means for carrying out the discarding of the cell corresponding to both the processing mode and the type of the superior protocol message stored in said storage means, within the range of one message in which the ending cell is the last cell, out of the subsequent cells each having the same connection identifier as that of the cell discarded by the cell omission; and means for producing and sending a cell for informing a reception side terminal that the discarding of the cell has been carried out.

Claim 5

An ATM switch comprising: a plurality of input lines, a plurality of output lines, a buffer memory and buffer control means for storing temporarily an input cell received through one of said input lines while forming queues in correspondence to said output lines and for outputting the input cell to any one of said output lines determined on the basis of header information; means for storing at least a processing mode and a type of a superior protocol message in correspondence to connection identifying information included in each of the input cells; means for detecting an omission of a cell occurring in said switch; means for detecting a cell as a demarkation of a message, in which the omission of the cell occurs, out of the subsequent input cells; means for carrying out the discarding of the cell corresponding to both the processing mode and the type of the superior protocol message stored in said storage means, within the range of one message in which the ending cell is the last cell, out of the subsequent cells each having the same connection identifier as that of the cell discarded by the cell omission; and means for producing and sending a cell for informing a reception side terminal that the discarding of the cell has been carried out.

Claim 6

An ATM switch which is designed in such a way that an input cell which has been received through an input line is temporarily stored, and then is outputted to one of output lines which is determined on the basis of header information of said input cell, said ATM switch comprising: a cell discard controlling circuit for determining whether a cell is to be discarded or not for each input cell; and a transmission circuit, responsive to discarding of a first cell by said discard controlling circuit, for sending a second cell to a reception terminal of said first cell to inform the reception terminal of the first cell discard.

Claim 7

An ATM switch which is designed in such a way that an input cell which has been received through an input line is temporarily stored, and then is outputted to one of output lines which is determined on the basis of header information of said input cell, said ATM switch comprising: a cell discard controlling circuit for determining whether a cell is to be discarded or not for each input cell; and a transmission circuit, responsive to discarding of a first cell by said discard controlling circuit, for sending a second cell to a reception terminal of said first cell to inform the reception terminal of the first cell discard.

Claim 8

An ATM switch according to claim 4, wherein said cell discard controlling circuit discards subsequent cells that constitute the same superior protocol message as that of the discarded first cell.

Claim 9

An ATM switch according got claim 4, further comprising: means for causing a transmission terminal to inform said cell discard controlling circuit of whether the subsequent cells that constitute the same superior protocol message as that of the discarded first cell are to be discarded or not.