Efficient packet data transport mechanism and an interface therefor

Claim 2

A packet transport network for efficiently transferring customer digital data between two of a plurality of transport access interfaces in a series of transport packets comprising: a plurality of routing nodes, each having a routing table, for routing the transport packets through routing links; wherein each of the transport access interfaces has an address table correlating destination of the customer digital data composed of a plurality of digital data flows with an address of a destination transport access interface for connecting one or more customer terminals through a customer access line on one side and to a routing node through a routing link on the other; and wherein each of the transport access interfaces has an encapsulating module for encapsulating/decapsulating between the plurality of digital data flows identified above on the customer access line and the series of transport packets having a transmission control protocol (TCP) header on the routing links, the encapsulating module including a TCP processor for at least administering an admission process regulating the transport packets, a TCP header module for assigning the TCP header to more than one of the plurality of digital data flows, and a transport internet protocol (TIP) header module for assigning a TIP header to each TCP header and corresponding more than one of the plurality of digital data flows.

Claim 3

The packet transport network for efficiently transferring customer digital data, according to claim 1 wherein each of the transport access interfaces further comprises a TCP protocol module for performing TCP protocol with one of the remaining transport access interfaces when exchanging customer digital data with it.

Claim 4

The packet transport network for efficiently transferring customer digital data, according to claim 1 wherein each of the transport access interfaces further comprises an address resolution module for performing address resolution protocols.

Claim 5

The packet transport network for efficiently transferring customer digital data, according to claim 1 wherein each of the transport access interfaces further comprises a dynamic host configuration protocol server connected to a transport routing node for storing and managing addresses of the transport access interfaces.

Claim 6

The packet transport network for efficiently transferring customer digital data, according to claim 1 , wherein the digital data flows are IP packets and each includes an IP header.

Claim 7

The packet transport network for efficiently transferring customer digital data, according to claim 3 , wherein the digital data flows are IP packets and each includes an IP header.

Claim 8

The packe transport network for efficiently transferring customer digital data, according to claim 4 , wherein the digital data flows are IP packets and each includes an IP header.

Claim 9

The packet transport network for efficiently transferring customer digital data, according to claim 2 , wherein the digital data flows are either frame relay packets or Ethernet packets, each of which includes either a frame relay header or an Ethernet header.

Claim 10

An interface for transferring efficiently a plurality of customer digital data flows through a packet based transport network from a source transport access point to a destination transport access point comprising: an input module for identifying a plurality of incoming customer digital data flows which are destined to the destination transport access point; an address table containing addresses of one or more destination transport access points; an encapsulation module for encapsulating the plurality of incoming customer digital data flows into a stream of transport packets, each transport packet having its own transmission control protocol (TCP) header and transport internet protocol (TIP) header, the latter which identifies the destination transport access point, the encapsulating module including a TCP processor for at least administering an admission process regulating the stream of transport packets, a TCP header module for assigning the TCP header to more than one of the plurality of incoming customer digital data flows, and a transport internet protocol (TIP) header module for assigning a TIP header to each TCP header and corresponding more than one of the plurality of incoming customer digital data flows; and a transmitter for transmitting the stream of transport packets to the packet based transport network.

Claim 11

An interface for transferring efficiently a plurality of customer digital data flows through a packet based transport network from a source transport access point to a destination transport access point comprising: an input module for identifying a plurality of incoming customer digital data flows which are destined to the destination transport access point; an address table containing addresses of one or more destination transport access points; an encapsulation module for encapsulating the plurality of incoming customer digital data flows into a stream of transport packets, each transport packet having its own transmission control protocol (TCP) header and transport internet protocol (TIP) header, the latter which identifies the destination transport access point, the encapsulating module including a TCP processor for at least administering an admission process regulating the stream of transport packets, a TCP header module for assigning the TCP header to more than one of the plurality of incoming customer digital data flows, and a transport internet protocol (TIP) header module for assigning a TIP header to each TCP header and corresponding more than one of the plurality of incoming customer digital data flows; and a transmitter for transmitting the stream of transport packets to the packet based transport network.

Claim 12

The interface according to claim 9 wherein the admission process includes dynamic competition for available bandwidth and adaptation of the flow rates to suit the network loading.

Claim 13

The interface according to claim 10 wherein the TCP processor includes means for performing a sliding window flow control mechanism, in that the window size is reduced in relation to the guaranteed minimum bandwidth when congestion is detected.

Claim 14

The interface according to claim 10 wherein the TCP processor includes means for performing a sliding window flow control mechanism, in that the connection between the source and destination transport access points uses an extended window size for data exchange.

Claim 15

The interface according to claim 11 wherein the incoming customer digital data flows arc IP packets and each includes an IP header.

Claim 16

The interface according to claim 1 wherein the incoming customer digital data flows are IP packets and each includes an IP header.

Claim 17

The interface according to claim 11 , wherein the incoming customer digital data flows are either frame relay packets or Ethernet packets, each of which includes either a frame relay header or an Ethernet header.

Claim 18

The interface according to claim 12 , wherein the incoming customer digital data flows are either frame relay packets or Ethernet packets, each of which includes either a frame relay header or an Ethernet header.

Claim 19

In a transport network having at least two transport interface modules, each of which is connected to a plurality of customer equipments, a method of efficiently transferring digital data flows, comprising the steps of: receiving at a source transport access interface module a plurality of digital data flows from the plurality of customer equipments; identifying those digital data flows which are destined to a destination transport access interface module; encapsulating, via an encapsulating module, the plurality of identified digital data flows in one transport packet stream addressed to the destination transport access interface module, the encapsulating module including a transmission control protocol (TCP) processor for at least administering an admission process regulating the transport packet stream; assigning, via a TCP header module, a TCP header within each transport packet stream, the TCP header corresponding to more than one of the digital data flows; and assigning, via a transfer internet protocol (TIP) header module, a TIP header corresponding to each TCP header and related more than one of the digital data flows before sending each transport packet through the packet transport network.

Claim 20

In a transport network having at least two transport interface modules, each of which is connected to a plurality of customer equipments, a method of efficiently transferring digital data flows, comprising the steps of: receiving at a source transport access interface module a plurality of digital data flows from the plurality of customer equipments; identifying those digital data flows which are destined to a destination transport access interface module; encapsulating, via an encapsulating module, the plurality of identified digital data flows in one transport packet stream addressed to the destination transport access interface module, the encapsulating module including a transmission control protocol (TCP) processor for at least administering an admission process regulating the transport packet stream; assigning, via a TCP header module, a TCP header within each transport packet stream, the TCP header corresponding to more than one of the digital data flows; and assigning, via a transfer internet protocol (TIP) header module, a TIP header corresponding to each TCP header and related more than one of the digital data flows before sending each transport packet through the packet transport network.

Claim 21

The method of efficiently transferring digital data flows according to claim 17 , comprising a further step of running TCP protocol on the stream of transport packets between the source and destination transport access interface modules.

Claim 22

The method of efficiently transferring digital data flows according to claim 18 , wherein the step of running TCP protocol includes a further step of performing sliding window flow control mechanism in that the window size is reduced in relation to the guaranteed minimum bandwidth when congestion is detected.

Claim 23

The method of efficiently transferring digital data flows according to claim 18 , wherein the step of running TCP protocol includes further steps of performing sliding window flow control mechanism and exchanging data between the source and destination transport access interface modules through a connection having an extended window size.

Claim 24

The method of efficiently transferring digital data flows according to claim 18 , wherein the step of running TCP protocol includes further steps of performing modified TCP protocol in that certain TCP protocol functions are alleviated by agreement between the source and destination transport access interface modules.

Claim 25

The method of efficiently transferring digital data flows according to claim 18 , wherein the one or more digital data flows from one or more customer equipments are one or more flows of customer packets and the step of encapsulating includes a step of encapsulating one or more customer packets into one transport packet stream addressed to said destination transport access interface module.

Claim 26

The method according to claim 19 wherein the digital data flows are IP packets and each includes an IP header.

Claim 27

The method according to claim 20 wherein the digital data flows are IP packets and each includes an IP header.

Claim 28

The method according to claim 21 wherein the digital data flows are IP packets and each includes an IP header.

Claim 29

The method according to claim 22 wherein the customer packets are IP packets and each includes an IP header.

Claim 30

The method according to claim 19 , wherein the digital data flows are either frame relay packets or Ethernet packets, each of which includes either a frame relay header or an Ethernet header.

Claim 31

The method according to claim 20 , wherein the digital data flows are either frame relay packets or Ethernet packets, each of which includes either a frame relay header or an Ethernet header.

Claim 32

The method according to claim 21 , wherein the digital data flows are either frame relay packets or Ethernet packets, each of which includes either a frame relay header or an Ethernet header.

Claim 33

The method according to claim 22 , wherein the customer packets are either frame relay packets or Ethernet packets, each of which includes either a frame relay header or an Ethernet header.

Claim 34

In a transport network having at least two transport interface modules, each of which is connected to one or more customer equipments, a method of efficiently transferring digital data flows, comprising the steps of: receiving at a source transport access interface module one or more digital data flows from one or more customer equipments; identifying those digital data flows which are destined to a destination transport access interface module; encapsulating, via an encapsulating module, the one or more digital data flows in one transport packet stream addressed to the destination transport access interface module, the encapsulating module including a transmission control protocol (TCP) processor for at least administering an admission process regulating the transport packet stream; assigning, via a TCP header module, a TCP header within each transport packet stream, the TCP header corresponding to more than one of the digital data flows; and assigning, via a transfer internet protocol (TIP) header module, a TIP header corresponding to each TCP header and related more than one of the digital data flows before sending each transport packet trough the packet transport network; running TCP protocol on the stream of transport packets between the source and destination transport access interface modules; and wherein the step of running TCP protocol includes further steps of performing simplified TCP protocol by modifying the IP and TCP headers by agreement between the source and destination transport access interface modules.

Claim 35

In a transport network having at least two transport interface modules, each of which is connected to one or more customer equipments, a method of efficiently transferring digital data flows, comprising the steps of: receiving at a source transport access interface module one or more digital data flows from one or more customer equipments; identifying those digital data flows which are destined to a destination transport access interface module; encapsulating, via an encapsulating module, the one or more digital data flows in one transport packet stream addressed to the destination transport access interface module, the encapsulating module including a transmission control protocol (TCP) processor for at least administering an admission process regulating the transport packet stream; assigning, via a TCP header module, a TCP header within each transport packet stream, the TCP header corresponding to more than one of the digital data flows; and assigning, via a transfer internet protocol (TIP) header module, a TIP header corresponding to each TCP header and related more than one of the digital data flows before sending each transport packet trough the packet transport network; running TCP protocol on the stream of transport packets between the source and destination transport access interface modules; and wherein the step of running TCP protocol includes further steps of performing simplified TCP protocol by modifying the IP and TCP headers by agreement between the source and destination transport access interface modules.

Claim 36

The method according to claim 31 wherein the digital data flows are IP packets and each includes an IP header.