Patent ID: 6781998
Filing Date: 2004-08-24
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of randomly reordering received ATM cells in an ATM switching apparatus, comprising:receiving a plurality of ATM cells at a first set of inputs of a switching device in the ATM switching apparatus; receiving a randomized set of values at a second set of inputs of the switching device; randomly reordering the received ATM cells at the switching device based at least in part upon the randomized set of values received at the second set of inputs so as to form a randomly reordered set of ATM cells; causing the randomly reordered set of ATM cells to be forwarded to another component of the ATM switching apparatus; in a randomizer or random generator, randomizing a set of elements E in which for a first one of the elements E at least the following steps are performed: randomly generating first, second, and third random numbers within a first range; determining whether the first random number falls within a second range; when the first random number falls within the second range, shifting the first element E through a number of empty position locations based upon the first random number before storing the element E in a position location; when the first random number does not fall within the second range, determining whether the second random number falls within the second range; when the second random number falls within the second range, shifting the first element E through a number of empty position locations based upon the second random number before storing the element E in a position location; when the second random number does not fail within the second range, determining whether the third random number falls within the second range; and when the third random number falls within the second range, shifting the first element E through a number of empty position locations based upon the third random number before storing the element E in a position location.