Patent ID: 6310875
Filing Date: 2001-10-30
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method for tracking multicast cell copies in a switch in an ATM network, the switch including a port memory controller and a plurality of output ports each having an associated output port register, the method comprising the steps of:enqueuing a cell into the switch;receiving a bitmap into the port memory controller on the enqueue of a cell into the switch, the bitmap including a bit corresponding to each output port register;writing to each output port register a bit from the bitmap corresponding to that port register;dequeuing a copy of the cell from an output port of the switch;clearing the bit in the output port register associated with the output port from which the cell copy was dequeued while reading the bits in the other output port registers; andtesting the bits read from the other output port registers to determine, based on the value of the bits read, if the last copy of the cell has been dequeued from the switch.