Patent ID: 6151321
Filing Date: 2000-11-21
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
An ATM communications system comprising:an ATM network on which ATM cells of ATM packets travel;a host which produces ATM packets having cells which include at least a payload; andan interface connected to the host which sends ATM cells from the host onto the ATM network, said interface producing read requests to the host for obtaining cells from the host, said interface transferring a partial packet comprising a plurality of cells from the host to the interface with each read request, said interface having a bus which connects to the host on which communication between the host and the interface occurs, said interface having a transfer mechanism which is connected to the ATM network to send cells to the ATM network, the interface has a transfer memory mechanism which stores the plurality of cells until the cells are sent to the ATM network, the transfer memory mechanism includes a transfer shared memory pool in which send local buffers are defined to store corresponding pluralities of cells transferred from the host, each send local buffer stores a predetermined number of cells transferred from the host, each send local buffer is associated with a connection which is associated with a rate, wherein there is at least one send local buffer in the interface for every active connection the host has with the ATM network, wherein active connections the host has with the ATM network that have a higher rate have more send local buffers than connections the host has with the ATM network that have a lower rate.