Patent ID: 6104715
Filing Date: 2000-08-15
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
A switching apparatus for use in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network to connect a plurality of senders to a receiver for transmission of frames of data segmented into a series of cells of data, each cell having a header portion comprising a Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and a Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI), each frame comprising a first cell and a last cell in said series, said switching apparatus comprising:a) a plurality of entry ports, each entry port being operable to receive cells from at least one frame at a time,b) a storage device containing a lookup table of mutually distinct VCI values for assignment to frames received at an entry port, one VCI value being assigned to one frame at a time,c) a read/write device operable for reading and retaining a VCI value from said lookup table and, beginning with the first cell of a frame received at a port, writing said VCI value over any existing VCI of each cell of only said frame until the last cell thereof is received at said port, said read/write being operable to thereupon cause said VCI value to be released for assignment to cells of another frame that subsequently arrives at said switching apparatus,d) a plurality of exit ports, each exit port being operable to emit cells of a plurality of frames from said switching apparatus, ande) a switch for transmitting each cell received by an entry port of said apparatus to an exit port according to the VPI of said each cell.