Patent ID: 6539546
Filing Date: 2003-03-25
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A telecommunications network comprising:a primary site that includes at least one digital signal source for selective delivery of digital data over the network to a destination network device; at least one secondary site; the primary site and the at least one secondary site each including a ring switch, wherein the ring switches are interconnected to form a transport ring; the ring switches each using at least one table that tracks the identity of network devices associated with each port of the ring switch based on source identifiers of data packets received at the ports of the ring switch and wherein data packets received at a ring port that are not destined for a network device associated with a local port of the ring switch are switched to another ring switch based on the at least one table without the use of a token or encapsulating the data packet; and at least one converter coupled to a local port of one of the at least one secondary site, the converter converting the digital data in data packets switched off the ring at the ring switch of the secondary site from a first form to a second form for the destination network device.