Patent ID: 6512744
Filing Date: 2003-01-28
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A communications network comprising:A) a downstream ATM switch; B) a plurality of upstream ATM switches that concurrently with each other transmit constituent-channel-VCI-value ATM data and forward-directed resource-management cells in which the upstream ATM switches have inserted respective constituent-channel VCL values associated with a common composite-channel VCI value; and C) a merging ATM switch that receives the constituent-channel-VCI-value data and forward directed resource-management cells directly from the upstream ATM switches and responds to each of the received constituent-channel-VCI-value forward-directed resource-management cells by: i) sending the one of said plurality of upstream ATM switches from which it received that constituent-channel-VCI-value forward-directed resource-management cell a corresponding constituent-channel-VCI-value reverse-directed resource-management cell containing the same constituent-channel VCI value; and ii) sending the downstream ATM switch a corresponding composite-channel-VCI-value forward-directed resource-management cell containing the composite-channel VCI value.