USOO7424020B2 

(12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 7.424,020 B2 

Ochsner (45) Date of Patent: Sep. 9, 2008 

(54) NETWORK NODES 6,735,190 B1* 5/2004 Chuah et al. ................ 370,352 

6,925,092 B1* 8/2005 Derks et al. ....... ... 370/465 

(75) Inventor: Christoph Ochsner, Prosselsheim (DE) 2001/OOOTS55 A1* T/2001 Sasagawa et al. ..... ... 370,359 

2002/0029286 A1* 3/2002 Gioquindo et al. .......... 709/236 

73) Assi : ALCATEL, Paris (FR 2002/0073215 A1 6/2002 Huitema et al. ... ... 709/230 (73) SS1ginee aris (FR) 2002/0141371 A1* 10, 2002 HSu ................. ... 370,338 

( c ) Notice: Subject tO any disclaimer, the term of this 2002/0146000 A1* 10, 2002 Jonsson et al. .............. 370,352 

patent is extended or adjusted under 35 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 

U.S.C. 154(b) by 961 days. EP O 685951 A2 12/1995 

EP O 755 138 A2 1, 1997 

(21) Appl. No.: 10/262,834 (Continued) 

(22) Filed: Oct. 3, 2002 OTHER PUBLICATIONS 

O O Wireless Application Forum: “Wireless Application Protocol Wire 

(65) Prior Publication Data less Datagram Protocol (WDP) Specification'. Wireless Application 

US 2003/OO67915A1 Apr. 10, 2003 Protocol. Wireless Datagram Protocol Specification, 'Online! Apr. 

30, 1998, pp. 1-29, XP002244661. 

(30) Foreign Application Priority Data Siemens Communication on Air: “Mobile Application Solutions 

based on Wireless Application (WAP)” Siemens Brochure, 'Online 

Oct. 4, 2001 (DE) ................................ 101 49 OO1 1999, pp. 1-4, XP002244149. 

(51) Int. Cl. (Continued) 

H04L 2/56 (2006.01) Primary Examiner Min Jung 

(52) U.S. Cl. ........................ 370/392; 370/401; 370/463 (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm Sughrue Mion, PLLC 

(58) Field of Classification Search ................. 370/463, 370/401, 402, 392 (57) ABSTRACT 

See application file for complete search history. The invention relates to a process for transmission of data via 

56 Ref Cited a communication network to a terminal, and a network node 

(56) eerees e for performance of the process. The data are transmitted to the 

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS terminal via the network node which can be connected with 

two or more terminals. On the network side at the network 

2. A S. node for the transmission of data, a data stream is received aO 

6,034,963 A * 3/2000 Minami et al. .............. 370/401 which consists of useful data and protocol data. The network node removes the majority of the protocol data from the data 6,115,394 A * 9/2000 Balachandran et al. ...... 370/477 stream received on the network side at the network node for 

6,301.229 B1* 10/2001 Araujo et al. ............... 370,252 the t f dat d itches th dat 6,408,001 B1* 6/2002 Chuah et al. ................ 370,392 e transmission of data and switches une remaining data 

6,639,914 B1 * 10/2003 Choi et al. .................. 70so stream in the direction of the terminal. 

6,662,254 B1 12/2003 Tal et al. ..................... T10,300 

6,721,333 B1 * 4/2004 Milton et al. ............... 370/469 9 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets 

E, TE5 TE 6 

 

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US 7.424,020 B2 

Page 2 

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS OTHER PUBLICATIONS 

EP 1028561 A1 8, 2000 M. Engan et al., “IP Header Compression over PPP, Network Work 

EP 130 1 008 A3 4/2003 ing Group Request for Comments, Feb. 1, 1999, pp. 1-10, 

XPOO2208082. 

GB 235.1874 A 1, 2001 

WO WOOOf 49748 8, 2000 * cited by examiner 

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U.S. Patent Sep. 9, 2008 Sheet 1 of 2 US 7.424,020 B2 

TE, TE5 TE 6 

Fig.1 

 

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U.S. Patent Sep. 9, 2008 Sheet 2 of 2 US 7.424,020 B2 

MS+ |

‘613 Z

31 |

 

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US 7,424,020 B2 

1. 

NETWORKNODES 

The invention is bases on a priority application DE 

10149001.1 which is hereby incorporated by reference. 

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 

The invention relates to a process for transmission of data 

via a communication network to a terminal, and a network 

node which has a first interface to connect the network node 

with two or more terminals and with a second interface to 

connect the network node with a communication network. 

The invention is based on the connection, common today, of computers and servers in a computer network. 

The computer and server are connected together and with 

one or more routers by a multiple access medium. These 

components connected with the multiple access medium 

communicate with each other via an Ethernet or fast Ethernet 

protocol. The components are physically connected with the 

multiple access medium as follows: the computers and server 

of a spatial area are each connected with a floor Switch allo 

cated to this spatial area which is in turn connected with the 

other floor switches. The floor switch as such does not process the incoming data streams. It merely constitutes a coupling 

which ensures a galvanic connection between the compo 

nents connected to it and allows easy user-friendly installa 

tion of the communication network. 

The invention is now based on the object of improving the 

performance of a communication network. 

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 

This object is achieved by a process for transmission of 

data via a communication network to a terminal where in the 

process the data are transmitted to the terminal via a network 

node which can be connected with two or more terminals, and 

where on the network side on the network node or the trans 

mission of data a data stream is received which consists of 

useful data and protocol data, wherein the network node 

removes the majority of the protocol data from the data 

stream received on the network side by the network node for 

transmission of data, and Switches the remaining data stream 

in the direction of the terminal. Network node with a first 

interface for connecting the network node with two or more 

terminals and with a second interface for connecting the 

network node with a communication network, wherein the 

network node has a control unit which is designed so that it 

removes the majority of the protocol data from a data stream 

received on the network side via the second interface, which 

data stream consists of useful data and protocol data and is 

directed towards one of the terminals connected with the first 

interface, and Switches the remaining data stream in the direc 

tion of this terminal. 

The basic concept of the invention lies in the moving of 

protocol processing functions from the terminals into a net 

work node located before the terminals. 

This firstly gives the advantage that the network cards for 

the terminals need be equipped considerably more simply and 

reduces the load on the terminals from communication tasks. 

This saves costs on the terminal side. It is also advantageous 

that the scope of the data to be exchanged between the termi 

nals and the network node is less than the scope of the data to 

be exchanged between the floor switch and the terminals. 

Accordingly the transmission complexity can be reduced in 

the network cards and in the line installations. 

Further advantages arise from the centralisation in the field 

of network management and fault elimination. 

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2 

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are described 

in the Sub-claims. 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 

The invention will now be described in more detail as an 

example with reference to several embodiment examples and 

the enclosed drawings. 

FIG. 1 shows a block circuit diagram of a communication 

system with two network nodes according to the invention. 

FIG. 2 shows a functional view of a network node accord 

ing to FIG. 1. 

FIG. 1 shows a communication system with several termi 

nals TE1 to TE6, with a communication network KN, with a 

router ROUT and with two network nodes FSW1 and FSW2. 

The terminals TE1 to TE6 are computers or servers. Ter 

minals TE1 to TE6 can however also be other terminals such 

as multimedia terminals, printers or copiers. 

Of the network nodes and routers connected to the com 

munication network KN, FIG. 1 shows as an example the 

network nodes FSW1 and FSW2 and the router ROUT. It is 

also possible for terminals to be connected not only via the 

network nodes KN but also directly via the communication 

network KN. 

The communication network KN is a communication net 

work by means of which data can be exchanged between the 

components connected to the communication network. Pref 

erably the communication network KN is a bus system. It is 

however also possible that the communication network. KN 

comprises active components such as Switching nodes, gate 

ways, routers, bridges. It is also possible here that the com 

munication network KN consists of several different part 

networks which use different communication protocols for 

data exchange or are allocated to different network operators. 

Such part networks can also be radio networks. 

The router ROUT is a router which connects the commu 

nication network KN with one or several further communi 

cation networks. The router ROUT could also be omitted. 

The network nodes FSW1 and FSW2 are connected on the 

network side with the communication network KN and on the 

terminal side with the terminals TE1 to TE3 or TE4 to TE6. 

The number of terminals connected with the network nodes 

FSW1 and FSW2 is selected as an example. 

The network nodes FSW1 and FSW2 can each be con 

nected with two or more terminals. For transmission of data 

via the communication network KN to one of the terminals 

TE1 to TE3, the data are transmitted via the network node 

FSW1, and for transmission of data to one of the terminals 

TE4 to TE6, the data are transmitted via the network node 

FSW2 to the relevant target terminal. Here the data are guided 

by the communication network KN1 to the network node 

FSW1 or FSW2, or the network nodes FSW1 or FSW2 take 

from the communication network KN the data addressed to 

one of the terminals TE1 to TE3 or TE4 to TE5. 

On the network side, on the network nodes FSW1 and 

FSW2 on transmission of data a data stream is received which 

consists of useful data and protocol data. 

The network nodes FS1 and FS2 now remove the majority 

of the protocol data from the data streams received on the 

network side at the network node for transmission of data, and 

pass the remaining data streams in the direction of the termi 

nal to which the relevant data stream is addressed. Thus the 

protocol overhead on the terminal side from the network 

nodes FS1 and FS2 is reduced in relation to the network side 

protocol overhead. 

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US 7,424,020 B2 

3 

The detailed function of the network nodes FSW1 and 

FSW2 is explained as an example below using the network 

node FSW1: 

FIG. 2 shows the network node FSW1 which on the termi 

nal side is connected to the terminals TE1 to TE3 and on the 

network side to the communication network KN. 

The network node FSW1 has two interfaces INT1 and 

INT2 and a control unit CONTR. 

The interface INT1 serves to connect the network node 

FSW1 with two or more terminals. It consists for example of 

a plug strip via which a multiplicity of connecting cables can 

be connected with the network node FSW1. 

The interface INT2 serves to connect the network node 

(FSW1) with the communication network KN. 

The control unit CONTR has a computer with peripheral 

components and a software platform sitting on this computer, 

which for example consists of an operating system and a 

database system. The control unit CONTR also has several 

application programs. When these application programs are 

run on the hardware and software platform of the control unit 

CONTR, the control unit CONTR performs the functions 

PHTE1 to PHTE3, SW and PHN described below. 

The function PHN controls the network-side communica 

tion of the network node FSW1. It removes the majority of 

protocol data from a data stream, received on the network side 

via the interface INT2, which consists of useful data and 

protocol data and is directed towards one of the terminals 

connected to the interface INT1. 

It is particularly advantageous here that the function PHN 

for the terminals connected with the network node FSW1 

processes the communication protocols of one or more com 

munication layers and removes the protocol data allocated to 

these communication layers. 

Special advantages arise from removal of the protocol data 

of the first (simple point-to-point protocol) and/or the third 

layer (e.g. saving IP addresses). The removal of the protocol 

data of the fifth and higher layers brings Scarcely any more 

savings. 

Overall good results are achieved if the network nodes 

process the communication protocols of layers 1 to 4 for the 

terminals connected to them. 

The function PHN comprises, in the embodiment example according to FIG. 2, several processes of which FIG. 2 shows 

the processes P1 to P3. The processes P1 to P3 are allocated 

to the terminals TE1, TE2 or TE3. The function PHN also 

comprises sub-functions which firstly control the “lifecycle' 

of the processes, i.e. generate and terminate the processes. For 

each terminal connected to the network node FSW1, the 

function PHN generates a process allocated to this terminal. 

The function PHN also comprises sub-functions which allo 

cate the data stream incoming at the interface INT2 to one of 

the processes P1 to P3. For this the function PHN determines 

to which of the terminals TE1 to TE3 the data stream is 

directed. This is given for example by a target address in the 

data stream. It then transfers the processing of the data stream 

to the process allocated to this terminal. 

Processes P1 to P3 each comprise protocol processing 

units for the protocol levels which are processed by the PHN 

function for the terminal concerned. FIG. 2 shows for 

example four protocol processing units PL1 to PL4 which 

process the communication protocols of layers 1, 2, 3 and 4. 

It is naturally also possible for the processes P1 to P3 to 

process the protocols of more or fewer layers. The layers are 

here oriented in relation to their task content to the OSI layer model (OSI-open system interconnection). Protocol families 

not specified by OSI must be classified accordingly. 

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For example the network node FSW1 communicates on the 

network side via a multiple access protocol. The protocol 

processing units PL1 and PL2 then process the protocol data 

of MAC protocols (MAC-medium access control) such as an 

Ethernet protocol, the DQDB protocol or a Token protocol. 

The protocol processing units PL3 and PL4 then for 

example process the IP protocol (IP-internet protocol) or the 

TCP/UDP protocol (transmission control protocol, user data 

gram protocol). 

Here it is also advantageous that one IP address is allocated 

to the network node FSW1 for all terminals connected to this 

and hence only one IP address is required for all terminals 

connected with the network node FSW1. 

The protocol data allocated to the communication proto 

cols processed by processors P1 to P3 are then removed from 

the data stream concerned by the PHN function so that only 

the data stream reduced by the protocol data allocated to these 

communication protocols is transmitted to the function SW 

for Switching as the residual data stream. 

The function SW switches the residual data stream then 

towards the terminal. Here it has access to the data determined 

by the PHN function on the target address of the data stream 

and passes the remaining data stream to the one of the func 

tions PHTE1 to PHTE3 which is allocated to the target ter 

minal. 

The functions PHTE1 to PHTE3 control the terminal-side 

communication of the network node FSW1 with the terminals 

TE1, TE2 or TE3. They transmit to their allocated terminal 

the remaining data stream which the function SW has trans 

mitted in the direction of this terminal. 

Here it is advantageous that the protocol stack of the com 

munication between the functions PHTE1 to PHTE3 and 

terminals TE1 to TE3 is as simple as possible. This ensures 

that the protocol overhead to be added for communication 

between the functions PHTE1 to PHTE3 and the terminals 

TE1 to TE3 is kept as small as possible. 

In particular it is advantageous that the network node 

FSW1, on the network-side reception of the data stream, 

sends a data stream to one of the terminalsTE1 to TE3 which 

consists of the useful data of the received data stream and 

protocol data, the scope of which is reduced by more than half 

in comparison with the scope of protocol data of the received 

data stream. This means that the reduction of protocol data by 

the function PHN and the addition of protocol data by the 

functions PHTE1 to PHTE3 complement each other so that in 

total the scope of the protocol data is reduced by more than 

50%. 

The functions PHTE1 to PHTE3 in the embodiment 

example each have a protocol processing unit PL1' which 

processes a protocol of the first communication level. 

Preferably this protocol is a simple point-to-point protocol. 

The residual data streams are thus transmitted to the relevant 

terminal by means of a point-to-point protocol. 

The invention claimed is: 

1. A method for transmission of data via a communication 

network the method comprising: 

receiving, at a network node connected with two or more 

terminals, a data stream from the communication net 

work, wherein the data stream comprises useful data and 

protocol data; 

removing, at the network node, the protocol data of a 

portion of protocol layers from the received data stream; 

and 

Switching the remaining data stream to be transmitted to 

one of the terminals, 

wherein the communication network is a bus system, and 

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US 7,424,020 B2 

5 

wherein only one IP address is allocated to the network 

node for each of the two or more terminals connected to 

the network node. 

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the removing the protocol data comprises removing protocol data of com 

munication protocols of layers 1 to 4 for the terminals con 

nected to the network node. 

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the protocol 

data is structured according to an Open Systems Interconnec 

tion (OSI) model comprising the layers 1 to 4. 

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network 

node communicates with the communication network via a 

multiple access protocol and the network node communicates 

with the terminals via a point-to-point protocol. 

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a scope of the 

protocol data of the remaining stream is reduced by more than 

half in comparison with a scope of the protocol data of the 

received data stream. 

6. A network node comprising: 

a first interface for connecting the network node with two 

or more terminals; 

a second interface for connecting the network node with a 

communication network; and 

10 

15 

6 

a control unit which removes protocol data from a portion 

of protocol layers from a data stream received from the 

communication network via the second interface, the 

data stream comprising useful data and the protocol 

data, and Switches a remaining data stream to be trans 

mitted to one of the terminals via the first interface, 

wherein the communication network is a bus system, and 

wherein only one IP address is allocated to the network 

node for each of the two or more terminals connected to 

the network node. 

7. The network node according to claim 6, wherein the 

control device removes the protocol data of communication 

protocols of layers 1 to 4 for the terminals connected with the 

network node and Switches the remaining data stream 

reduced by the protocol data of the communication protocols 

of the layers 1 to 4 to the terminal concerned be transmitted 

the one of the terminals. 

8. The network node according to claim 7, wherein the 

protocol data is structured according to an Open Systems 

Interconnection (OSI) model comprising the layers 1 to 4. 

9. The network node according to claim 6, wherein the 

control device is also configured to transmit the remaining 

data stream to the terminal via a point-to-point protocol. 

k k k k k 

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