Patent ID: RE40923

Claim:
Apparatus for processing, in accordance with a simplified data link protocol, a datagram received from an Internet facility and supplying the processed datagram to Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET) apparatus for transmission over an optical path, said datagram being formed from a plurality of data bytes and being associated with a predetermined quality of service, said apparatus comprising a simplified data link processor for receiving the datagram from the Internet, assigning a size value to the datagram, in which the size value is determined as a function of the number of data bytes forming the datagram, and storing the datagram in a buffer selected as a function of a quality of service indicator indicative of a level of priority assigned to the datagram, in which the contents of the selected buffer are then processed at a level commensurate with the assigned priority level, the simplified data link processor including first apparatus for generating a cyclic redundancy code (CRC) over the datagram stored in a buffer currently scheduled for processing and inserting the CRC, quality of service indicator and size value in a header section of a datagram, and for then supplying the resulting datagram to second apparatus, the second apparatus being operative for receiving the data bits forming the resulting datagram and scrambling the bits of the datagram in accordance with a particular scrambling code and supplying the scrambled result to the SONET apparatus, the SONET apparatus including a frame assembler which assembles the scrambled result and associated path overhead information into a payload and a scrambler circuit which then scrambles the payload and associated path overhead information and outputs that scrambled result as a frame of data to the optical path.