Patent ID: 7058070

Claim:
An apparatus for receiving and storing incoming cells derived from data transmissions conveyed on a network, and for then forwarding the cells elsewhere in the network, the apparatus comprising: a cell memory for sequentially receiving and storing the incoming cells in separate memory blocks, each of the memory blocks being identified by a unique identification number (BLOCK_ID), and for thereafter reading out a cell stored in any one of the memory blocks when its BLOCK_ID is transmitted to the cell memory; queuing means ( 36 ) for sequentially generating BLOCK_IDs of memory blocks storing cells to be read out of the cell memory; and memory control means ( 30 ) for maintaining a BLOCK_ID queue, for adding BLOCK_IDs generated by the queuing means to the BLOCK_ID queue in an order in which they a generated by the queuing means, and for removing BLOCK_IDs from the BLOCK_ID queue and transmitting them to the cell memory in an order in which the BLOCK_IDs were added to the BLOCK_ID queue such that cell memory reads out the cells stored in the memory blocks identified by the BLOCK_IDs transmitted by the memory control means.