Patent ID: 7366121

Claim:
A method for compressing an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) header, the ATM header having a virtual path identifier (VPI) location and a virtual channel identifier (VCI) location, the method comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of VPIs, wherein storing the plurality of VPIs comprises associating a unique ATM 4-bit VPI pointer with each of the plurality of VPIs; storing a plurality of 16-bit VCIs, wherein storing the plurality of 16-bit VCIs comprises associating a unique ATM 8-bit VCI pointer with each of the plurality of VCIs; determining a unique ATM 4-bit VPI pointer associated with a VPI stored in an ATM header VPI location; and determining a unique ATM 8-bit VCI pointer associated with a VCI stored in an ATM header VCI location.