Communication switching element and method for transmitting variable length cells
First Claim
1. Communication switching element having X inputs and Y outputs, wherein X and Y are not both equal to one, for transferring cells from each of said inputs to at least one of said outputs, said cells being subdivided into subcells, said switching element comprisinga buffer memory with a plurality of memory locations each having an identity,means for writing into said memory locations distinct subcells incoming on said inputs,a first storage means storing memory location identities of subcells, andmeans for reading said subcells out of said buffer memory under the control of said first storage means and for supplying these read subcells to said outputs,wherein said stored memory location identities are linked in identity groups, each of said identity groups corresponding to one of said cells.
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Abstract
The switching element is used for transferring, between X inputs (I1-IX) and Y outputs (O1-OY), cells divided into subcells of which only the first contains information about the destination output(s) of the cell. This switching element includes: a buffer memory (BM) with a plurality (C) of memory locations each having an address (K); and a memory management means (BMMU) for providing (FMLMC) addresses of free memory locations for storing the subcells therein, and for storing (BQ1-BQY, SLM), under the form of linked lists, the memory location addresses used by the subcells, each list being associated to a distinct cell. The method is adapted to process variable length cells divided into subcells each containing a header (SCH) to distinguish a first/last subcell (FSC/LSC) of a cell from other subcells (ISC, LSC). Use is made of a subcell logic (SL) to detect the succession in either order of a subcell pertaining to a cell and of either a first/last subcell (FSC/LSC) of another cell or an idle subcell so as to identify the last/first subcell (LSC/FSC) of a cell.
51 Citations
46 Claims
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1. Communication switching element having X inputs and Y outputs, wherein X and Y are not both equal to one, for transferring cells from each of said inputs to at least one of said outputs, said cells being subdivided into subcells, said switching element comprising
a buffer memory with a plurality of memory locations each having an identity, means for writing into said memory locations distinct subcells incoming on said inputs, a first storage means storing memory location identities of subcells, and means for reading said subcells out of said buffer memory under the control of said first storage means and for supplying these read subcells to said outputs, wherein said stored memory location identities are linked in identity groups, each of said identity groups corresponding to one of said cells.
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43. Communication switching element having X inputs and Y outputs and wherein X and Y are not both equal to one, for transferring cells from each of said inputs to at least one of said outputs, said cells being subdivided into subcells and said switching element comprising a buffer memory with a plurality of memory locations each having an identity, means for writing into said memory locations distinct subcells incoming on said inputs, means for reading said subcells out of said buffer memory and for supplying these read subcells to said outputs, and a buffer memory management means for controlling said writing means and said reading means,
wherein said buffer memory is fully shared between said X inputs and said Y outputs, and under the control of said buffer memory management means, said writing means write said subcells in any free ones of said memory locations of said buffer memory and said reading means rebuild each cell in function of the identities of said memory locations into which the subcells pertaining to said cell are written.
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45. Method for transmitting variable length communication messages using cells divided into subcells, each of said subcells containing a subcell header, comprising the steps:
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using the subcell headers to distinguish subcells pertaining to a cell from subcells not pertaining to any cell, recognizing a subcell pertaining to a cell that follows a subcell not pertaining to any cell as a first subcell of a variable length message, and p1 recognizing a subcell pertaining to a cell that is followed by a subcell not pertaining to any cell as a last subcell of a variable length message.
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46. Method for transmitting variable length communication messages using cells divided into subcells, each of said subcells containing a subcell header, comprising the steps:
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using the subcell headers to distinguish subcells pertaining to one of said cells from subcells pertaining to another of said cells, recognizing a subcell distinguished by its subcell header as pertaining to said one cell that follows a subcell distinguished by its subcell header as pertaining to said another cell without any other intervening subcells as the first subcell of said one cell, and recognizing a subcell distinguished by its subcell header as pertaining to said one cell that is followed by a subcell distinguished by its subcell header as pertaining to said another cell without any other intervening subcells as the last subcell of said another cell.
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Specification