Broadband switching network
First Claim
1. A broadband switching network for the switching of asynchronously transferred cells, the network comprising:
- switch control means for establishing a connection for the asynchronous transmission of cells from an input port to an output port;
usage control means, arranged to downgrade the priority of transmitted cells if customer usage exceeds a first predetermined level; and
bandwidth control means arranged to detect the rate at which cells are supplied to the input port and to request the switch control means to allocate bandwidth to the connection in response to said detection,wherein the switch control means allocates bandwidth to input cells and increases said first predetermined level.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A broadband switching network is shown having a plurality of interconnected switching units arranged to transfer cells asynchronously therebetween. A switch control establishes connections for the asynchronous transmission of these cells between ports. A bandwidth control detects the rate at which cells are supplied to an input port; and, in response, requests switch control to allocate bandwidth to the connection. When bandwidth has not been allocated, received cells are downgraded or rejected by a usage control device. The usage control device only allows high priority cells to remain as such when bandwidth has been allocated. The network facilitates logical connections to be established without dial-up procedures. However, customers may be charged in terms of their actual usage made of the network.
146 Citations
21 Claims
-
1. A broadband switching network for the switching of asynchronously transferred cells, the network comprising:
-
switch control means for establishing a connection for the asynchronous transmission of cells from an input port to an output port; usage control means, arranged to downgrade the priority of transmitted cells if customer usage exceeds a first predetermined level; and bandwidth control means arranged to detect the rate at which cells are supplied to the input port and to request the switch control means to allocate bandwidth to the connection in response to said detection, wherein the switch control means allocates bandwidth to input cells and increases said first predetermined level. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method of asynchronously transmitting cells of data through a switchable network wherein the cells are assigned different relative priorities for transmission through the network, the method comprising steps of:
-
re-setting a usage control means associated with a cell input port so as to downgrade the priority of input cells via said input port; detecting the presence of input cells at said port requiting a level of bandwidth through the network; and requesting a switch control in the network to allocate network bandwidth in response to said detection; whereupon bandwidth is allocated by said switch control and the usage control means is adjusted by the switch control to upgrade the priority of input cells via said input port so that high priority cells are maintained as such. - View Dependent Claims (12)
-
-
13. A broadband switching network having:
-
an input port for connection to a signal source and an output port for connection to a signal receiving system; a switch for transmitting information-carrying asynchronously transferred data cells from the input port to the output port, the data cells each including a cell loss priority bit allowing each cell to be identified as being a high priority cell or a low priority cell; switch control means for establishing a connection between the input port and the output port via the switch; usage control means which sets a first traffic threshold below which high priority cells supplied to the input port remain high priority cells, and above which some high priority cells supplied to the input port are downgraded to low priority cells; and bandwidth control means arranged to detect the rate at which cells are received at the input port and, automatically in response to such cell detection, to cause the switch control means to allocate bandwidth for the transmission of the cells to the output port, and to cause the usage control means to increase the first traffic threshold. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A method of operating a broadband switching network for transmitting information-carrying asynchronously transferred data cells from an input of the network to an output of the network, the data cells each including a cell loss priority bit allowing each cell to be identified as being a high priority cell or a low priority cell, the method comprising the steps of:
-
setting a first traffic threshold in usage control means, the first traffic threshold defining a level below which high priority cells supplied to the input remain high priority cells, and above which some high priority cells supplied to the input are downgraded to low priority cells; detecting the presence of cells at the input and automatically causing, in response to such cell detection, a switch control to allocate sufficient bandwidth for the transmission of the cells through the network; and adjusting the usage control means to increase the first traffic threshold so that high priority cells supplied to the input are maintained as such. - View Dependent Claims (21)
-
Specification