Method and apparatus for route processing asynchronous transfer mode cells
First Claim
1. An apparatus for route processing asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells, comprising:
- a route cell buffer for receiving a beginning ATM cell and an end ATM cell corresponding to a packet, said packet defined by a plurality of ATM cells;
an ingress router for determining routing information for said packet from said beginning and end ATM cells received by said route cell buffer, said ingress router placing said routing information in said packet to prevent discarding of said packet or any ATM cells corresponding to said packet; and
a virtual circuit identifier (VCI) table for storing said routing information determined by said ingress router, said VCI table providing routing information for each ATM cell of said packet during transmission of said packet, wherein said route cell buffer generates a pseudo VCI upon receipt of said ATM cells, said route cell buffer placing said pseudo VCI within each ATM cell, said routing information being indexed in said VCI table by said pseudo VCI.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An ingress processor (16) includes an ingress controller (34) that controls the flow of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells placed in the ingress cell memory (32) by a cell loader (30). The ingress controller (34) links together ATM cells within the ingress cell memory (32) that correspond to a particular packet. The ingress controller (34) sends the beginning of message cell (BOM) to a route cell buffer (42) for processing by an ingress router (44). The ingress router (44) determines routing information from content addressable memories (72) and routed cache associative memory (73) corresponding to the BOM cell within the route cell buffer (42). A router controller (60) within the ingress router (44) generates a setup ATM cell containing the retrieved routing information and sends the setup ATM cell to the ingress processor (34) through the route cell buffer (42). The ingress processor (34) sends the setup cell, the BOM cell, a transmit agent (48) through a transmit agent cell buffer (46) for transmission out of the ingress processor (16). The transmit agent (48) transmits all subsequent cells of the packet. Routing information for the packet is also stored in a VCI table (50) for use by the transmit agent (48) such that further route determinations for subsequent cells within a packet need not be determined by the ingress router (44).
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An apparatus for route processing asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells, comprising:
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a route cell buffer for receiving a beginning ATM cell and an end ATM cell corresponding to a packet, said packet defined by a plurality of ATM cells; an ingress router for determining routing information for said packet from said beginning and end ATM cells received by said route cell buffer, said ingress router placing said routing information in said packet to prevent discarding of said packet or any ATM cells corresponding to said packet; and a virtual circuit identifier (VCI) table for storing said routing information determined by said ingress router, said VCI table providing routing information for each ATM cell of said packet during transmission of said packet, wherein said route cell buffer generates a pseudo VCI upon receipt of said ATM cells, said route cell buffer placing said pseudo VCI within each ATM cell, said routing information being indexed in said VCI table by said pseudo VCI. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An apparatus for route processing asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells, comprising:
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a memory for receiving and storing ATM cells; a route cell buffer for receiving a beginning ATM cells and an end ATM cell corresponding to a packet, said packet defined by a plurality of said ATM cells; an ingress router for determining routing information for said packet from said beginning and end ATM cells received by said route cell buffer, said ingress router generating a setup ATM cell and a teardown ATM cell for said packet in response to said routing information, said setup ATM cell and said teardown ATM cell operable to establish and release a route for said packet respectively, said setup ATM cell and said teardown ATM cell having a same format as said plurality of ATM cells corresponding to said packet; a transmit agent for placing said routing information within each ATM cell of said packet, said transmit agent transmitting said setup ATM cell, said ATM cells corresponding to said packet, and said teardown ATM cell, each having said routing information as determined by said ingress router; and an ingress controller for moving said ATM cells from said memory to said route cell buffer and said transmit agent. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of route processing asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a packet containing a plurality of ATM cells within a memory; identifying a beginning ATM cell of the packet; determining route information from the beginning ATM cell; generating a setup ATM cell for the packet, the setup ATM cell having the same format as the plurality of ATM cells of the packet; placing the route information in the setup ATM cell; associating the route information with each ATM cell corresponding to the packet; and transmitting the setup ATM cell to establish the route for the packet; and transmitting the ATM cells of the packet in response to the route. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification