ATM communication system interconnect/termination unit
First Claim
1. An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) communication device for use in an ATM communication system network, said device comprising:
- memory means;
a scheduler processor permanently pre-configured to maintain in said memory means a calendar-based scheduler table having entries of virtual connections (VC'"'"'s) to be serviced in sequential cell slot time intervals to receive conversion sublayer protocol data units (CS-PDU'"'"'s);
a programmable processor servicing VC'"'"'s according to said calendar-based scheduler table, and said programmable processor including means for maintaining a hierarchical calendar including at least two recirculating arrays of linked descriptors, said hierarchical calendar having a first array of size N segments (where N is an integer), and a first event pointer moving step-wise from one segment of said first array to the next segment in a time equal to one cell slot time interval;
said hierarchical calendar including at least a second array of size M segments (in which M is an integer), and a respective second event pointer moving step-wise from one segment of said second array to the next segment in a time equal to N multiplied by T (where T is a single cell slot time interval).
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Abstract
An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) digital electronic communication system includes an ATM communication system interconnection and termination unit (ATMCSI/TU). This ATMCSI/TU includes both a programmable microprocessor and several hardware-implemented coprocessors. The hardware-implemented coprocessors are under control of the microprocessor, and are dedicated to the performing of repetitive tasks. Thus, the microprocessor is freed to perform supervisory tasks in the ATM in addition to performing tasks associated with actual communication of digital data packages (i.e., CS-PDU'"'"'s) in the ATM system. Thus, the APU is freed from doing repetitive data manipulation tasks, while these tasks are performed by one or more hardware-implemented coprocessors using memory mapped data structures and linked lists of data.
73 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) communication device for use in an ATM communication system network, said device comprising:
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memory means;
a scheduler processor permanently pre-configured to maintain in said memory means a calendar-based scheduler table having entries of virtual connections (VC'"'"'s) to be serviced in sequential cell slot time intervals to receive conversion sublayer protocol data units (CS-PDU'"'"'s);
a programmable processor servicing VC'"'"'s according to said calendar-based scheduler table, and said programmable processor including means for maintaining a hierarchical calendar including at least two recirculating arrays of linked descriptors, said hierarchical calendar having a first array of size N segments (where N is an integer), and a first event pointer moving step-wise from one segment of said first array to the next segment in a time equal to one cell slot time interval;
said hierarchical calendar including at least a second array of size M segments (in which M is an integer), and a respective second event pointer moving step-wise from one segment of said second array to the next segment in a time equal to N multiplied by T (where T is a single cell slot time interval).- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A data-structure driven asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) communication device for receiving, processing, and transmitting a plurality of data cells in an ATM communication system network, said device comprising:
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memory means for receiving, storing and recovering ATM conversion sublaver protocol data units (CS-PDU'"'"'s), data-structures of linked lists with memory address pointers to starting and ending memory addresses as well as internal memory address pointers to successive elements of said data structures of linked lists by memory addresses in succession and regression, and calendar entries;
a scheduler processor permanently pre-configured to maintain a calendar-based scheduler table having entries of virtual connections (VC'"'"'s) to be serviced in sequential cell slot time intervals to receive CS-PDU'"'"'s from said memory means;
a programmable processor servicing VC'"'"'s according to said calendar-based scheduler table, and said programmable processor including means for maintaining a hierarchical calendar including at least two recirculating arrays of linked descriptors, said hierarchical calendar having. a first array of size N segments (where N is an integer), and a first event pointer moving step-wise from one segment of said first array to the next segment in a time equal to one cell slot time interval;
said hierarchical calendar including at least a second array of size M segments (in which M is an integer), and a respective second event pointer moving step-wise from one segment of said second array to the next segment in a time equal to N multiplied by T (where T is a single cell slot time interval).- View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for receiving, processing, and transmitting a plurality of data cells in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) communication system network, said method comprising:
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providing memory means;
providing a scheduler processor, and permanently pre-configuring said scheduler processor to maintain in said memory means a calendar-based scheduler table having entries of virtual connections (VC'"'"'s) to be serviced in sequential cell slot time intervals to receive conversion sublayer protocol data units (CS-PDU'"'"'s);
providing a programmable processor, and utilizing said programmable processor to service VC'"'"'s according to said calendar-based scheduler table, including in said programmable processor means for maintaining a memory-efficient hierarchical calendar including at least two recirculating arrays of linked descriptors, causing said hierarchical calendar to have a first array of size N segments (where N is an integer), and a first event pointer moving step-wise from one segment of said first array to the next segment in a time equal to one cell slot time interval;
providing for said hierarchical calendar to include at least a second array of size M segments (in which M is an integer), and a respective second event pointer moving step-wise from one segment of said second array to the next segment in a time equal to N multiplied by T (where T is a single cell slot time interval).- View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification