Switch and switching method for processing communication data of a particular connection

• US 6,781,993 B1
• Filed: 06/03/1999
• Issued: 08/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Takechi, Ryuichi, Kato, Tsuguo, Ono, Hideaki
• Primary Examiner(s): VANDERPUYE, KENNETH N
• Application Number:
  US09/325,144
• Time in Patent Office: 1,909 Days
• Field of Search: 370/388, 370/395.1, 370/353, 370/354, 370/352, 370/465, 370/398
• US Class Current: 370/395.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5671 Support of voice
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/1553 Interconnection of ATM switching modules, e.g. ATM switching fabrics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3081 ATM peripheral units, e.g. policing, insertion or extraction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/606 Hybrid ATM switches, e.g. ATM&STM, ATM&Frame Relay or ATM&IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0478 Provisions for broadband connections

Abstract

Data from an STM (Synchronous Transfer Mode) network is converted into an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) cell by an interworking facility, and the ATM cell is input to the ATM network. If the input cell corresponds to a connection which requires voice processing, a voice processing trunk within a switch performs the processes such as an echo compensation process, an encoding process, a multiplexing process, etc. The switch outputs the cell to a trunk line of the ATM network.

Claims

1. A switch for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit determining an output route for each input cell; and

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection, and converting connection identification information of the input cell to connection identification information for connecting said trunk unit via the switch unit to an output line for outputting the input cell.

3. The switch according to claim 1, further comprising:

an input line unit performing an interface process between an input line of the input cell and said switch unit; and

an output line unit performing an interface process between the output line and said switch unit;

wherein

said switch unit performs a first switching operation for connecting said input line unit and said output line unit, for a cell of a connection which does not require the voice processing, and performs a second switching operation for connecting said input line unit and said trunk unit and for connecting said trunk unit and said output line unit through said switch unit, for a cell of a connection which requires the voice processing.

4. The switch according to claim 3, wherein said trunk unit includes:

an echo cancellor removing an echo of a far end signal superposed on a near end signal, and

a conversion unit converting the connection identification information of the input cell to the connection identification information for connecting said trunk unit to the output line; and

said switch unit performs the second switching operation for a cell of a voice connection having a large transmission delay, and performs the first switching operation for a cell of other connections.

5. The switch according to claim 3, wherein said trunk unit includes:

an echo cancellor removing an echo of a far end signal superposed on a near end signal, and

a conversion unit converting the connection identification information of the input cell to connection identification information for connecting said trunk unit to the output line; and

said switch unit performs the second switching operation for a cell of the near end signal of a voice connection having a large transmission delay, performs a third switching operation for connecting said input line unit to said output line unit and said trunk unit, for a cell of the far end signal of the voice connection having the large transmission delay, and performs the first switching operation for a cell of other connections.

2. A switch for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit determining an output route for each input cell; and

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection, wherein;

said switch unit accommodates synchronous transfer mode data mapped onto an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 1 cell; and

said trunk unit performs voice processing of the asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 1 cell.

6. A switch for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit determining an output route for each input cell;

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection;

an input line unit performing an interface process between an input line of the input cell and said switch unit; and

an output line unit performing an interface process between the output line and said switch unit;

wherein

said switch unit performs a first switching operation for connecting said input line unit and said output line unit, for a cell of a connection which does not require the voice processing, and performs a second switching operation for connecting said input line unit and said trunk unit and for connecting said trunk unit and said output line unit, for a cell of a connection which requires the voice processing; and

wherein

said trunk unit includes a plurality of voice processors performing the voice processing for each of a plurality of connections; and

said input line unit converts connection identification information of the input cell into information which specifies one of the plurality of voice processors.

7. The switch according to claim 6, wherein said trunk unit further includes:

a cell distributor distributing the input cell to a specified voice processor by referencing the connection identification information of the input cell; and

a cell multiplexer multiplexing cells from the plurality of voice processors.

8. The switch according to claim 6, wherein

said trunk unit further includes a cell multiplexer multiplexing cells from the plurality of voice processors, each of which includes a filter passing a cell having predetermined particular connection identification information.

9. The switch according to claim 6, wherein each of said voice processors includes an output controller outputting a cell for which the voice processing is performed after a predetermined amount of time elapses from an arrival of the input cell.

10. A switch for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit determining an output route for each input cell;

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection;

an input line unit performing an interface process between an input line of the input cell and said switch unit; and

an output line unit performing an interface process between the output line and said switch unit;

wherein

said switch unit performs a first switching operation for connecting said input line unit and said output line unit, for a cell of a connection which does not require the voice processing, and performs a second switching operation for connecting said input line unit and said trunk unit and for connecting said trunk unit and said output line unit, for a cell of a connection which requires the voice processing; and

wherein

said trunk unit includes first and second trunk units;

said first trunk unit includes an encoder converting voice data of an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer 1 type cell into a particular voice code, and a multiplexer multiplexing voice codes from said encoder into an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 2 cell;

said second trunk unit including a demultiplexer demultiplexing a voice code of each connection from an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 2 cell, a decoder converting the voice code from said demultiplexer into voice data, and a cell processor converting the voice data from said decoder into an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 1 cell; and

said switch unit passes the input cell through one of said first and second trunk units by performing the second switching operation for a cell of a particular voice connection, and performs the first switching operation for a cell of other connections.

11. A switch for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit determining an output route for each input cell;

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection;

an input line unit performing an interface process between an input line of the input cell and said switch unit; and

an output line unit performing an interface process between the output line and said switch unit;

wherein

said switch unit performs a first switching operation for connecting said input line unit and said output line unit, for a cell of a connection which does not require the voice processing, and performs a second switching operation for connecting said input line unit and said trunk unit and for connecting said trunk unit and said output line unit, for a cell of a connection which requires the voice processing; and

wherein said trunk unit includes

an encoder converting voice data of an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 1 cell into a particular voice code,

a multiplexer multiplexing voice codes from said encoder into an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 2 cell,

a demultiplexer demultiplexing a voice code of each connection from an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 2 cell,

a decoder converting the voice code from said demultiplexer,

a cell processor converting the voice data from said decoder into an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 1 cell,

a cell distributor distributing the input cell to one of said encoder and said demulitplexer by referencing connection identification information of the input cell, and

a cell multiplexer multiplexing cells from said multiplexer and said cell processor; and

said switch unit performs the second switching operation for a cell of a particular voice connection, and performs the first switching operation for a cell of other connections.

12. A switch for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit determining an output route for each input cell;

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection;

an input line unit performing an interface process between an input line of the input cell and said switch unit; and

an output line unit performing an interface process between the output line and said switch unit;

wherein

said switch unit performs a first switching operation for connecting said input line unit and said output line unit, for a cell of a connection which does not require the voice processing, and performs a second switching operation for connecting said input line unit and said trunk unit and for connecting said trunk unit and said output line unit, for a cell of a connection which requires the voice processing; and

wherein

said trunk unit includes first and second trunk units;

said first trunk unit includes an encoder converting voice data of an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 1 cell into a particular voice code and outputting a partially filled cell including the voice code, and a decoder converting the voice code of the partially filled cell into voice data and outputting an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 1 cell including the voice data;

said second trunk unit includes a multiplexer multiplexing one or more partially filled cells into an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 2 cell, and a demultiplexer demultiplexing a voice code of each connection from an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 2 cell and generating one or more partially filled cells; and

said switch unit passes the input cell through said first and second trunk units by performing the second switching operation for a cell of a particular voice connection, and for performing the first switching operation for a cell of other connections.

13. A switch for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit determining an output route for each input cell; and

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection;

wherein said trunk unit performs at least one of an echo cancellor process for removing an echo of a far end signal superposed on a near end signal, encoding process for converting voice data of the input cell into a particular voice code, a decoding process for converting a voice code of the input cell into voice data, a multiplexing process for multiplexing data of the input cell into an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 2 cell, and a demultiplexing process for demultiplexing data from an input asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 2 cell.

14. A switch for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit determining an output route for each input cell; and

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection;

wherein said trunk unit includes;

a first trunk unit removing an echo of a far end signal superposed on a near end signal;

a second trunk unit converting voice data of the input cell into a particular voice code; and

a third trunk unit converting a voice code of the input cell into voice data.

15. A switch for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit determining an output route for each input cell; and

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection;

wherein said trunk unit includes;

a first trunk unit removing an echo of a far end signal superposed on a near end signal;

a second trunk unit multiplexing data of the input cell into an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 2 cell; and

a third trunk unit demultiplexing data from an input asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 2 cell.

16. A voice processing trunk for use in a system which switches communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a voice processing unit for performing voice processing for an input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection; and

a conversion unit for converting connection identification information of the input cell to connection identification information for connecting said voice processing trunk via a switch unit to an output line for outputting the input cell.

17. A switch for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit for determining an output route for an input cell; and

a trunk unit for processing data of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular connection, and converting connection identification information of the input cell to connection identification information for connecting said trunk unit via the switch unit to an output line for outputting the input cell.

18. A switching method for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

determining a connection of an input cell;

routing the input cell to a voice processing trunk when the input cell belongs to a particular voice connection;

performing voice processing in the voice processing trunk for the input cell which belongs to the particular voice connection; and

converting connection identification information of the input cell to connection identification information in the voice processing trunk for routing the input cell to an output line.

19. A switching method for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

determining a connection of an input cell;

routing the input cell to a particular trunk unit when the input cell belongs to a particular connection;

processing data of the input cell which belongs to the particular connection in the particular trunk unit; and

converting connection identification information of the input cell to connection identification information in the particular trunk unit for routing the input cell to an output line.

20. A communications system for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit routing an input cell according to connection identification information thereof; and

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular connection, and converting connection identification information of the input cell to connection identification information for connecting said trunk unit via the switch unit to an output line for outputting the input cell.

21. A communications system for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit routing an input cell according to connection identification information thereof; and

a trunk unit performing voice processing of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular connection, wherein;

said switch unit accommodates synchronous transfer mode data mapped onto an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 1 cell; and

said trunk unit performs voice processing of the asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer type 1 cell.

22. A trunk for use in a communication system which switches communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a processing unit for performing voice processing for an input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular connection; and

a conversion unit for converting connection identification information of the input cell to connection identification information for connecting said voice processing trunk via a switch unit to an output line for outputting the input cell.

23. A communications system for switching communication data, which is partitioned into cells being fixed-length packets, for each of the cells, comprising:

a switch unit for routing an input cell according to connection identification information thereof; and

a trunk unit for processing data of the input cell when the input cell belongs to a particular connection, and converting connection identification information of the input cell to connection identification information for connecting said trunk unit via the switch unit to an output line for outputting the input cell.