Packet communications system and method
First Claim
1. A method of transporting packet voice and data traffic over a low bandwidth upstream communication path from a subscriber location, the method comprising performing at the subscriber location the steps of:
- generating a first internet protocol (IP) packet stream carrying the voice traffic;
generating a second IP packet stream carrying the data traffic;
segmenting said first and second IP packet streams into respective first and second ATM cell streams; and
multiplexing said first and second ATM cell streams together for transport over said upstream communication path.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A digital subscriber line (DSL) arrangement provides data and voice over IP (VoIP) services over a subscriber loop. Instead of conventional multiplexing at the IP layer, two separate IP packet streams are provided, one stream carrying delay insensitive data traffic and the other transporting delay sensitive traffic, in particular, packetised voice. The system segments each IP stream (i.e. those carrying voice and data) separately to produce two ATM streams which are then multiplexed using an ATM multiplexer. This reduces the delays to voice traffic resulting from queuing behind long data packets.
80 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method of transporting packet voice and data traffic over a low bandwidth upstream communication path from a subscriber location, the method comprising performing at the subscriber location the steps of:
- generating a first internet protocol (IP) packet stream carrying the voice traffic;
generating a second IP packet stream carrying the data traffic;
segmenting said first and second IP packet streams into respective first and second ATM cell streams; and
multiplexing said first and second ATM cell streams together for transport over said upstream communication path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
- generating a first internet protocol (IP) packet stream carrying the voice traffic;
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7. A subscriber station for providing digital communication with an access multiplexer over a subscriber loop, the subscriber station incorporating means for generating a first IP packet stream comprising digitally encoded voice traffic and a second IP packet stream comprising data traffic, means for segmenting said first and second IP packet streams into respective first and second ATM cell streams, and multiplexing means for multiplexing said first and second ATM cell streams together for transport to the access multiplexer over said subscriber loop.
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8. A method of transporting packetised delay sensitive and delay insensitive traffic on a low bandwidth upstream communications path from a subscriber location, the method comprising performing at the subscriber location the following steps:
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generating a first packet stream carrying the delay sensitive traffic according to a first packet protocol; generating a second packet stream carrying the delay insensitive traffic according to said first protocol; segmenting said first and second packet streams into respective first and second streams in accordance with a second packet protocol; and multiplexing said first and second packet streams formed in accordance with said second packet protocol for transport over the upstream communication path, wherein said second packet protocol has a packet length that is smaller than that of the first packet protocol. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A subscriber station for providing communication with an access multiplexer over a low bandwidth, upstream communications path, comprises:
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means for generating a first packet stream carrying the delay sensitive traffic according to a first packet protocol; means for generating a second packet stream carrying the delay insensitive traffic according to said first protocol; means for segmenting said first and second packet streams into respective first and second streams in accordance with a second packet protocol; and means for multiplexing said first and second packet streams formed in accordance with said second packet protocol for transport over the upstream communication path, wherein said second packet protocol has a packet length that is smaller than that of the first packet protocol. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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Specification