ATM cell multicasting method and apparatus
US5684797A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 25, 1995 |
| Grant date | Nov 4, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 25, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L49/30
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A multicasting apparatus and method for an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switch is described, which uses a single target port (TP) vector attached to each outgoing ATM cell. The target port vector contains identifiers of each port to which the cell has to be transmitted. After transmission of the cell, the identifier relating to respective target port is erased from the TP vector. Hence the TP vector contains only identifiers of target port to which the cell has not yet been transmitted. When the TP vector contains no identifiers, the storage location at which the ATM cell is stored during the transmission, is freed for another cell. Unicast and multicast traffic are treated identically.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.