Patent · US Expired

Switching apparatus and method for multiple traffic classes

US5742606A · kind A · utility

41Cited by
6References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 30, 1996
Grant dateApr 21, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 30, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2012/5682
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

In a communication switch with input and output queueing, which handles different priority classes of traffic (e.g. video and audio applications with a high priority, and file transfers and e-mail as low priority traffic), the invention provides a timed shut-off mechanism at each input queue. This mechanism is activated when an input queue attempting to transmit low-priority traffic gets a backpressure signal. The mechanism interrupts further attempts to transmit low priority traffic for a predetermined period of T switching cell cycles. Hence, during the shut-off periods, the output queue is only used by the high priority traffic. Therefore, the performance of the high priority traffic is preserved.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.