Patent · US Expired

Input buffering/output control for a digital traffic switch

US5768257A · kind A · utility

61Cited by
6References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 11, 1996
Grant dateJun 16, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 11, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2012/5681
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention, generally speaking, uses input buffering and output control to provide a high-speed, high-performance digital traffic switch. Dropped discrete information units (cells) are dropped at the input port, and so will not be transmitted across the switch fabric. This reduces the traffic load on the switch fabric during congested periods, and makes the switch fabric easier to design and expand. Input buffering/output control allows for the use of smaller buffers than output buffered/output control architectures for the same level of "discrete information unit (cell) drop" performance, and scales well to larger systems. Input buffering/output control provides all the information necessary to the output (data flow) controller necessary to implement very precise control algorithms. These algorithms can then administer switch fabric admission polices and contract enforcement fairly across all input ports.

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