Patent · US Expired

Asynchronous data transfer and source traffic control system

US5901146A · kind A · utility

21Cited by
21References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateOct 29, 1997
Grant dateMay 4, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 29, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2012/5679
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An asynchronous data transfer and source traffic control system includes a bus master and a plurality of bus users coupled to a bidirectional data bus. The bus master provides two clock signals to each bus user, a system clock and a frame clock. The frame clock designates the start of a frame. A frame format preferably includes fifteen or sixteen system clock cycles, the first of which is designated the request field and the last of which includes a grant field. One or more other cycles may be assigned control and/or routing information and the remainder of the cycles comprise a data field of fixed length. During the request field, any number of bus users may request access which is received by the bus master. During the grant field, the bus master grants access to a selected bus user for the entire data portion of the next frame. Which user is granted access to the next frame is determined according to an arbitration algorithm in the bus master which may be unknown to the bus users. The asynchronous data transfer and source traffic control system has particular application in accommodating the transfer of the contents of ATM cells used in BISDN systems.

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