Mapping of routing traffic to switching networks
US6055561A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 30, 1997 |
| Grant date | Apr 25, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 30, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02D30/50
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
IP based networks use a number of different IP routing protocols to determine how packets ought to be routed. However, due to the rapid growth of the Internet, there is a great need for higher packet forwarding performance. This invention describes a way to map IP routing information onto a technology that uses label switching and swapping, such as ATM, without the need to change the network paradigm. This allows a network to continue to function and appear as a standard IP network, but with much higher performance. In this invention, an Integrated Switch Router (ISR), is a switch that has been augmented with standard IP routing support. The ISR at an entry point to the switching environment performs standard IP forwarding of datagrams, but the "next hop" of the IP forwarding table has been extended to include a reference to a switched path (for example, the VCC in ATM technology). Each switched path may have an endpoint at a neighboring router (comparable to existing IP next hops on conventional routers), or may traverse a series of ISRs along the best IP forwarding path, to an ISR endpoint. This allows datagrams to be switched at hardware speeds through an entire ISR network.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.