Virtual path merging in a multipoint-to-point network tunneling protocol
US6097726A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 7, 1998 |
| Grant date | Aug 1, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 7, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L2012/5667
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A computer network includes frame- or packet-based subnetworks connected by switches, the switches being interconnected by high-capacity trunks using a connection-based data transfer protocol similar to Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Some of the trunks include a Permanent Virtual Path (PVP) trunk crossing an ATM core network, the PVP trunk including one or more bidirectional PVPs. A multipoint-to-point (MPT) protocol is used among the switches to transfer packets as groups of cells directly from "leaf", or source, switches to "root", or destination, switches without requiring significant routing-related processing during cell transmission. The switches allocate virtual path identifiers in a conserving manner such that (i) MPT paths from multiple leaf switches are merged to one path with a single virtual path identifier terminating at a root switch; (ii) on the PVP trunks, a virtual path identifier already allocated for an outgoing connection is allocated to an incoming connection ahead of any virtual path identifiers that are completely unallocated; and (iii) a range of virtual path identifiers is pre-provisioned at the core network access points, so that a switch connected to a…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.