Method and apparatus for managing multiple ATM cell queues
US6246682A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 5, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jun 12, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 5, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L2012/5681
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Methods for managing multiple queues of ATM cells in shared RAM while efficiently supporting multicasting include providing a common memory for storing ATM cells and for storing at least one pointer to each ATM cell stored, providing a management memory for storing an index to the pointers stored in common memory, a table for each multicast session, and an index to the free space in common memory. According to the presently preferred method, cells entering the switch are examined, placed in shared RAM, and a pointer to the RAM location is written in another location in the shared RAM. Table entries in management RAM are updated each time a cell is added to a queue. When a multicast session is begun, a multicast table is created with all of the addresses in the multicast session. When a multicast cell is received, the multicast session table is consulted and pointers to the cell are copied to queues for each address in the table. When a pointer exits a queue, the cell pointed to by the pointer is read and transmitted to the address of the queue. As the cell is read, the destination count for the cell is decremented. When the destination count is reduced to zero, the RAM location use…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.