Patent · US Expired

Asynchronous transfer mode communication equipment and method for switching virtual path of same

US6801498B1 · kind B1 · utility

2Cited by
6References
12Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 23, 2000
Grant dateOct 5, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 23, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L12/4641
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Asynchronous transfer mode communication equipment utilizing distributed processing to manage switching to standby virtual paths when a failure occurs in an active path, allowing an increased number of virtual paths to be reliably handled by the equipment, even in situations where multiple virtual paths simultaneously fail. Each unit controller within the ATM communication equipment has its own virtual path paired information table. When a failure occurs in a virtual path to a respective unit controller, the unit controller can immediately and independently select a standby path. This distributed processing increases the retrieval speed of standby paths and minimizes the delay to full restoration of service, avoiding the concurrent processing bottleneck that occurs in prior art designs when multiple active paths simultaneously fail and a central processor must sequentially redirect each unit controller.

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