Interface facility for a packet switching system

A packet switching system for the transmission of a first type packets having logical address information and second type packets having switch address information and other logical address information and comprises an interface means interconnecting a switching network and transmission means, said interface means comprises:

• memory means for storing said first type packets and other logical address information associated with switch address information;
• addressing means responsive to a receipt of one of said first type packets to effect the storage of the received packet in said memory means;
• said addressing means further comprising means for reading the stored one of said first packets and means responsive to said logical address information in said one of said first type packet for reading associated other logical and switch address information from said memory means;
• and
• transmitter means responsive to the read other logical and switch address information and the read one of said first type packets for forming one of said second type packets.

A packet switching system for communicating messages each comprising a plurality of packets, and each of said packets comprising logical address information and said system comprises:

• a central processor;
• a first interface facility responsive to the receipt of a first one of said plurality of packets of one of said messages to transmit said received packet to said central processor via said switching network;
• said received packet comprises identification information;
• a second interface facility;
• said central processor responsive to said identification information of said received packet to generate logical and switch address information for transmission to said first interface facility;
• said first interface facility further comprising means responsive to said logical and switch address information to store said logical and switch address information;
• said first interface facility further comprising means responsive to a subsequent one of said packets of said one of said messages to access said stored logical and switch address information and means for concatenating said logical and switch address information with said subsequent one of said packets for transmission of said concatenated information to said switching network;
• and
• said switching network responsive to said switch address information in said concatenated information to route said concatenated information to said second interface facility.

A switching system for communicating packets each having a field for storing address information, said system comprises:

• transmission means;
• a switching network;
• interface means for interconnecting said transmission means and said network;
• said interface means comprising memory means for storing logical address information associated with switch address information and operable for storing said packets received from said transmission means;
• said interface means further comprising means responsive to the receipt of one of said packets from transmission means for controlling the storage of said one of said packets in said memory means;
• and
• said interface means further comprising means for reading the stored one of said packets from memory, means for reading said logical address information associated with said switch information from said memory means, and means responsive to the read one of said packets to concatenate said read packet and said logical address information and said switch address information for transmission of said concatenated information to said switching network.

A packet switching system comprises a plurality of networks interconnected by a plurality of transmission means with each of said transmission means being connected to a one of said networks by one of a plurality of interface facilities, first type packets are transmitted on said plurality of transmission means and second type packets are transmitted within said networks, each of said type of packets comprising a function field, each of said interface facilities further comprises:

• receiving means responsive to said function field of one of said first type packets containing signals representing a first state to effect a transmission of said one of said first type packets on said connected transmission means;
• said receive means comprises means responsive to said function field of said one of said first type packets containing signals representing a second state to effect the transformation of said one of said first type packets into one of said second type packets and means for communicating said one of said second type packets to said connected network;
• receiver means responsive to the function field of a second one of said second type packets from said network containing signals representing a first state to effect the transmission to said network of second one of said second type packet with said function field equal to said first state;
• and
• said receiver means comprises means responsive to the function field of a third one of said second type packets containing signals representing a second state to effect the transformation of said third one of said second type packets to a second one of said first type packets and means for transmitting said second one of said first type packets to said transmission means.

A packet switching system for communicating a plurality of messages each comprising a plurality of packets, each of said packets comprising logical address and data, said system comprising:

• processor means responsive to a receipt of identification data of one of said packets of one of said messages for generating logical address information and physical address translation information;
• switching network means for switching other packets of said one of said messages to a destination;
• distributed controller means for communicating said other packets of said one of said messages to said network means and comprising
• means for storing the logical address information and the physical address translation information generated by said processor means;
• and
• means responsive to a receipt of one of said other packets for concatenating the stored logical address information and the physical address information in said storing means with said one of said other packets.

A method of communicating packets through a packet switching system comprising switching networks interconnected by a plurality of transmission means with each transmission means being connected to a given network by one of a plurality of interface facilities, first type packets comprising logical addresses are transmitted via said transmission means and second type packets comprising network addresses are transmitted within said networks, each of said switching network comprising switching elements responsive to the network addresses of said second type packets to route said second type packets to destination ones of said interface facilities, said method comprising the steps:

• translating the logical address contained in one of said first type packets to the corresponding network address and another logical address upon a receipt of said one of said first type packets by one of said interface facilities from associated transmission means;
• assembling one of said second type packets by concatenating said network address and said one of said first type packets;
• replacing said logical address with said other logical address in said one of said first type of packets;
• and
• transmitting said one of said second type packets to said destination interface facility via said network.