ISDN multiprotocol communications controller

An ISDN multiprotocol communications controller for controlling at least one communication link supported physically by a transmission line and comprising a specific number of data channels controlled according to a multiplicity of protocols, between at least one computer and a set of terminals through an automatic telephone branch exchange, comprising:

• a basic controller for receiving the data coming from the terminals via the type S.sub.2 link, and controlling the higher communication layers of an OSI model,
• a peripheral device disposed in series between the basic controller and data circuit terminating equipment, said data circuit terminating equipment being connected to the transmission line, the peripheral device controlling communications between the computer and the other terminals and time-division multiplexing and demultiplexing of the data channels of the link, said peripheral device including:
• a dynamic allocation device for allocating time division data channels corresponding to the data channels of the communication link,
• a random-access dual-access memory of the FIFO type comprising n discrete physical channels for reception,
• a signal processor connected to a programmable memory containing programs for processing the multiplicity of protocols contained in the S.sub.2 link,
• wherein the dynamic allocation device receives data and a timing signal (SYNR) sent by the terminating equipment over a serial data bus carrying m time channels with m equal to or greater than n , transforms the sets of serial bits into a set of parallel bits sent to the dual-access memory, concentrates the m time channels in the n physical channels of the dual-access memory by the dynamic allocation of the m time channels to the n physical channels under the control of the basic controller, and the signal processor reads, in each channel of the dual-access memory, upon the arrival of each bit of the timing signal (SYNR), the data that have been written by the allocation device, stores the data in memory, analyzes the status of the frames according to the type of protocol used for the transmission of said frames and extracts from said frames the data, and transmits said data to the basic controller.

An ISDN multiprotocol communications controller for controlling at least one communication link supported physically by a transmission line and comprising a specific number of data channels controlled according to a multiplicity of protocols, between at least one computer and a set of terminals through an automatic telephone branch exchange, comprising:

• a basic controller for receiving the data cominq from the computer and controlling the higher communication layers of an OSI model,
• a peripheral device disposed in series between the basic controller and data circuit terminating equipment, said data circuit terminating equipment being connected to the transmission line, the peripheral device controlling communications between the computer and the other terminals and time-division multiplexing and demultiplexing of the data channels of the link, said peripheral device including:
• a dynamic allocation device for allocating time division data channels corresponding to the various data channels of the communication link,
• a random-access dual-access memory of the FIFO type comprising n discrete physical channels for transmission,
• a signal processor connected to a programmable memory containing programs for processing the multiplicity of protocols contained in the S.sub.2 link,
• wherein the dynamic allocation device transmits data and a timing signal (SYNE) sent by the signal processor, over a serial data bus carrying m time channels with m equal to or greater than n , transforms the data from a set of parallel bits read from the dual-access memory to a set of serial bits, concentrates the m time channels into the n physical channels under the control of the basic controller, and the signal processor writes, in each channel of the dual-access memory, upon the arrival of each bit of the timinq signal (SYNE), the data that have been read by the allocation device, reads the data from memory, analyzes the status of said frames according to the type of protocol used for the transmission of said frames and transmits said frames to the data circuit terminating equipment.

An ISDN multiprotocol communications controller for controlling at least one communications link supported physically by a transmission line terminated at data circuit terminating equipment and having a specific number of data channels controlled according to a multiplicity of protocols, between at least one computer and a set of terminals through an automatic telephone branch exchange, comprising:

• a basic controller for receiving data coming from the computer and the terminals via an S.sub.2 link and controlling upper layers of an OSI communications model;
• and
• a peripheral device disposed in series between the basic controller and the data circuit terminating equipment, for controlling communications between the computer and the terminals, including:
• p1 a signal processor connected to the basic controller and having a programmable memory containing programs for processing the multiplicity of protocols used in the S.sub.2 link;
• and
• means connected to the data circuit terminating equipment, for dynamically allocating time-division data channels corresponding to the data channels of the communication link.