Connectionless message service using ATM routers
AssigneeLucent Technologies Inc.
InventorsGopal Dommety, Pramod Pancha, Malathi Veeraraghavan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A facility is provided in which an ATM switch may operate as a switch in the provision of connection oriented services and operates as a router in the provision of connectionless services. In the router mode, the ATM switch may determine "on the fly" a route which may be used to forward received data cells to an intended destination and then forwards each of the data cells in sequence over the determined route. In the switch mode, the ATM switch operates conventionally and forwards a received data cell over a previously defined switched virtual path. In certain cases, the ATM switch may operate as a router only.
Claims19
A method of operating an Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM) switch comprising the steps of
- responsive to receiving a first data cell associated with connection oriented services, forwarding the cell to its intended destination via a switched virtual circuit previously established for the cell, and
- responsive to receiving, over a channel associated with connectionless services, a second data cell containing a predetermined virtual channel identifier common to connectionless service, performing a router function to determine a route from the ATM switch to the intended destination of the second data cell and forwarding the second data cell over a portion of the determined route.
An Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM) router comprising
- apparatus, responsive to receiving a data packet from a source, for segmenting said data packet into ATM data cells and appending a header to each such data cell, and
- apparatus, responsive to said packet containing a first identifier indicative of connectionless service, for determining a route which may be used to forward each of the data cells to an intended destination and forwarding each of the data cells in sequence over the determined route, and responsive to an absence of said first identifier, forwarding each of the data cells in sequence over a previously defined switched virtual circuit.
An Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM) router comprising
- apparatus, responsive to receiving a first data cell associated with connection oriented service, for forwarding the cell to its intended destination via a switched virtual circuit previously established for the cell, and, responsive to receiving a first one of a series of data cells containing a virtual path identifier common to connectionless service, for storing said first data cell in a buffer,
- apparatus, responsive to receipt of a last one of said series of data cells containing said common identifier and addressed to the same destination, for forming the series of data cells into a data packet, for determining a route that may be used to forward the data packet to its intended destination, and for appending the determined route to said data packet, and
- apparatus, responsive to the formation of the said data packet, for the data packet into a sequence of data cells each having a header containing said common virtual path identifier and forwarding the sequence of data cells in turn to the intended destination over the determined route.
An Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM) router comprising
- apparatus, responsive to receiving a data cell associated with connectionless service, for storing said data cell in a buffer associated with a destination identified in the received data cell,
- apparatus, responsive to receipt of a last one of a series of such data cells addressed to the same destination, for storing each of the cells in said buffer and forming a data packet from the stored series of data cells, for determining a route that may be used to forward the formed data packet to its intended destination, and for appending the determined route to the formed packet, and
- apparatus, responsive to the formation of the said packet, for segmenting the formed data packet into a sequence of data cells, associating each such data cell with connectionless service, and forwarding the sequence of data cells in turn to the intended destination over the determined route.
An Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM) router comprising
- an accumulator for accumulating a series of received cells each bearing a common identifier and addressed to the same destination,
- a processor for forming a datagram from the accumulated series of received cells, for inserting a determined route in said datagram and for segmenting said datagram into a sequence of data cells each containing a header, and
- forwarding, in turn, each of said segmented data cells over the determined route to a next ATM switch.
A router for interfacing a packet constructed in accordance with the Internet Protocol (IP) with an Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM) network comprising
- apparatus, responsive to receipt of an IP packet, for converting an IP destination address contained in the IP packet into an ATM network-service-access-point (NSAP) address, and
- apparatus for determining a route that may be used to forward the packet to a destination associated with the ATM NSAP address, for assembling at least a payload portion of the packet and the ATM NSAP address into a series of ATM data cells, for associating each of the series of data cells with ATM connectionless service and for forwarding in turn the series of ATM series to the destination over the determined route.
A host switch for interfacing a packet constructed in accordance with the Internet Protocol (IP) with an Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM) network comprising
- apparatus, responsive to receipt of an IP packet containing a domain name associated with a destination point, for converting the domain name into an ATM network-service-access-point (NSAP) address, and
- apparatus for assembling at least a payload portion of the packet and the NSAP address into a series of ATM data cells, for associating each of the series of data cells with ATM connectionless service and for forwarding in turn the series of ATM data cells to the destination point over the determined route.
A method of processing a third-party call set up request in an Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM) switch comprising the steps of
- responsive to receiving a request for a third-party connection, forming the request into a series of data cells each containing a virtual path/channel identifier common to connectionless service, and
- responsive to each such data cell, identifying a route that may be used to forward each of the data cells to an end point of the requested connection and forwarding the data cell to that end point.
Apparatus including a home location register for tracking a plurality of mobile stations comprising
- a processor communicating with an ATM switch, and
- a set of proxy processes running on said processor and associated with respective ones of the mobile stations for tracking the locations of said mobile stations, each of said proxy processes being identified by an ATM network service access point address assigned to a respective one of the mobile stations.
A method of tracking a plurality of mobile stations using a home location register comprising the steps of
- arranging a processor so that it communicates with an ATM switch, and
- running a set or proxy processes on said processor, said proxy processes being associated with respective ones of the mobile stations to track the locations of said mobile stations, each of said proxy processes being identified by an ATM network service access point address assigned to a respective one of the mobile stations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.