Method and apparatus for shaping traffice for a SIMA network

A traffic shaper for a network, comprising:

• an input device for receiving cells from a traffic source;
• a buffering device, coupled to the input, for holding the cells until instructed to send the cells, wherein the buffering device further comprises a buffer and a transmission unit, the buffer holding the cells and the transmission unit sending the cell forward according to the send time received from the calculation unit, and wherein the buffering device comprises segments for holding the cells, and wherein the monitoring principle is based on the loading information;
• a calculation unit, operatively coupled to the buffer processor, for calculating a send time for sending cells held by the buffering device, wherein the calculation unit calculates the send time based upon a nominal bit rate, a maximum delay, the loading information provided by the monitoring unit and a monitoring principle, and wherein the calculation unit calculates a transmission interval between successive cells based on instantaneous bit rate at the arrival time of a jth cell, the nominal bit rate and the link rate;
• and
• a monitoring unit for monitoring the input device and the buffering device to obtain loading information regarding the network.

A network, comprising:

• a traffic source for issuing cells;
• an access node providing an interface to a SIMA network;
• and
• a traffic shaper, functioning between the traffic source and the access node, the traffic shaper comprising:
• an input device for receiving cells from a traffic source;
• a buffering device, coupled to the input, for holding the cells until instructed to send the cells;
• and
• a calculation unit, operatively coupled to the buffer processor, for calculating a send time for sending cells held by the buffering device, wherein the send time optimizes a transmission interval between successive cells to obtain a maximum priority level, the transmission interval between successive cells being based on instantaneous bit rate at the arrival time of a jth cell, a nominal bit rate and a link rate.

A network comprising:

• a traffic source for issuing cells;
• an access node providing an interface to a SIMA network;
• and
• a traffic shaper, functioning between the traffic source and the access node, the traffic shaper comprising:
• an input device for receiving cells from a traffic source;
• a buffering device, coupled to the input, for holding the cells until instructed to send the cells, wherein the buffering device further comprises a buffer and a transmission unit, the buffer holding the cells and the transmission unit sending the cell forward according to the send time received from the calculation unit, wherein the buffering device further comprises segments for holding the cells, and wherein the monitoring principle is based on the loading information;
• a calculation unit, operatively coupled to the buffer processor, for calculating a send time for sending cells held by the buffering device, wherein the calculation unit calculates the send time based upon a nominal bit rate, a maximum delay, the loading information provided by the monitoring unit and a monitoring principle, wherein the calculation unit calculates a transmission interval between successive cells based on instantaneous bit rate at the arrival time of a jth cell, the nominal bit rate and the link rate;
• and
• a monitoring unit for monitoring the input device and the buffering device to obtain loading information regarding the network.

A method of shaping traffic between a traffic source and an access node to a SIMA network, comprising the steps of:

• receiving data cells at an input device;
• loading the cells into a buffer,
• obtaining information regarding the loading of the network via a monitoring device;
• calculating a send time of a next cell at a calculation unit based upon a nominal bit rate, a maximum delay and a monitoring principle, wherein the send time optimizes a transmission interval between successive cells to obtain a maximum priority level, the transmission interval between successive cells being based on instantaneous bit rate at the arrival time of a jth cell, a nominal bit rate and a link rate.

A method of shaping traffic between a traffic source and an access node to a SIMA network, comprising the steps of:

• receiving data cells at an input device;
• loading the cells into a buffer;
• obtaining information regarding the loading of the network via a monitoring device;
• calculating a send time of a next cell at a calculation unit based upon a nominal bit rate, a maximum delay and a monitoring principle, wherein the monitoring principle is based on a load measurement result and wherein the step of calculating further comprises the step of calculating a transmission interval between successive cells based on instantaneous bit rate at the arrival time of a jth cell, the nominal bit rate and the link rate.