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US 6,714,552 B1Granted
Communications network
AssigneeBritish Telecommunications public limited company
InventorDavid Cotter
Life of this patent
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AssigneeBritish Telecommunications public limited company
InventorDavid Cotter
Estimating the term…
A communications network, suitable, for example, for linking computer processors, is formed from a number of nodes and links. The nodes and links are configured as a multiplicity of directed trails. Each directed trail spans some only of the nodes, but in combination the directed trails span every node of the network. Packets are routed through the network by selecting the appropriate one of the directed trails which links the source node and destination node, and by outputting the packet at the source node onto the selected trail. The nodes throughout the network may switch between predetermined and prescheduled switching states, and a given trail may be selected by choosing appropriately the time slot in which the packet is put onto the network. The network may be a photonic network carrying optical packets.
An optical communications network, comprising:
A method of routing an optical packet from a source node to a destination node in an optical communications network, comprising:
A method of routing a packet in a communications network, the network comprising a multiplicity of nodes and links, and wherein the nodes and links are configured as a multiplicity of directed trails, each directed trail linking only some of the multiplicity of nodes and the directed trails in combination spanning every node of the network, the method comprising the steps of:
A method of routing a packet in a communications network, the network comprising a multiplicity of nodes and links, and wherein the nodes and links are configured as a multiplicity of directed trails, each directed trail linking only some of the multiplicity of nodes and the directed trails in combination spanning every node of the network, the method comprising the steps of:
A method of routing a packet in a communications network, the network comprising a multiplicity of nodes and links, and wherein the nodes and links are configured as a multiplicity of directed trails, each directed trail linking only some of the multiplicity of nodes and the directed trails in combination spanning every node of the network, the method comprising the steps of:
A communications network, comprising:
A communications network, comprising:
A communications network, comprising:
In a communications network having a plurality of nodes, including a source node and a destination node, a plurality of links connecting the nodes, the nodes and links having a configuration such that they form a plurality of directed trails, the configuration of the nodes and links being time-dependent such that paths traced by the directed trails change sequentially over time, each directed trail linking only some of the nodes, the directed trails in combination spanning every node of the network, the method of routing a packet comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.
Using optical switching: switch and router aspects
Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks: topology update or discovery
Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks: multipoint routing
Construction: using space switching
Term ended 25 Feb 2019 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
1. Field of the Invention
2. Related Art
The present invention relates to a communications network, and in particular to the routing of packets in a network.
Systems embodying the present invention will now be described in further detail, by way of example only, and will be contrasted with the prior art, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic of a first example of a communications network;
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram for one of the nodes of FIG. 1;
With reference to FIG. 1, an optical communications network comprises a LAN 1 linking a number of personal computer workstations 3. Each workstation is connected to the LAN via a network interface 3a. The workstations and LAN together provide a visualisation of complex data. Each workstation is connected to a respective node 2 of the network. Packets of data 4 are communicated between the workstations 3 via the nodes 2 and links 5. In this example, the links 5 are formed from optical fibre and transmit the packets 4 in the optical domain.
Although, for ease of illustration, only a few nodes are shown in the FIGURE, in practice, the network may comprise many hundreds of nodes.
In this first example, the nodes and the interconnecting fibres are configured as an n×n torus network.