Apparatus and method for preserving frame sequence and distributing traffic in multi-channel link and multi-channel transmitter using the same

A multi-channel transmitter, comprising:

• a transmitting buffer module for storing frames received from a higher layer;
• a sequence preservation distribution module for receiving the frames from the transmitting buffer module, distributing the frames to at least one transmitter, and transmitting the frames after storing the frames for a sequence preservation service time (SPST) so as to preserve a sequence of frames even if an idle transmitter exists;
• and
• a transmitting module for receiving the frames from the sequence preservation distribution module on a single-frame-at-a-time basis, and transmitting the frames to a communication channel within a predictable service time according to frame length,
• wherein the sequence preservation scheduler compares a transmission service finish time for each of the frames with a previous service finish time (PSFT) for a previous frame with respect to each conversation, determines a transmission sequence of frames belonging to the same conversation on the basis of a transmission service time according to frame length, and performs scheduling of the frames.

A method of preserving a frame sequence and distributing traffic in a multi-channel link, comprising:

• the first step of receiving frames from a higher layer and storing the frames;
• the second step of determining whether at least one idle transmitter exists, and scheduling the stored frames to be transmitted to at least one sequence preservation buffer if at least one idle transmitter exists;
• the third step of receiving the frames according to the scheduling, storing the frames in a designated sequence preservation buffer for a preset sequence preservation service time (SPST) to preserve a frame sequence and then transmitting the frames to the idle transmitter;
• and the fourth step of the transmitter transmitting the frames to a communication channel,
• wherein the second step comprises the steps of:
• predicting a transmission service finish time (TSFT) for a current frame (N) using the number of sequence preservation buffers storing the frames;
• comparing the TSFT with a previous service finish time (PSFT) for a previous frame (N-1and determining a sequence preservation service time (SPST) on the basis of the comparison results;
• and
• transmitting the frames to the designated sequence preservation buffer when the SPST is greater than 0.