Digital data communication system
AssigneeBell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
InventorAlexander G. Fraser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A digital data transmission system comprising a plurality of interconnected switching units, each such unit having connected thereto at least one transmission loop, and each such loop having at least one digital device attached thereto. The system provides controllable buffering of digital data thereby allowing digital devices having different data transfer speeds and storage capabilities to communicate asynchronously. The system allocates communication resources upon request but only creates actual communication paths when the requesting device is transmitting data. Thus system resources need not remain committed between bursts of data.
Claims19
A data transmission system for supporting data cells among a plurality of digital devices, a data call being comprised of randomly occurring bursts of data with intervening pauses, comprising means for virtually allocating transmission paths upon request preparatory to establishing data calls from any of said digital devices to any other of said digital [device] devices by assigning to each call a description of transmission resources to convey the data and means for activating said virtually allocated transmission for [paths] path in accordance with the assigned description only [when] upon determination that a data burst of the call is actually transmitted.
A digital data transmission system for supporting data calls among a plurality of digital devices, a data call being comprised of randomly occurring bursts of data with intervening pauses including a plurality of transmission loops, each including at least one digital device, comprising:
- means for virtually allocating a transmission path from a digital device in one loop to a digital device in another loop comprising a plurality of asynchronous links by assigning to each call a description of the links in the path, and means for activating particular ones of said links in accordance with the path description only when a data burst of the call is actually available at said particular ones for transmission.
A data transmission system comprising:
- means for receiving requests to virtually allocate communication paths;
- means for storing descriptions of requested communication paths;
- and
- means for using the stored descriptions to create the requested communication paths only when data is actually available for transmission.
A data transmission system comprising:
- means for receiving requests to establish communication paths;
- means for storing descriptions of requested communication paths comprising a plurality of asynchronous links;
- and
- means for activating particular ones of the plurality of links only when data is actually available at the particular ones for transmission.
A system for providing data communication between a plurality of digital devices comprising:
- means for receiving requests for the use of communication paths from each one of said plurality of digital devices;
- means for virtually allocating communication paths in response to said requests and prior to actual use of said paths;
- and
- means for actually connecting said virtually allocated communication paths at the time data is actually transmitted.
A digital data transmission system comprising:
- a first switching unit;
- a first digital device attached to said first switching unit;
- a second switching unit connected to said first switching unit;
- a second digital device attached to said second switching unit;
- means for virtually allocating a first transmission path between said first digital device and said first switching unit;
- means for virtually allocating a second transmission path between said first switching unit and said second switching unit;
- means for virtually allocating a third transmission path between said second switching unit and said second digital device;
- and
- means for selectively activating each of said first, second, and third virtually allocated transmission paths.
A system for transmitting data between digital devices comprising:
- a plurality of interconnected program-controlled switching units;
- at least one program-controlled terminal interface unit attached to each one of said plurality of interconnected program-controlled switching units for communication therewith by a digital device.
The method of transmitting data comprising the steps of:
- receiving requests for the use of transmission resources from transmitting devices;
- storing descriptions of the transmission resources necessary to honor the received requests;
- committing transmission resources to particular transmitting devices in accordance with the stored descriptions only at the time data is actually transmitted.
The method of transmitting data in data calls comprised of randomly occurring bursts of data with intervening pauses, comprising the steps of:
- receiving requests for the use of transmission resources from transmitting devices;
- storing a description of the transmission resources necessary to honor each received request;
- and
- committing transmission resources to particular transmitting devices in accordance with the stored descriptions only at a time when it is determined that a data burst is actually transmitted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.