79results about "Hybrid switching fabrics" patented technology

A system for routing telephone calls from a calling party instrument to a called party instrument and involving at least one internet protocol network includes: (a) a first internet protocol interface apparatus effecting a first communicative coupling between the calling party instrument and the at least one internet protocol network; (b) a second internet protocol interface apparatus effecting routing telephone calls according to routing criteria to establish a second communicative coupling between the at least one internet protocol network and the called party instrument; and (c) a call routing system apparatus coupled with the second internet protocol interface apparatus and storing information relating to a geographical or geospatial relationship of calling party instruments and called party instruments. The second internet protocol interface apparatus and the call routing system apparatus cooperate to establish the routing criteria.

An apparatus and method for switching VOIP packets in a data network, wherein the method includes the steps of receiving a first packet in a network switch and determining if the first packet is a VOIP packet. Further, method includes determining a dynamically negotiated VOIP port for a VOIP session from at least one of the first packet and a second packet received in the network switch, if the first packet is determined to be the VOIP packet. Finally, the method includes the steps of classifying all subsequent VOIP packets corresponding to the dynamically negotiated VOIP port in accordance with predetermined parameters. The apparatus includes a network switch having at least one data port interface controller supporting a plurality of data ports for transmitting and receiving data, and a fast filtering processor in communication with the at least one data port interface. At least one filtering table in communication with the fast filtering processor is provided, wherein the fast filtering processor is configured to snoop packets being transmitted through the network switch to trap a VOIP call setup message, and thereafter, determine a dynamically negotiated VOIP port so that all subsequent VOIP packets can be filtered and assigned an appropriate priority.

To more fully utilize the available bandwidth of a network link, network nodes in accordance with the present invention allow TDM data to be combined with packet data. A Packet / TDM cross connect switch, having both a TDM switch and a packet switch, is used in these embodiments. Data packets are transformed into TDM packet columns. The TDM packet columns are combined with standard TDM data columns in the payload of a TDM data frame. Data packets may be sorted based on a priority scheme, in which high priority data packets are given precedence over lower priority data. However, both high priority and low priority may be combined in a TDM packet column.

A method and apparatus for transmitting variable length messages on a network in fixed length slots including the provision of a source identifier field in the header of each slot, the source identifier field including a code which is uniquely associated with the message to be transmitted. The fixed length slots are then transmitted on the network and reassembly of the slots by a reassembly machine is controlled in accordance with the identifier codes in the slot.

A switch switches time division multiplexed (TDM) data and packet data from input ports to output ports. The swich comprises: a plurality of input ports receiving data, wherein each data comprises either TDM data or packet data; a plurality of output ports transmitting switched data; and a shared memory coupling the input ports to the output ports. The shared memory sequentially receives the data from the input ports, and switches a sequentially received data from a respective input port to a respective output port. Switching of packet data by the shared memory has no latency or jitter effect on switching of TDM data by the shared memory.

A communication method for transmitting Ethernet messages in a distributed real-time system in which a plurality of network node computers, e.g. four network node computers (111, 112, 113, 114), each comprising at least one communication controller (121, 122, 123, 124), are linked via a communication system comprising one or more communication channels (109), one or more intelligent star couplers (101, 102) being disposed in each communication channel. According to the invention, a distinction is made between conventional Ethernet messages (ET messages) and time-triggered Ethernet messages (TT messages), the TT messages being transported with an a priori known constant delay time (Δ) between transmitter and receiver, and, when there is a time conflict between ET and TT messages, the transport of the ET message that is in conflict being delayed or aborted in order to be able to transport the TT message with the constant delay time (Δ). Furthermore, the invention relates to a corresponding communication system and a star coupler for such a communication system.

An apparatus and method for switching VOIP packets in a data network, wherein the method includes the steps of receiving a first packet in a network switch and determining if the first packet is a VOIP packet. Further, method includes determining a dynamically negotiated VOIP port for a VOIP session from at least one of the first packet and a second packet received in the network switch, if the first packet is determined to be the VOIP packet. Finally, the method includes the steps of classifying all subsequent VOIP packets corresponding to the dynamically negotiated VOIP port in accordance with predetermined parameters. The apparatus includes a network switch having at least one data port interface controller supporting a plurality of data ports for transmitting and receiving data, and a fast filtering processor in communication with the at least one data port interface. At least one filtering table in communication with the fast filtering processor is provided, wherein the fast filtering processor is configured to snoop packets being transmitted through the network switch to trap a VOIP call setup message, and thereafter, determine a dynamically negotiated VOIP port so that all subsequent VOIP packets can be filtered and assigned an appropriate priority.

A network switch having an internet port interface controller, includes a high performance interface for communicating with other switches and components through the transfer of data packets contained in memory. The high performance interface includes a data connection bus, where data is transferred on both a rising edge and a falling edge of a clock signal, and the data connection bus has output drivers and a multiplexing circuit connected to the output drivers. The multiplexing circuit is constructed through two levels of glitchless multiplexors, to serialize said data transmitted over said high performance interface. Because two levels of glitchless multiplexors are employed, function hazards that occur in the glitchless multiplexors when more than one input thereto change simultaneously can be masked, and do not create noise that can be propagated to an output driver.

To more fully utilize the available bandwidth of a network link, network nodes in accordance with the present invention allow TDM data to be combined with packet data. A Packet / TDM cross connect switch, having both a TDM switch and a packet switch, is used in these embodiments. Data packets are transformed into TDM packet columns. The TDM packet columns are combined with standard TDM data columns in the payload of a TDM data frame. Data packets may be sorted based on a priority scheme, in which high priority data packets are given precedence over lower priority data. However, both high priority and low priority may be combined in a TDM packet column

A hybrid central office for serving a plurality of subscriber lines while serving as a virtual access tandem to a subnetwork of central offices having a connection to an ATM backbone network is described. The hybrid central office includes a computing module having a messaging interface to the ATM network, an inter-working trunk interface to the ATM network and a trunk connection to the PSTN. The hybrid central office serves as a tandem switch for other central offices connected to the subnetwork. Other central offices are preferably connected to the subnetwork by a signal large trunk group. All inter-office call routing is therefore handled by the hybrid central office. The hybrid central office also provides a gateway to the PSTN. Inter-office calls originated and terminated within the subnetwork are set up by the virtual access tandem but after call set up, the virtual access tandem is not involved in the call. The advantage is the utilization of spare processing capacity in a central office to off-load inter-office trunking congestion, as well as a significant reduction in trunking maintenance costs.

Techniques and mechanisms for performing circuit-switched routing and packet-switched routing for network communication. In an embodiment, a router evaluates control information of a packet received by the router, the evaluation to detect whether the packet includes data for a sideband communication. Based on the evaluation, the router performs a selection from among a plurality of modes of the router, the plurality of modes including a first mode to route the packet for packet-switched communication of sideband data in a network. The plurality of modes also includes a second mode to configure a circuit-switched channel according to the packet. In another embodiment, the router determines a direction for routing a packet in a hierarchical network, wherein the determining of the direction is based on a level of the router in a hierarchy of the hierarchical network.

Growth of a distributed communication system is facilitated through dynamic addition of routing elements. A new routing element may be added to a network of routing elements by first establishing a connection between the new routing element and an existing routing element in the network. The connection may be either wireless or wireline. At least one address is assigned to the new routing element. Each assigned address comes from a pool of addresses maintained at the existing routing element. At least one pool of addresses is issued to the new routing element, permitting the new routing element to dynamically add yet another new routing element to the network of routing elements.

A PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet) network system and connection method thereof. The connection method includes the steps of: if a connection attempt is made, transmitting a PADI (PPPoE Active Discovery Initiation) packet to a plurality of servers by performing a discovery stage; after transmitting the PADI packet, deciding whether a packet being transmitted from a server is transmitted in a session packet in a PPP session stage or a PADO (PPPoE Active Discovery Offer) packet; and if the packet being transmitted from the server is the session packet, terminating connection between a client and an already-connected server by performing a discovery stage for terminating the connection, and then reestablishing the connection by performing a discovery stage for connection. Therefore, even though the connection between the client and the server is unproperly disconnected due to errors on the client side, the connection can be reestablished faster and more effectively.

Growth of a distributed communication system is facilitated through dynamic addition of routing elements. A new routing element may be added to a network of routing elements by first establishing a connection between the new routing element and an existing routing element in the network. The connection may be either wireless or wireline. At least one address is assigned to the new routing element. Each assigned address comes from a pool of addresses maintained at the existing routing element. At least one pool of addresses is issued to the new routing element, permitting the new routing element to dynamically add yet another new routing element to the network of routing elements.

A switching system for integratedly switching voice, data, image information and the like. The switching system comprises a plurality of front-end modules each adapted to perform a switching processing in association with a subscriber line or a trunk line, and a single or a plurality of central modules for interconnecting the plurality of front-end modules in star-type fashion and switching information prevailing between the front-end modules, in unit of block accommodating the information and a header added thereto to contain connection control information and in accordance with the contents of the header. The front-end modules are connected to the central module via inter-module highways each having frames occurring at a predetrmined period and time slots contained in each frame to carry blocks.

A network connection apparatus includes, a pair of line interface circuits which accommodates each transmission line provided to interface with the circuit-switched network, composes an active line and a standby line of the redundant configuration, and mutually converts data used in the circuit-switched network and a packet used in the packet-switched network; and a packet processing unit which interfaces with the packet-switched network and performs a sending and receiving process of the packet between the line interface circuit and the packet-switched network. The packet processing unit transmits the packet received only from the line interface circuit of the active line to the packet-switched network, and transmits the packet received from the packet-switched network to both of the line interface circuits of the active line and the standby line. The line interface circuit acquires the packet transmitted from the packet processing unit when a destination MAC address included in the packet coincides with a first MAC address which is given to own line interface circuit or a second MAC address which is given to the other line interface circuit of pair for the redundant configuration.

The present invention provides a way to associate multimedia clients with telephony devices and create multimedia sessions related to a voice connection between the telephony devices. The telephony devices may be part of a public network or an enterprise network associated with a PBX. Further, calls can be routed in part over packet-switched and circuit-switched networks.

A synchronous packet switch comprises output modules, input modules, optical connections and a switch control unit. The output modules comprise optical receivers each configured to receive optical signals at a different wavelength. The input modules receive electric signals carrying data cells to be routed. Each input module comprises optical transmitters, each configurable to generate an optical signal at a different wavelength, and routing apparatus comprising output ports. Each output module has at least one output port allocated to it. The routing apparatus is configurable to route a received optical signal to a selected output port. The optical connections are arranged to couple output ports to respective output modules. The switch control unit controls routing of the optical signals from the transmitters to the output modules and generates a routing control signal for configuring the routing apparatus to route an optical signal from a transmitter to a selected output port.

Systems and methods by which voice / data communications may occur in multiple modes / protocols are disclosed. In particular, systems and methods are provided for multiple native mode / protocol voice and data transmissions and receptions with a computing system having a multi-bus structure, including, for example, a TDM bus and a packet bus, and multi-protocol framing engines. Such systems preferably include subsystem functions such as PBX, voice mail and other telephony functions, LAN hub and data router or switch functions. In preferred embodiments, a TDM bus and a packet bus are intelligently bridged and managed, thereby enabling such multiple mode / protocol voice and data transmissions to be intelligently managed and controlled with a single, integrated system. In particular, systems and methods for generating required telephony voltages directly on station cards, rather than on the basis of a large, central ringing or other power supply that supply such telephony voltages to each of the station cards, are disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, a plurality of station cards are provided in the telephony or communications system. One or more DC power supplies provide a source of DC voltage, such as 12 volts, to each of the station cards. The station cards are coupled to a processor of the system. The station cards may support a plurality of analog and / or digital telephony devices, such as telephones facsimile, voice mail, recording, speakerphone, conferencing or other type telephony devices.

A method and a system for transmitting data over a switchable network, especially Ethernet, in the field of industrial installations, in which real-time critical data and non real-time critical data is transmitted. The switchable data network has at least one wireless transmission link between at least two users, especially a transmitter and a receiver. When a communication interface is created by way of a coupling unit of the data network between cyclically clocked communication connections differing in performance, the data is forwarded according to a “store and forward” method. The method and system enable a parallel transmission of real-time critical and non real-time critical data.

A method and a related router comprising a network interface, a logical addressing module and a forwarding element card. The logical addressing module is capable of maintaining at least one local table associating at least one card of the router with at least a portion of at least one service provided by the router. The forwarding element card is capable of receiving a packet stream on the network interface, detecting that the packet stream requires further treatment from a further card of the router and, upon detection, consulting the local table to find an identifier, to which the further card is linked, based on information found in the packet stream before forwarding the packet stream toward the further card.

An apparatus for storing packets. The apparatus includes a memory for holding packets. The apparatus includes a mechanism for storing at least two packets in the memory with only one packet boundary indicator associated with them. A method for storing packets. The method includes the steps of receiving packets at a memory. Then there is the step of storing with a memory controller at least two packets in the memory with only one packet boundary indicator associated with them.

A transmission system is provided which multiplexes and transmits synchronous data and asynchronous data, while maintaining the communication quality required of synchronous data and of asynchronous data respectively. A tag having information used to identify the data as synchronous data or as asynchronous data is added to both synchronous data and to asynchronous data. Tags added to each data item are extracted, and based on the information contained in the tag, each data item is identified as synchronous data or as asynchronous data, and synchronous data is transferred to a time-division switch, while asynchronous data is transferred to a packet switch.

Systems and methods by which voice / data communications may occur in multiple modes / protocols are disclosed. In particular, systems and methods are provided for multiple native mode / protocol voice and data transmissions and receptions with a computing system having a multi-bus structure, including, for example, a TDM bus and a packet bus, and multi-protocol framing engines. Such systems preferably include subsystem functions such as PBX, voice mail and other telephony functions, LAN hub and data router or switch functions. In preferred embodiments, a TDM bus and a packet bus are intelligently bridged and managed, thereby enabling such multiple mode / protocol voice and data transmissions to be intelligently managed and controlled with a single, integrated system. In particular, systems and methods for generating required telephony voltages directly on station cards, rather than on the basis of a large, central ringing or other power supply that supply such telephony voltages to each of the station cards, are disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, a plurality of station cards are provided in the telephony or communications system. One or more DC power supplies provide a source of DC voltage, such as 12 volts, to each of the station cards. The station cards are coupled to a processor of the system. The station cards may support a plurality of analog and / or digital telephony devices, such as telephones facsimile, voice mail, recording, speakerphone, conferencing or other type telephony devices.

A transcoder converts data between a telephony data format and a packet data format. The transcoder comprises: a digital logic telephony data engine receiving telephony data for the transcoder and transmitting telephony data for the transcoder, the digital logic telephony data engine comprising a frame accumulation buffer; a digital logic packet engine receiving packet data for the transcoder and transmitting packet data for the transcoder; a digital signal processing complex coupled to the digital logic telephony data engine and the digital logic packet engine, the digital signal processing complex comprising an array of digital signal processors; and a host processor coupled to the digital logic telephony data engine and the digital logic packet engine, wherein the digital logic telephony data engine, the digital logic packet engine, and the digital signal processing complex perform media channel processing, wherein the host processor performs control channel processing.

Provided is an OTN traffic management method of a traffic management apparatus included in an OTN line card that accepts OTN traffic and transmits the OTN traffic to a multilayer-integrated fabric switch; or accepts traffic, in units of cells, from the multilayer-integrated fabric switch and transmits, to a network, the OTN traffic that the OTN line card generates. The OTN traffic management method includes restoring a received Interlaken packet to an OTN frame; adding an ITMOH that contains information about an ODU payload size to the OTN frame; converting the OTN frame, to which the ITMOH has been added, into to fabric cell by further adding a fabric overhead; and transmitting the fabric cell to the multilayer-integrated fabric switch.

The invention provides a method for controlling a communication mechanism and a communication device thereof. The method of controlling a communication mechanism utilized to arbitrate transmissions of a first and a second wireless signals and a communication apparatus utilized the method are disclosed. The method includes determining a transmission quality indicator corresponding to one of the first wireless signal and the second wireless signal, and dynamically turning the communication mechanism on or off according to the transmission quality indicator. Therefore, the present invention is able to arbitrate transmissions of different wireless signals while decreasing the occurrence of transmission disconnection resulted from the arbitration.

Growth of a distributed communication system is facilitated through dynamic addition of routing elements. A new routing element may be added to a network of routing elements by first establishing a connection between the new routing element and an existing routing element in the network. The connection may be either wireless or wireline. At least one address is assigned to the new routing element. Each assigned address comes from a pool of addresses maintained at the existing routing element. At least one pool of addresses is issued to the new routing element, permitting the new routing element to dynamically add yet another new routing element to the network of routing elements.