IMA Filler Cell Distribution on Inactive Sub-Links
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Solution Overview
Problem
In Inverse Multiplexing over ATM (IMA) systems with a large number of inactive sub-links, the performance of the line card is severely degraded due to the additional delay and processing resources required to handle inactive sub-links, especially in scaled systems.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for transmitting filler cells on inactive sub-links, where a sub-link ID counter is used to select and identify inactive sub-links, and filler cells are sent in parallel to all inactive sub-links, reducing delays and processing overhead by using a network processor and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to manage and transmit these cells.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a round-robin approach is used to find active sub-links among many inactive sub-links, then all sub-links are checked systematically, but the delay and processing resources increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains a pre-computed list of inactive sub-links that is updated periodically. When transmitting data, the system skips directly to the next active sub-link using this pre-prepared information, avoiding the need to check all sub-links in real-time. This preliminary preparation of inactive sub-link lists enables fast forwarding to active sub-links without systematic checking of all sub-links during transmission.
2Stability of the object's composition
If filler cells are transmitted on each inactive sub-link individually, then synchronization is maintained, but the processing overhead increases with the number of inactive sub-links
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple filler cell transmissions into a single batch operation. Instead of processing each inactive sub-link separately, the system collects all inactive sub-link identifiers and transmits filler cells to all of them in one consolidated operation. This merging of individual filler cell transmissions into a batch process significantly reduces processing overhead while maintaining synchronization across all sub-links.
3Reliability
If the system checks all sub-links to find active ones, then no active sub-link is missed, but the performance degrades when most sub-links are inactive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and separates inactive sub-links from the complete sub-link set by maintaining a dedicated list of inactive sub-link identifiers. This extraction allows the system to work with a reduced set of only active sub-links during data transmission, eliminating the need to check or process inactive sub-links unless filler cell transmission is required. This separation significantly improves performance by reducing the search space from all sub-links to only active ones.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention is directed to a method and system for efficiently distributing Inverse Multiplexing over ATM (IMA) filler cells on IMA logical links having inactive or unusable IMA sub-links. Inactive IMA sub-links are identified during round-robin distribution of ATM data cells to active IMA sub-links. Predefined IMA filler cells are transmitted simultaneously on the identified inactive IMA sub-links when an ATM data cell is transmitted on an active IMA sub-link, thereby reducing the delay between transmitting ATM data cells.