Abstract: An apparatus for communicating packetized data over a communications link using a channel bank having a time division multiplexing addressing scheme, the communications link having a predetermined format for data transmitted over the communications link including a framing bit and a frame period defined by the framing bit, is provided wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of channel units for generating packetized data, each piece of packetized data having a packet period corresponding to a sufficient amount of time to communicate the packetized data over the communications link, a system for allocating the communication link to a channel unit that is currently sending data over the communications link for the packet period, a system for skipping the framing bit when communicating said packetized data if the framing bit occurs during the packet period, a system for determining a next sender of packetized data over the communications link, the determining system being distributed over the plurality of ch

Abstract: An apparatus for communicating packetized data over a communications link using a channel bank having a time division multiplexing addressing scheme, the communications link having a predetermined format for data transmitted over the communications link including a framing bit and a frame period defined by the framing bit, is provided wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of channel units for generating packetized data, each piece of packetized data having a packet period corresponding to a sufficient amount of time to communicate the packetized data over the communications link, a system for allocating the communication link to a channel unit that is currently sending data over the communications link for the packet period, a system for skipping the framing bit when communicating said packetized data if the framing bit occurs during the packet period, a system for determining a next sender of packetized data over the communications link, the determining system being distributed over the plurality of ch

Abstract: A priority scheme is based on an amount of preallocated bandwidth unused by channel unit ports. A first water level in a first bucket is associated with an amount of allotted bandwidth unused by the channel unit and a second water level in a second bucket is associated with an amount of unused allotted bandwidth exceeding an overflow level of the first bucket. A priority value is derived from the first water level when the first water level is above zero. The priority value is derived from the second water level when the first water level is below or equal to zero. In another aspect of the invention, the high priority value is determined by tracking a percentage utilization of allocated bandwidth for a predetermined number of time increments comprising a measurement time period.

Abstract: A technique for distributed queuing in communication systems such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) type access nodes which multiplexes data from multiple user nodes for transmission onto a trunk into the core of the network. A contention resolution mechanism for controlling user node access to the trunk is employed which uses the age of a queued cell as a contention resolution mechanism. The age information may be combined with other information such as priority or index number to further resolve access contention. The system permits implementation of first-in and first-out cell queue buffers that can efficiently support various traffic types such as voice, transaction processing, or aggregated traffic streams in which the order in which cells are processed should be maintained. The system is equally adaptable to situations in which each cell should have equal priority, rather than having priority assigned to particular ports.

Abstract: A priority scheme is based on an amount of preallocated bandwidth unused by channel unit ports. A first water level in a first bucket is associated with an amount of allotted bandwidth unused by the channel unit and a second water level in a second bucket is associated with an amount of unused allotted bandwidth exceeding an overflow level of the first bucket. A priority value is derived from the first water level when the first water level is above zero. The priority value is derived from the second water level when the first water level is below or equal to zero. In another aspect of the invention, the high priority value is determined by tracking a percentage utilization of allocated bandwidth for a predetermined number of time increments comprising a measurement time period.

Abstract: A method for communicating packetized data over a communications link having a predetermined format including a framing using a channel bank having a time division multiplexing addressing scheme is disclosed in which a plurality of channel units may generate packetized data and the communications link may be allocated to a channel unit that is currently sending data over the communications link. The next sender of packetized data over the communications link may be determined by a system distributed over the plurality of channel units so that each channel unit independently determines whether it is the next sender. The communications link may be allocated to the channel unit that is the next sender of packetized data after the current sender of packetized data so that the time division multiplexing addressing scheme of the channel bank is ignored and the channel bank communicates packetized data. An apparatus for communicating packetized data over a channel bank is also disclosed.