Abstract: Local area network operating in the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) comprising a plurality of stations which are coupled each via a network interface, which interface comprises a coupling device and a control arrangement and transmits cells via the coupling device between send and receive ring lines, to at least one station and at least one control arrangement. A control arrangement comprises an access controller which is arranged for conveying, in dependence on the contents of the header field of a cell received from the coupling device, the cell or first parts of the cell and/or additional information to a bus system and units coupled to the bus system.

Abstract: A system for digital conferencing over narrowband channels which allows use by multiple simultaneous speakers and which allow for interfacing between vocoders which operate at different bit rates. The system takes advantage of the properties of multi-rate parametric vocoders (which includes the Sinusoidal Transform Coder and the Multi-Band Excitation Vocoder, as well as embedded coders), defined as parametric vocoders for whom the basic model and parameter set remain unchanged over a wide range of bit-rates. The system performs signal summation. To maintain quality for a single speaker while allowing multiple speakers, the system adaptively allocates channel bandwidth based on the number of speakers to be represented. This system also provides digital-to-digital conversion between narrow-band digitizers (vocoders) operating at different bit-rates.

Abstract: A chaos router system for routing messages between connected nodes in a multicomputer or multiprocessor system is disclosed. In such a system, a message may be routed between nodes along a preferred channel so that it is closer to its destination or derouted between nodes along a random channel so that it is further from its destination. The chaos router system explicitly randomizes message selection during derouting. In an asynchronous multicomputer system, the router system keeps the overall system chaotic. In this manner, the system is probabilistically livelock free.

Abstract: A star local-area network system comprises a plurality of data stations and a central switching unit for switching the connection between the data stations.