Abstract: A communication system includes a plurality of devices, such as cable modems, in communication with a station, such as a cable modem termination system, that provides efficient upstream bandwidth sharing.

Abstract: A communication system includes a plurality of devices, such as cable modems, in communication with a station, such as a cable modem termination system, that provides efficient upstream bandwidth sharing.

Abstract: A terminal adapter for guaranteeing the quality of service of both voice and data packets is disclosed. When a data packet is received in a first data input queue of a terminal adapter, a determination is made whether a voice packet is present in a voice input queue. Another determination is made as to whether the sum of the size of the data packet and the size of all packets in a terminal adapter output queue would exceed a first size threshold established for the output queue. If voice packets are present in the voice input queue, or if the aforementioned sum exceeds the size threshold, the data packet is not forwarded to the output queue. If no voice packets are present in the voice input queue and if the aforementioned sum is below the first size threshold, then the data packet is forwarded to the output queue.

Abstract: A method includes obtaining first information indicative of instability of a data communication network. The method also includes isolating a first portion of a network from a second portion of the network responsive to the obtained first information. After a predetermined period of time, second information indicative of instability of the first portion is obtained. The method further includes isolating a first segment of the first portion from a second segment of the first portion responsive to the obtained second information.

Abstract: A terminal adapter for guaranteeing the quality of service of both voice and data packets is disclosed. When a data packet is received in a first data input queue of a terminal adapter, a determination is made whether a voice packet is present in a voice input queue. Another determination is made as to whether the sum of the size of the data packet and the size of all packets in a terminal adapter output queue would exceed a first size threshold established for the output queue. If voice packets are present in the voice input queue, or if the aforementioned sum exceeds the size threshold, the data packet is not forwarded to the output queue. If no voice packets are present in the voice input queue and if the aforementioned sum is below the first size threshold, then the data packet is forwarded to the output queue.

Abstract: A terminal adapter for guaranteeing the quality of service of both voice and data packets is disclosed. When a data packet is received in a first data input queue of a terminal adapter, a determination is made whether a voice packet is present in a voice input queue. Another determination is made as to whether the sum of the size of the data packet and the size of all packets in a terminal adapter output queue would exceed a first size threshold established for the output queue. If voice packets are present in the voice input queue, or if the aforementioned sum exceeds the size threshold, the data packet is not forwarded to the output queue. If no voice packets are present in the voice input queue and if the aforementioned sum is below the first size threshold, then the data packet is forwarded to the output queue.

Abstract: A node in a network running a link-state routing protocol identifies certain routing control messages and stores the identified messages in separate queues. The queues are weighted such that each message type is allotted a predetermined amount of processing overhead to optimize the message processing by a node. In one embodiment, the node processor processes the queued messages in accordance with the entries in a weighted round robin polling table. An upper limit of processing time can be specified for each visit to a particular message queue.

Abstract: A terminal adapter for guaranteeing the quality of service of both voice and data packets is disclosed. Such quality is ensured by inserting gaps between successive data packets in a stream of multiplexed data and/or voice packets. A gap after a particular data packet is proportional to the size of that particular data packet. In this way, bandwidth is preserved for any voice packets that may have arrived during the transfer of the data packet as well as for any voice packets that arrive during the gap. The unconstrained upstream data bandwidth and the bandwidth used by voice calls may each be estimated by taking a plurality of instantaneous measurements of the available bandwidth and/or taking individual direct measurements. The size of data packets may be limited to a maximum size in order to ensure that time-sensitive voice packets experience only an acceptable delay in queue for transmission.

Abstract: A method of monitoring a network that includes a number of nodes interconnected by trunks has a step of obtaining processor usage data pertaining to a plurality of node processors, the processor usage data including information representative of a rate of usage of each of the plurality of node processors. The method also includes obtaining memory usage data pertaining to a plurality of memories, each of the plurality of memories associated with a node processor, the memory usage data including information representative of a rate of usage of each of the plurality of memories. The method further includes determining from the memory usage data and the processor usage data whether a network congestion event is occurring.

Abstract: A method of monitoring a network that includes a number of nodes interconnected by trunks has a step of obtaining processor usage data pertaining to a plurality of node processors, the processor usage data including information representative of a rate of usage of each of the plurality of node processors. The method also includes obtaining memory usage data pertaining to a plurality of memories, each of the plurality of memories associated with a node processor, the memory usage data including information representative of a rate of usage of each of the plurality of memories. The method further includes determining from the memory usage data and the processor usage data whether a network congestion event is occurring.

Abstract: A method includes obtaining first information indicative of instability of a data communication network. The method also includes isolating a first portion of a network from a second portion of the network responsive to the obtained first information. After a predetermined period of time, second information indicative of instability of the first portion is obtained. The method further includes isolating a first segment of the first portion from a second segment of the first portion responsive to the obtained second information.

Abstract: A communication system includes a plurality of devices, such as cable modems, in communication with a station, such as a cable modem termination system, that provides efficient upstream bandwidth sharing.

Abstract: A node in a network running a link-state routing protocol identifies certain routing control messages and stores the identified messages in separate queues. The queues are weighted such that each message type is allotted a predetermined amount of processing overhead to optimize the message processing by a node. In one embodiment, the node processor processes the queued messages in accordance with the entries in a weighted round robin polling table. An upper limit of processing time can be specified for each visit to a particular message queue.

Abstract: A network utilizing a link-state protocol includes a plurality of nodes with associated trunks that recover in a staggered manner. A first trunk associated with a first node is selected for recovery. After the first trunk is recovered, further trunks are selected such that N or less trunks recover at the same time until all trunks associated with the first node are selected for recovery. Node recovery is staggered at selected intervals to minimize or eliminate overload conditions. Staggered recovery in accordance with the present invention can reduce the likelihood of trunk loss due to excessive HELLO messages in an OSPF system and retransmission and retransmission lockout.

Abstract: Parallel connection control ("PCC") processes and switching networks are described. Various aspects of these PCC processes and networks relate to the provision of an alternative switching connection setup to achieve bandwidth savings or lower cost networks with acceptable setup delay. The new approach provides an alternative to existing switch-by-switch sequential connection setup approaches. In the new approach, segments of the connection are set up by executing operations in parallel. The algorithm and network are also extended to address complex control connection tasks, such as the complex bearer control tasks of third-party connection control, unidirectional multicast connection setup, and multiparty-to-multiparty connection control.

Abstract: Techniques for (a) controlling admission of customers to a shared resource, (b) adjusting the capacity of a resource in light of new customer demand, and (c) diverting usage from a failed resource to alternative resources, each use a "blocking probability computer" (BPC) to solve a resource-sharing model that has a product-form steady-state distribution. The techniques allow each customer to obtain an appropriate grade of service and protection against overloads from other customers. Each customer is a source of a series of requests, and is assigned "upper-limit" (UL) and "guaranteed-minimum" (GM) "bounds" on its requests. The upper limit bound puts an upper limit on the number of requests from that customer that can be in service at any time. The guaranteed-minimum bound guarantees that there will always be available resource units in the resources to serve a specified number of requests from that customer.