Abstract: A communication system capable of communicating control information without decreasing the bandwidth available to users. A coder encodes a primary signal to generate encoded data such that the polarity of the encoded data alternates between positive and negative polarities. A polarity-reversed data generator reverses the polarity of part of the encoded data to generate polarity-reversed data. A transmitter transmits, as communication data, the encoded data including the polarity-reversed data. A receiver receives the communication data, and a polarity-reversed data detector determines whether or not the polarity of the received communication data alternates between positive and negative polarities, and detects, as the polarity-reversed data, data of which the polarity differs from an expected polarity. A polarity recognizer recognizes the polarity of the polarity-reversed data and treats the recognized polarity as control information.

Abstract: A communication system capable of communicating control information without decreasing the bandwidth available to users. A coder encodes a primary signal to generate encoded data such that the polarity of the encoded data alternates between positive and negative polarities. A polarity-reversed data generator reverses the polarity of part of the encoded data to generate polarity-reversed data. A transmitter transmits, as communication data, the encoded data including the polarity-reversed data. A receiver receives the communication data, and a polarity-reversed data detector determines whether or not the polarity of the received communication data alternates between positive and negative polarities, and detects, as the polarity-reversed data, data of which the polarity differs from an expected polarity. A polarity recognizer recognizes the polarity of the polarity-reversed data and treats the recognized polarity as control information.

Abstract: Data arriving from a plurality of channels asynchronously to each other are respectively stored in separate FIFOs (10). A controller (12) monitors the status of the FIFOs (10), retrieves the stored data in a predetermined order, and multiplexes the data, together with timing data indicating the presence or absence of the data, into a serial signal having a frame structure in which time slots are fixedly assigned to the respective channels. On the serial data, the same value appears successively as data, and when the data is valid, the corresponding timing data changes from a 0 to a 1. When the data is invalid, the value of the corresponding timing data does not change.

Abstract: A ring configuring method configures a network in which a plurality of nodes are connected linearly, and performs topology construction for the ring by circulating topology data through the respective nodes and collecting connection information of the respective nodes. The method includes the steps of providing in the topology data a flag indicating whether the connection information is collected in each node; inverting the flag at a terminal station which is an end node of the open ring, and turning the topology data there; causing the topology data to passing through a node other than any terminal station as it is; and adding the connection information to the topology data in each node according to the flag, and performing topology construction.

Abstract: A packet switch able to balance (disperse) a packet traffic load of a network provided with at least a plurality of routing tables allotted with information of different outgoing ports for at least one destination address (DA); a table selecting unit for selecting any of the plurality of routing tables in accordance with a combination of at least a sender address (SA) and the destination address (DA) of an incoming packet; and a switch unit for sending the incoming packet to the outgoing port allotted to the destination address (DA) in the selected routing table.

Abstract: Data arriving from a plurality of channels asynchronously to each other are respectively stored in separate FIFOs (10). A controller (12) monitors the status of the FIFOs (10), retrieves the stored data in a predetermined order, and multiplexes the data, together with timing data indicating the presence or absence of the data, into a serial signal having a frame structure in which time slots are fixedly assigned to the respective channels. On the serial data, the same value appears successively as data, and when the data is valid, the corresponding timing data changes from a 0 to a 1. When the data is invalid, the value of the corresponding timing data does not change.

Abstract: A ring configuring method configures a network in which a plurality of nodes are connected linearly, and performs topology construction for the ring by circulating topology data through the respective nodes and collecting connection information of the respective nodes. The method includes the steps of providing in the topology data a flag indicating whether the connection information is collected in each node; inverting the flag at a terminal station which is an end node of the open ring, and turning the topology data there; causing the topology data to passing through a node other than any terminal station as it is; and adding the connection information to the topology data in each node according to the flag, and performing topology construction.