Abstract: A technique is disclosed that attempts to improve the evaluation of a network path's signal quality, as well as the selection of a network path for transmission purposes, without some of the costs and disadvantages of doing so in the prior art. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, a node with access to the packet network, such as a VoIP telephone endpoint, evaluates the quality of service that is associated with each of multiple network paths. The evaluation process is iterative, in which the number of candidate paths is successively reduced from one iteration of the technique to the next. The multiple paths that remain as candidates in any given iteration are evaluated concurrently and at an evaluation bit rate that i) is less than the full transmission rate of the real-time traffic (VoIP) packets to be sent and ii) varies as a function of the number of candidate paths remaining under consideration.

Abstract: A technique that seeks to direct and re-direct streams of packets through a packet network without adversely affecting the quality of service of existing streams is disclosed. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention, streams of packets that are directed and re-directed through a packet network are initially put on probation. During the probation period, a quality-of-service measure for the stream is compared with a threshold whose value is initially high and decreases with time. This has the advantageous affect of noticing problems quickly so that they can be remediated quickly.

Abstract: A packet communication network is arranged so that a backpressure or feedback signal is sent from a receiving node to a node having packets to send to the receiving,node, selectively allowing only certain packets to be considered eligible for transmission. The backpressure is arranged to be lossless, and to avoid network deadlocks and livelocks. The transmission of a packet p from a sending node Xl to a receiving node Rl, via a link l, is controlled by (a) sending from the receiving node Rl to the upstream node Xl a feedback value fl that assures that there will be room in the buffer in the receiving node Rl to store packets subsequently received from the upstream node Xl; (b) assigning a priority level ?p to packets stored in the buffer of the receiving node Rl; and (c) transmitting from the sending node Xl to the receiving node Rl, only those stored packets at Xl whose priority level ?p exceeds the feedback value fl received from the receiving node Rl.

Abstract: Traffic on a connectionless (CL) network, such as IP packets, can be routed onto a connection a connection oriented (CO) network, such as an ATM telephony network, when it is advantageous to do so from a user or service provider viewpoint, without affecting the ability of users to continue to use existing applications. Routing is controlled by nodes called CL-CO gateways, with connectivity to both the CL network and the Co network. When CL traffic originating at a source reached these gateway nodes, a decision is made whether to continue carrying the information in the CL mode, or to redirect the traffic to a CO network.

Abstract: Real-time hardware primitives are added to packet switches to provide efficient support for inward multicasting. The lookup table used for routing is extended by adding additional opcode and operand fields into the routing table and by including ALU circuitry to process these fields and corresponding fields in the arriving cells. Memory word widths can be extended with minimal additional chip count and the ALU can be a small addition in a header processing VLSI, thereby giving only a modest increase in complexity. By including real-time processing in the switch it is possible to solve the ACK implosion problem associated with high-speed reliable multicasting transport protocols. By keeping the primitives as general as possible, other applications can benefit as well from these real-time primitives.

Abstract: A facility is provided for establishing a relatively low-speed path from a user desiring to access the well-known Internet and establishing a high-speed path from the Internet to the user so that the data speed accommodates both the user's requests and a response from an Internet web/host site. Moreover, a user may be mobile, in which case the low-speed path is a conventional wireless path. In most cases, a predetermined spectrum of frequencies, such as one or more television channels, is used as the high-speed path from Internet.

Abstract: A telecommunications system capable of transmitting an N byte packet over a common communications channel by: temporally dividing the common communications channel into time slots that have a duration equal to ##EQU1## seconds, where i is a natural number greater than one, C is a constant and R is the transmission rate of the common communications channel in bytes per second; splitting the N byte packet into i p-packets; preparing an M byte training sequence; and transmitting the M byte training sequence and the p-packets over the common communications channel in consecutive time slots.

Abstract: The present invention is a signaling and control architecture for establishing a connection between mobile users in a wireless ATM LAN. The ATM LAN includes a plurality of portable base station (PBS) switching nodes coupled together to enable communication between said nodes, wherein the nodes are configurable in an arbitrary topology to form an ad-hoc network. The present invention includes network management techniques for configuration of data tables used for connection control. Mobility management techniques are disclosed to handle mobile sign-ons and idle handoffs, locate mobile users during connection and setup and perform handoffs when a mobile is actively involved in a connection. Connection control procedures are also included for setting up and releasing connections on demand.

Abstract: A system and method for routing ATM cells in a wireless ATM local area network (LAN) that use portable base station (PBS) switching nodes. Routing of cells to and from mobile users within the network is accomplished utilizing a novel routing scheme which preserves cell sequence. Each user transmitting data to another user is associated with a Source Home Station or node and each user receiving data is associated with a Destination Home Station or node. When a connection is established in the network between a first mobile user and a second mobile user, the ATM cells are routed along a fixed path from the first mobile user to the associated Source Home Station and along a fixed path between the Source Home Station to the Destination Home Station and then along a fixed path from the Destination Home Station to the second destination user. In this way cell sequence is maintain by utilizing the Source Home to Destination Home path.

Abstract: An access method allows an end-user device (mobile or stationary) a) to place stand-alone requests for access to a communications network for transmission thereto of one or more information packets arriving at an empty buffer of the end user-device, and b) to piggyback the requests with packet transmissions for subsequent information packets arriving at a non-empty buffer of the end-user device.

Abstract: A bandwidth allocation system allows packets or cells within traffic flows from different sources contending for access to a shared processing fabric to get access to that fabric in an order that is determined primarily on individual guaranteed bandwidth requirements associated with each traffic flow, and secondarily on overall system criteria, such as a time of arrival, or due date of packets or cells within traffic flows.