Abstract: An ISDN gateway (GW) for personal computers (H) comprises at least one circuit board resident in each computer for carrying out protocol conversion and other network interface functions. To improve bandwidth of the ISDN line while transferring voice or data, a B-channel allocation algorithm executed by the gateway (GW) and the ISDN line dynamically allocates bandwidth by monitoring traffic at each destination queue and responsively allocating or deallocating virtual B-channels. Bandwidth utilization is optimized by packaging data packets into trains that are transmitted to the destination when the train is completed and upon satisfaction of other conditions. Each train undergoes data compression by execution of suitable compression algorithm.

Abstract: An ISDN gateway for local area networks comprises at least one circuit board resident at each network for carrying out protocol conversion and other network interface functions. Two embodiments of the gateway provide bridger and router gateway services, respectively. To improve bandwidth utilization of the ISDN line while transferring voice or data, a B-channel allocation algorithm executed by the gateway and the ISDN line dynamically allocates bandwidth by monitoring traffic at each destination queue and responsively allocating or deallocating virtual B-channels. Bandwidth utilization is optimized by packaging data packets into trains that are transmitted to the destination when the train is completed and upon satisfaction of other conditions. Each train undergoes data compression by execution of a suitable compression algorithm.