Abstract: A network node, configured for interfacing between a source network having a source telephony protocol and a packet network configured for sending and receiving data according to Internet Protocol, is configured for generating an IP based transport message for transport of normalized information describing a signaling message received from the source network according to the source telephony protocol. The network node is configured for generating a generic transparency descriptor having generic attributes for describing the signaling message. The generic attributes include a protocol name that specifies the source telephony protocol relative to a prescribed set of source telephony protocol types, and a message identifier that specifies the message type according to the source telephony protocol. Optional attributes specifying respective parameters based on the particular signaling message also may be generated.

Abstract: An inpage buffer is used between a cache and slower storage device. When a processor requests data, the cache is checked to see if the data is already in the cache. If not, a request for the data is sent to the slower storage device. The buffer receives the data from the slower storage device and provides the data to the processor that requested the data. The buffer then provides the data to the cache for storage provided that the cache is not working on a separate storage request from the processor. The data will be written into the cache from the buffer when the cache is free from such requests. The buffer is also able to provide data corresponding to subsequent requests provided it contains such data. This may happen if a request for the same data occurs, and the buffer has not yet written the data into the cache. It can also occur if the areas of the cache which can hold data from an area of the slower storage is inoperable for some reason.