International Business Machines Corporation

Cisco Technology, Inc.

Stmicroelectronics International N.v.

St-ericsson Sa

Daniel Orsatti

Fabrice Jean Verplanken

Jean L Calvignac

Ange Aznar

Dominique Rigal

Claude Basso

Gilles Toubol

Jean-Claude Zunino

Bruno Rousseau

Jean Louis Calvignac

Jose Iruela

Jean-Luc Frenoy

Robert A Sultan

Mathieu Michel Girard

Gerard Barucchi

Andre G Tracol

Luc Torres

Richard Harold Boivie

Jean-Paul Aldebert

Roland Van Der Tuijn

Douglas H Dykeman

Steven Terryn

Pierre J Huon

Pablo Ignacio Gimeno Monge

Constantin Socol

Michel Susini

Jean Claude Zunino

Jose Iruella

Onno Marcel Kuijken

Jose Galcera

Eric Saint Georges

Francois Nicolas

Paul Chemla

Jeane-Paul Aldebert

A NFC tag includes an NFC controller, with a secure element coupled to the NFC controller. The secure element is to send first configuration data to the NFC controller and not second configuration data. The first configuration data comprises data to be used by the NFC controller to generate responses to initial polling and anti-collision commands from an external NFC device and not data to be used by the NFC controller in processing a command from the external NFC device involving the use of an upper layer protocol. The second configuration data comprises data to be used by the NFC controller in processing a command involving the use of an upper layer protocol from the external NFC device.

NFC device configuration after device power up

A process for performing Near Field Communication (NFC) between a first NFC device and a second NFC device is provided. The first NFC device includes an NFC transceiver and an FM receiver which are both integrated into the same chip. The provided process involves initializing the first NFC device to perform a device detection polling loop for detecting a second NFC device. The device detection polling loop has activity detection periods, which occur periodically. The first NFC transceiver may then perform a slicing procedure, which slices the activity detection periods into small time slots. Each time slot has a duration smaller than a predetermined value so as to reduce the noise generated by harmonics of the NFC operation frequency which might be audible to the user.

Process for performing near field communication (NFC) in an integrated circuit or package also including a FM receiver

In an ATM cell-relay network usually comprising several switching nodes a method enabling remote surveillance of any entry port to any switching node of the network. The method first assumes that a path is set up from the entry port to a remote observation point. Then, all cells of the incoming traffic, entering entry port to be watched, are duplicated and marked. After which they are transported, unaltered, following the path, up to the observation point. The invention permits that any entry port of an ATM network, that may well span over large geographic areas, be conveniently observable and analyzed transparently i.e., without disturbing users traffic, from a remote location so as network can be maintained and run trouble free.

System and method for enabling remote surveillance of ATM network switching node ports

Method and system of transmitting a loopback cell of a connection established between a source ATM device and a destination ATM device of an ATM network, with the loopback cell being returned to one of the switching nodes located on the route used by the connection, and entering the switching node by a port of an adapter and going out of the switching node by the same port of the same adapter instead of another connected adapter used by normal cells of the connection. The method contain the steps of detecting in another connected adapter whether the incoming cell includes a loopback condition, and if so, appending to the incoming cell a specific routing label indicating that the incoming cell is a loopback cell to be returned on the connection so that the specific routing label is used by the protocol engine of another connected adapter for transferring said loopback cell to an input port of another connected adapter whereby the loopback cell is transmitted over the ATM network from the port of the first adapter.

Method and system of transmitting loopback cells through a switching node of an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network

A method for shaping network traffic in a computer network is described for packet data networks. The method includes one or more packet queues for traffic having a plurality of different desired packet transfer rates, each queue being assigned to a connection having a predetermined desired packet transfer rate. Each incoming data packet is directed to the appropriate queue. Each of a plurality of timing circuits operate at a different frequency in a series of frequencies. The frequencies are selected so that the desired packet transfer rate for a connection can be established by summing outputs from more than one of the timing circuits.

Network traffic shaping

A method and system for transmitting a loopback cell within an ATM connection. The method comprises the steps of detecting in an input adapter whether or not an incoming ATM cell includes a loopback condition indicator. If so, specific routing labels are appended to the incoming ATM cell indicating that the incoming cell is a loopback cell to be looped back on the connection such that the switch engine of the switching node transfers the loopback cell to the same port of the input adapter utilizing the appended routing labels.

Method for transmitting loopback cells through a switching node of an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network

A method and system for injecting/extracting a control cell into/from a data connection transmitted from a source switching node to a destination switching node of an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network. The injecting method consists in adding to the ATM cell a switch routing label (SRL) and a protocol engine correlator (PEC) by the control point of the injection switching node before injecting the cell into the connection. The extracting method consists in setting a control flag in the control block of the incoming cell if this cell includes an extraction condition indicating that it is a control cell to be extracted, and adding to the control cell a switch routing label corresponding to the control point (CP SRL) and a reserved static protocol engine correlator (SPEC).

Method of injecting/extracting control cells in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network

A system and method for merging multiple connections that share a same class of service into a single virtual circuit (VC) in an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network. A queuing apparatus includes multiple connection queues for each of the connections, and further includes a scheduled queue corresponding to a particular class of service, wherein contents of the connection queues are transferred into the scheduled queue before being transmitted on the VC. A reassembly queue control block (RQCB) defines a chain of buffer control blocks for the connection queues. Each buffer control block corresponds to a cell belonging to a packet of a particular connection and includes a next buffer address and a lock bit. The chain of buffer control blocks is transferred to a scheduled queue control block (SQCB) in response the lock bit indicating a last packet cell.

Enqueuing apparatus for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) virtual circuit merging

A system and method for freezing a processing unit to facilitate on-line debugging of a protocol engine within a switching node of a data transmission network. In accordance with the system of the present invention, the protocol engine includes a plurality of processing units such as an identification unit, a lookup unit, a traffic management and congestion unit, an enqueue unit, a dequeue unit, a traffic management scheduling unit, a frame transmission unit, a control unit, and a control block unit. The control block unit includes a freeze register containing multiple freeze bits, wherein each freeze bit is associated with one processing unit. In response to setting a freeze bit, resources and settings of a processing unit associated with the set freeze bit are prevented from being changed by the processing unit.

On-line debugging system in a switching node of a data transmission network

A method and system for enforcing a transmission control parameter for a virtual connection comprising multiple cells within an input port. The virtual connection has a nominal inter-cell arrival rate increment. Each of the cells are associated with a theoretical arrival time and an early arrival limit, wherein a difference of the early arrival limit from said theoretical arrival time delineates a lower boundary of a good zone, while the theoretical arrival time minus the sum of the early arrival limit and the nominal inter-cell arrival rate increment delineates an upper boundary of the good zone. The method includes determining an actual arrival time for an incoming cell from the cells that make up the virtual connection. Next, the actual arrival time is compared to the upper boundary and the lower boundary to determine whether or not the actual arrival time falls within the good zone. In response to determining that the actual arrival time falls within the good zone, the incoming cell is identified as conforming to the transmission control parameter. The method and system of the invention allow to use a finite counter for measuring elapsed time at entry ports of ATM switching nodes, a mandatory feature in order to enforce policing, while avoiding having to manage the overflows of the counter.

Method and apparatus for policing cell-based traffic

A system and method for selecting one port among multiple output ports having various transmission rates attached to an output adapter of a switching node in a data transmission network and enabling it to transmit its data over the network. The system of the present invention includes a storage device that contains a list of identification codes for the ports. The identification code list is arranged in a prioritized order from the port having the highest transmission rate to the port having the lowest transmission rate. The system further includes port service request means that generate a service request signal for each port, wherein the service request signal has a frequency corresponding to the transmission rate of the object port. Port selection means are utilized to, in response to said identification codes and said service request signal, select a requesting port having a highest priority according to its identification code and enabling the selected port to transmit data over the date transmission network.

System and method for selecting multi-rate ports in a data transmission network

An improved arbiter is described for arbitrating requests by a plurality of first data processing units for access to a plurality of second data processing units interconnected by a switching system of a type in which at any time each first unit can only access one second unit and each second unit can only be accessed by one first unit. The arbiter comprises a scheduler mechanism for repeatedly selecting access requests with a defined minimum probability of selecting a request for each first unit-second unit combination. Rearrangement storage means records requests selected by the scheduler mechanism. A rearranger is provided for repeatedly selecting a set of requests recorded in the rearrangement storage means, so that only one request per first unit and per second unit is selected, using a priority mechanism which increases the probability of selection with the length of time a request is stored in the rearrangement storage means. Finally, means are provided for communicating the grant of the selected set of requests to the switching system and for deleting the selected set of requests from the rearrangement storage means. In one embodiment, the arbiter is used for controlling switching paths in a packet data switch.

Data communications

A packet data switch is described comprising a crossbar switch fabric including a set of crosspoint buffers for storing at least one data packet, one for each input/output pair. An input queue is provided for each input-output pair and means are provided for storing incoming data packets in one of the queues corresponding to an input-output routing for the data packet. An input scheduler repeatedly selects one queue from the plurality of queues at each input and a data packet is transferred from the queue selected by the input scheduler from the input queue means to the crosspoint buffer corresponding to the input-output routing for the data packet. A back pressure mechanism is arranged to inhibit selection by the first selector of queues corresponding to input/output pairs for which the respective crosspoint buffer is full. Finally, an output scheduler repeatedly selects for each output one of the crosspoint buffers corresponding to the output and the switch is responsive to the output scheduler to complete the transmission through the switch fabric of the data packet stored in the crosspoint buffer selected by the output scheduler.

Data switch

Traffic shaping apparatus is described for packet data communications networks, such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks. The apparatus includes one or more packet queues for traffic having a plurality of different desired packet transfer rates, each queue being assigned to a connection having a predetermined desired packet transfer rate. Each incoming data packet is directed to the appropriate queue. Each of a plurality of timing circuits operate at a different frequency in a series of frequencies. The frequencies are selected so that the desired packet transfer rate for a connection can be established by summing outputs from more than one of the timing circuits.

This invention relates to the merging of data cells arriving at an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switching node from data frames originating with a number of senders. As is standard in ATM networks, each originating frame is segmented into a series of cells each having Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and a Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) in its header portion. On arrival at each switching node, the VCI of the first cell of a frame is overwritten by a new outgoing VCI value that is used for all other cells of the frame. Thus, the actual movement of each cell through the network is controlled only by the cell's VPI, whereas the VCI field is used only to distinguish frames from each other. A feature of the invention is that it can accommodate Early Packet Discard in a simple way by associated any discard indication determined for a frame with the outgoing VCI value which also applies to all cells of the entire frame.

Growing community of inventors

Cagnes sur Mer, France

Daniel Orsatti