Alcatel Canada Inc.

Stanko Vuleta

Jason T Sterne

Denny L S Lee

Marie-Claude Bonneau

Roxana Hamedani

A method and apparatus for supporting virtual path aggregations (VPAs) in a communications network is presented. To establish a VPA in the network, a request for the VPA is received, where the request indicates a desired data path between a source switch and a destination switch. Based on the request, it is determined whether or not there are resources available to create the VPA. If the resources are present, the VPA is created. Once created, connections may be established using the VPA by first determining whether or not the needs of the connection are satisfied by the capabilities of the VPA. If the VPA is capable of supporting the connection, the connection is established using the VPA. If the VPA is not capable of supporting the connection, the connection may either be established using other resources or rejected.

Method and apparatus for virtual path aggregation (VPA) connection admission control (CAC)

A shaping algorithm for use in a queuing system in which there is no background process for detecting clock wrap around. The algorithm applies to Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) applications and to the different categories of service connections specified by the ATM Forum. The algorithm is implemented by a time slotted calendar system to shape cell streams into conformance with network traffic descriptors. The calendar register is constrained to positive values to ensure valid results from the maximum functions carried out by the Algorithm. The register is divided into quadrants and the location of theoretical cell emission times relative to current and next time slots within the quadrants is used to detect clock wrap around.

Shaping algorithm

A calendar based ATM cell scheduling device is used to maintain accurate shaping of cell streams in order to satisfy traffic management guarantees. In certain applications cell insertion may occur downstream of the scheduling device, potentially violating traffic descriptors. The correction means provided by the present invention allows for such downstream cell insertion without violating guarantees by generating a calendar slip in the scheduling device.

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Ottawa, Canada

Stanko Vuleta