The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 02, 2000
Filed:
May. 20, 1996
Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention includes a method and apparatus for prioritizing and scheduling ATM cells that are competing for a given time slot for transmission onto a network. A segmentation and reassembly controller establishes a data structure within a memory. The preferable data structure includes a virtual connection time table and a virtual connection parameter table that use linked lists to index to one another. The segmentation and reassembly (SAR) controller includes a sorter for determining the priority of the ATM cells and selecting one for a given time slot and a microcode engine to compute next scheduled time slot and adjust the virtual connection parameter table for a given virtual connection. Coupled to the microcode engine is a random access memory for storing microcode programs so that the SAR may be programmed to prioritize and schedule in a different manner.