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:
Jan. 14, 2003
Filed:
Nov. 18, 1998
Norihiko Moriwaki, Kokubunji, JP;
Takahiko Kozaki, Tokyo, JP;
Takaaki Toyama, Fujisawa, JP;
Mitsuhiro Wada, Yokohama, JP;
Yozo Oguri, Fujisawa, JP;
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An ATM switch that can be expanded to form a large scale ATM switch with minimal hardware additions. The ATM switch includes a plurality of ATM switch units arranged in parallel, a plurality of cell distributors arranged on the input side of the ATM switch units, and a plurality of cell assemblers arranged on the output side of the ATM switch units. Each of the cell distributors distributes ATM cells received from a plurality of incoming highways to a buffer memory having a plurality of queues corresponding to the output ports of the ATM switch units, namely destinations of the ATM cells, and stores the ATM cells to the queues in the buffer memory. Each cell distributor reads ATM cells having the same destination information, and outputs such ATM cells to respective ones of the ATM switch units in parallel. Each of the ATM switch units independently exchanges the received ATM cell in parallel with the other ATM switch units. Each of the cell assemblers multiplexes ATM cells received from the ATM switch units in a manner to preserve the time sequential order of the ATM cells, and outputs the ATM cells to one of a plurality of outgoing highways. A desired increase in the capacity of the ATM switch is implemented by adding an ATM switch unit between the cell distributors and the cell assemblers, thereby allowing for an increase in hardware in proportion to the desired increase in capacity.