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:
Oct. 25, 2005
Filed:
May. 05, 2000
Applicants:
David Cotter, Woodbridge, GB;
Julian K Lucek, Ipswich, GB;
Inventors:
David Cotter, Woodbridge, GB;
Julian K Lucek, Ipswich, GB;
Assignee:
British Telecommunications public limited company, London, GB;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H04B010/08 ; H04B010/20 ; H04L012/43 ; H04L012/56 ; H04Q011/00 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
A node in an optical communications network receives optical packets at its input. It determines a priority assigned to each optical packet. When the optical packet is a transit packet destined for another node then, if the packet is determined to have a relatively higher priority, it is output from the node via a continuous-flow transmission path. Other transmit packets having relatively lower priorities are sent via an alternative transmission path that may include queues or buffers resulting in a variable delay.