INSERTION OF MANAGEMENT PACKETS INTO A DATA STREAM

摘要

A system for controlling the insertion of management packets into a stream of data packets comprises an arbiter 12 for forming a mixed data stream of data packets and management packets; at least one FIFO 14 for controlling the supply of management packets for arbitration by the arbiter; a credit bank 18; means 17 for supplying indications of numbers of management packets to the FIFO and corresponding numbers of credits to the credit bank; an accumulator 15 of available credits; and a timer 19 for controlling a rate of supply of credits from the credit bank to the accumulator. The system allows insertion of management packets into the data stream when the number of available credits indicated by the accumulator is above a threshold.