METHOD AND NETWORK COMPONENT FOR SWITCHING LOW BIT RATE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN INPUT MODULES AND OUTPUT MODULES IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK

摘要

In a method and network component of a communications network for switchin g connections of low bit rate between input modules and output modules, the input modules and the output modules form a first switching level, and an ATM switching stage arranged between the input modules and the output modules forms a seco nd switching level. In the first switching level, a number of low bit rate connections at the input module, which are to be transmitted to the same output module, are respectively merged by the input module into at least one ATM connection. In the second switching level, the switching through of the ATM connections for transmitting data in ATM cells ensues by the ATM switching stage. Subsequently, in the first switching leve l, the ATM connections which have been switched through are converted by the output module into the low bit rate connections. The combined switching in two switching levels represents an especially economical solution for functions specific to mobile radio and switching applications dealing with low bitrate traffic, by simultaneously assuring an acceptable speech quality with good exploitation of the ATM bandwidth.