摘要 |
Method, system, converter and switch for communication in asynchronous transmission mode (ATM) between a source end station ( 13 ) and a destination end station ( 14 ) by means of information cells and data cells following the information cells, the information cells representing a signalling message containing an information element (IE) which contains an indication of a requested kind of traffic contract (ATC) for, in accordance therewith, processing the data cells. When a kind of traffic contract requested from a switch of the system or from the destination end station is not supported, but a kind of traffic contract which is not more unfavorable than a kind of traffic contract requested by the source end station ( 13 ) is supported, the signalling message is converted, the requested kind of traffic contract being replaced by the other kind of traffic contract as the new requested kind of traffic contract, in such a way that eventually there is converted back to the kind of traffic contract supported by the destination end station ( 14 ), which is equal to the kind of traffic contract requested by the source station. After each conversion, the data cells of a traffic flow received are processed in accordance with the kind of traffic contract to which there is converted. |