PHYSICAL LAYER RECOVERY IN A STREAMING DATA DELIVERY SYSTEM

摘要

An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) digital document delivery system is provided. A customer premise unit (2) is configured to permit a customer to order and receive a data stream. A buffer (34) is coupled to the customer premise unit (2) to store the data stream before transmitting the data stream to a customer. A server (22) includes digital documents stored thereon for delivery to customers through a switched ATM network (100). A control mechanism (11) is employed to control a data rate of the data stream between the server (22) and the buffer (34) to ensure maintenance of a steady data stream from the customer premise unit (2) to a customer during a loss of a physical layer between the server (22) and the customer premise unit (2).