| 摘要 |
<p>The invention describes a method for transmitting and forwarding packets over a packet switching network via communication links with variable delays. The switches (10) of the network maintain a common time reference (002), which is obtained either from an external source or is generated and distributed internally. A packet that arrives to an input port (30) of a switch (10) is switched to an output port (40) based on specific routing information in the packet header. Each switch (10) along a route from a source to a destination forwards packets in periodic time intervals that are predefined using the common time reference. The time interval duration can be longer than the time duration required for transmitting a packet, in which case the exact position of a packet in the time interval is not predetermined.</p> |
