Method and apparatus for efficient switching of partial minicellsin atm adaptation layer

摘要

A method of switching partial minicells in an AAL2 switching network without the need for re-assembly of the partial minicells at intermediate nodes. Identification of each remainder partial minicell (432) is accomplished using an 8-bit channel identifier (450), a double octet identifier (950) or a triple octet identifier (1050) depending on traffic requirements. Each partial minicell is immediately transmitted based upon the identification code attached to each partial minicell.