METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EFFICIENT SWITCHING OF PARTIAL MINICELLSIN ATM ADAPTATION LAYER 2

摘要

A method for switching partial minicells in an AAL2 switching network without delaying to receive remainder partial minicell. An identification code is included directly on a remainder partial minicell to provide a means for routing partial minicells without having to reassemble the partial minicells into complete minicells. A node receives complete minicells having an identification code in the header of the ATM cells, first partial minicells having an identification code in the header of the ATM cell, and remainder partial minicells having an identification code attached directly thereto. Each minicell is immediately transmitted based upon the identification code in the header of the ATM cell when the minicell is a complete minicell or a first partial minicell and based upon the identification code attached directly to the minicell when the minicell is a remainder partial minicell.