Information cell handling for asynchronous transfer mode communications device

摘要

The handling is effected via a virtual connection between at least one incoming line (EL) and an outgoing line (AL), with characteristic connection parameters for each virtual connection provided by the peak bit rate, the upper limit of the sustainable bit rate and a burst tolerance. The peak bit rate is used to determine the min. delay for the information cells and the upper limit of the sustainable bit rate is used to determine the max. delay, with selection of a corresponding time slot within the periodic time frame for transfer of the information cells. Pref. the handling device (SH) between the incoming and outgoing lines uses a 'leaky bucket' manager (LBM), coupled to a cell buffer manager (CBM), for temporary storage of the transferred cells in a cell buffer (CB).