摘要 |
In a point-to-multipoint network having a headend in communication with a plurality a network terminals over a shared network, a network terminal is equipped with a cell permit sequencer, which operates in conjunction with a AAL1 segmentation and reassembly processor, whereby the packing of ATM cells carrying continuous bit rate telephony traffic is initially delayed such that the first cell of a new communication sequence will be "just ready" for upstream transmission to the headend with the arrival of an ensuing scheduled transmission permit from the headend, including accounting for internal processing and transmission overhead. In this manner, the ensuing ATM cells for the respective communication sequence will thereby be synchronized with the ensuing permits, and delay time at the NT thus minimized. |