Cell output control apparatus and method

Abstract

The cell output control apparatus includes a cell time slot allotment circuit for allotting, cells to be transmitted, to cell time slots with the cell transmission intervals changed, a first holder circuit for holding the value of ACR (Allowed Cell Rate), a first calculator circuit for calculating the ratio, LCR (Line Cell Rate)/ACR, a quantizer circuit for quantizing the ratio, LCR/ACR and controlling the allotment of cell time slots on the basis of the quantization error produced by the-quantization, a counter for counting the values of cell time slots, a second calculator circuit for calculating the cell time slots for cells, and a second holder circuit for holding the calculated results, whereby it is possible to absorb the quantization error produced when the ratio, LCR/ACR is quantized into an integral value.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A cell output control apparatus of a communication system of each of a plurality of nodes that constitute a communications network and that communicate with each other in an asynchronous transfer mode, said cell output control apparatus being arranged to control the transmission of cells by calculating an allowed transmission cell rate on the basis of traffic information about the received allowed cell rate which a transmission-side node received from a receiving side node, of said nodes, when said cells are transmitted and received between said transmission node and said receiving node, said cell output control apparatus comprising: 
 a cell time slot allotting unit for allotting said cells to any ones of a plurality of cell time slots with the cell transmission intervals changed in accordance with said allowed transmission cell rate and a transmission rate between said transmission-side node and said receiving-side node; and    a cell output unit for transmitting said cells through said communications network in accordance with the output intervals of said cells.    
     
     
         2 . A cell output control apparatus of a communication system of each of a plurality of nodes that constitute a communications network and that communicate with each other in an asynchronous transfer mode, said cell output control apparatus being arranged to control the transmission of cells by calculating an allowed transmission cell rate on the basis of traffic information about the received allowed cell rate which a transmission-side node received from a receiving side node, of said nodes, when said cells are transmitted and received between said transmission node and said receiving node, said cell output control apparatus comprising: 
 a cell time slot allotting unit for quantizing the ratio between said allowed transmission cell rate and a transmission rate between said transmission-side node and said receiving-side node into an integral value, calculating the cell output intervals on the basis of the quantization error produced by said quantization and said integral value, and allotting said cells to any ones of a plurality of cell time slots with the cell transmission intervals changed; and    a cell output unit for transmitting said cells through said communications network in accordance with said cell output intervals.    
     
     
         3 . A cell output control apparatus of a communication system of each of a plurality of nodes that constitute a communications network and that communicate with each other in an asynchronous transfer mode, said cell output control apparatus being arranged to control the transmission of cells by calculating an allowed transmission cell rate on the basis of traffic information about the received allowed cell rate which a transmission-side node received from a receiving side node, of said nodes, when said cells are transmitted and received between said transmission node and said receiving node, said cell output control apparatus comprising: 
 a first calculator circuit for calculating the ratio between said allowed transmission cell rate and a transmission rate between said transmission-side node and said receiving-side node;    A quantizer circuit for quantizing the output from said first calculator circuit into an internal value and deciding the output intervals of said cells to be transmitted on cell time slots, on the basis of the quantization error produced by said quantization and said integral value;    a counter for counting the value of said cell time slot;    a second calculator circuit for calculating said cell time slots for said cells on the basis of the outputs from said quantizer circuit and said counter; and    a cell time slot allotment deciding circuit for allotting said cells to any ones of a plurality of cell time slots with the cell transmission intervals changed.    
     
     
         4 . A cell output control apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein said cell time slot allotment deciding circuit includes a first holder circuit for holding said allowed transmission cell rate and a second holder circuit for holding the output from said second calculator circuit.  
     
     
         5 . A cell output control apparatus according to  claim 3 , further comprising a cell output decision circuit which has virtual channels and generates one of said cells with the cell output interval changed, on each of said virtual channels.  
     
     
         6 . A cell output control apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein said first calculator circuit is formed of a table and a bit shift circuit, and produces the ratio between said allowed transmission cell rate and said transmission rate when said allowed transmission cell rate is received by said table and when the output from said table is shifted in bits by said bit shift circuit.  
     
     
         7 . A cell output control apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein each of said allowed transmission cell rate and said transmission rate is formed of an exponential part and a mantissa part, and said first calculator circuit includes a table which receives said mantissa part of said allowed transmission cell rate and which produces a preset value corresponding to the mantissa part of said transmission rate and the exponential part of said transmission rate, an arithmetic circuit for producing the difference between the exponential parts of said allowed transmission cell rate and said transmission rate, and a shift circuit for bit-shifting the value corresponding to the mantissa part of said transmission rate from said table by said difference from said arithmetic circuit, and producing the ratio between said allowed transmission cell rate and said transmission rate.  
     
     
         8 . A cell output control apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein said quantizer circuit includes a decision circuit for deciding the distance between the cell time slots for cells on the basis of said integral value and said quantization error, and a calculator circuit and quantization error holder circuit for estimating the remainder of said quantization error and feeing it back to said decision circuit at the same time as the decision of said cell output interval.  
     
     
         9 . A cell output control apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein said decision circuit includes a quantization error absorber circuit for estimating the difference between the output from said first calculator circuit and said quantization error, a quantization error detector circuit for detecting the decimal part of the output from said quantization error absorber circuit, and a selector circuit for selecting the integral part of the output from said quantization error absorber circuit or the sum of  1  and said integral part as said cell time slot interval in response to the output from said quantization error detector circuit.  
     
     
         10 . A cell output control method in a communication system of each of a plurality of nodes that constitute a communications network and that communicate with each other in an asynchronous transfer mode, said cell output control method being used to control the transmission of cells by calculating an allowed transmission cell rate on the basis of traffic information about the received allowed cell rate which a transmission-side node received from a receiving side node, of said nodes, when said cells are transmitted and received between said transmission node and said receiving node, said cell output control method comprising the steps of: 
 calculating a ratio between said allowed transmission cell rate and a rate of transmission between said transmission-side node and said receiving-side node;    quantizing said calculated result into an integral value;    deciding a cell output interval on the basis of the value of quantization error produced by said quantization and said integral value;    allotting, cells to be transmitted, to any ones of a plurality of cell time slots with the cell transmission intervals changed according to said decided cell output intervals; and    transmitting said cells with the cell output intervals changed in accordance with said allowed transmission cell rate.    
     
     
         11 . A communication system of each of a plurality of nodes that constitute a communications network and that communicate with each other in an asynchronous transfer mode, said communication system being arranged to control the transmission of cells by calculating an allowed transmission cell rate on the basis of traffic information about the received allowed cell rate which a transmission-side node received from a receiving side node, of said nodes, when said cells are transmitted and received between said transmission node and said receiving node, said communication system comprising: 
 a cell time slot unit for allotting, cells to be transmitted, to any ones of a plurality of cell time slots with the cell transmission intervals changed according to said allowed transmission cell rate and a rate of transmission between said transmission-side node and said receiving-side node; and    a cell output unit for transmitting said cells through said communications network in accordance with said cell output intervals.    
     
     
         12 . A communications network constituted by a plurality of nodes that communicate with each other in an asynchronous transfer mode, said communications network being established to control the transmission of cells by calculating an allowed transmission cell rate on the basis of traffic information about the received allowed cell rate which a transmission-side node received from a receiving side node, of said nodes, when said cells are transmitted and received between said transmission node and said receiving node, a communication system of each of said nodes comprising: 
 a cell time slot allotment unit for allotting, cells to be transmitted, to any ones of a plurality of cell time slots with the cell transmission intervals changed according to said allowed transmission cell rate and a rate of transmission between said transmission-side node and said receiving-side node; and    a cell output unit for transmitting said cells through said communications network in accordance with said cell output intervals, whereby said cells can be transmitted and received between said transmission-side node and said receiving-side node.    
     
     
         13 . A communication system as each of a plurality of communication systems which constitute communications networks and which communicate with each other in an asynchronous transfer mode, said communication system being arranged to control the transmission of cells by calculating an allowed transmission cell rate on the basis of traffic information about the received allowed cell rate which a transmission-side communication system received from a receiving-side communication system, said communication system comprising: 
 a plurality of first interface circuits each connected to one of said communications networks as an interface for a channel;    a plurality of second interface circuits each connected to the other communications network as an interface for a channel; and    a core switch circuit connected to both said plurality of first interfaces and said plurality of second interfaces, and which allots information from, at least, one or the other of said communications networks to, at least, one of said plurality of first interfaces and said plurality of second interfaces, each of said plurality of first interfaces and second interfaces comprising:    a first calculator circuit for calculating a ratio between an allowed transmission cell rate from a transmission-side communication system and a rate of transmission between said transmission-side communication system and a receiving-side communication system;    a quantizer circuit for quantizing an output from said first calculator circuit into an integral value, and deciding an output interval of said cells on cell time slots on the basis of a value of quantization error produced by said quantization and said integral value;    a counter for counting values of said cell time slots;    a second calculator circuit for calculating said cell time slots for said cells on the basis of the outputs from said quantizer circuit and said counter; and    a cell time slot allotment decision circuit for allotting, said cells to be transmitted, to any ones of said plurality of cell time slots with the cell transmission intervals changed.    
     
     
         14 . A communications network system constituted by a plurality of communication systems which communicate with each other in an asynchronous mode, said communication network system comprising: 
 a plurality of first communications networks each having a plurality of terminals with an information transmitting and receiving function;    a plurality of second communications networks each having a plurality of terminals with an information transmitting and receiving function; and    a third communications network established between said communication systems that are arranged to control the transmission of cells by calculating an allowed transmission cell rate on the basis of information of traffic about an allowed cell rate which a transmission-side one of said terminals received from a receiving-side one of said terminals through any one of said first and second communications networks, each of said communication systems comprising:    a plurality of first interface circuits each connected to one of said plurality of first or second communication networks as an interface for a channel;    a plurality of second interface circuits each connected to said third communication network as an interface for a channel; and    a core switch circuit connected to both said plurality of first interfaces and said plurality of second interfaces and by which information from, at least, any one of said first, second and third communication networks is allotted to one of said plurality of first or second interfaces, each of said plurality of first and second interfaces comprising:    a first calculator circuit for calculating a ratio between an allowed transmission rate from a transmission-side one of said communication systems and a rate of transmission between said transmission-side communication system and the receiving-side communication system;    a quantizer circuit for quantizing the output from said first calculator circuit into an integral value, and deciding the output interval of said cells for cell time slots on the basis of the value of quantization error produced by said quantization and said integral value;    a counter for counting the value of said cell time slots;    a second calculator circuit for calculating the cell time slots for said cells on the basis of the outputs of said quantizer circuit and said counter; and    a cell time slot allotment decision circuit for allotting, said cells to be transmitted, to any ones of said plurality of cell time slots with the cell transmission intervals changed.