JPH1041958A - Cell multiplex exchange method and equipment using it - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute multiplexing/exchange of cells more efficiently under limited multiplexing/exchange capability by queuing a received cell for each signaling cell and a user plane cell and reading them at a prescribed rate. SOLUTION: A cell discrimination circuit section 11 discriminates whether an input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell and outputs the cell discriminated to be the signaling cell to a signaling queue 12 and the cell discriminated to be the user plane cell to a user plane queue 13 respectively. Then the signaling queue 12 queues the signaling cell outputted by the cell discrimination section 11 and the user plane queue 13 queues the user plane cell and a read section 14 reads the queued user plane cell and signaling cell respectively at a prescribed rate. A multiplexing/exchange section 15 applies multiplexing/exchange to the read cell.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multiplexing / switching method, and more particularly, to a multiplexing / switching method for ATM cells.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, ATMs (Asynchronous) have been used.
s Transfer Mode: Asynchronous transfer mode)
With the advance of the multiplexing / switching technology called "cell multiplexing / switching technology", development of a cell multiplexing device and an ATM switch has been advanced. AT
In M, information is divided into cells, and a channel identification signal is added to the header of each cell. By changing the number of cells to be multiplexed / exchanged according to the frequency of occurrence of information, various types of information required to be transmitted at various rates can be efficiently multiplexed / exchanged. .

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a cell multiplexing apparatus according to a conventional example. 4 includes a data transmission unit 41, a transmission buffer 42, a multiplexing unit 43, and a band control unit 44. In FIG. 4, a line with an arrow indicates the flow of cells, and a line without an arrow indicates the exchange of control signals (the same applies to FIGS. 1 to 3).

[0004] The data transmitting section 41 transmits the input cell. The transmission buffer 42 temporarily stores the cell transmitted by the data transmission unit 41. The multiplexing unit 43 multiplexes the cells stored in the transmission buffer 42 and outputs the multiplexed cells. The band control unit 44 controls the operation of the data transmission unit 41 so that the transmission buffer 42 does not overflow. In addition,
The cell output by the apparatus of FIG. 4 is input to a conventional ATM switch.

The operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4 for multiplexing inputted cells will be described below. The cells input to the apparatus of FIG. 4 include a user plane cell including information to be transmitted and a signaling cell including a signal for controlling the operation of the ATM exchange. In the band control unit 44, a predetermined allowable band amount is set for the user plane cell among these cells.
Reference numeral 4 controls the operation of the data transmission unit 41 so that a user plane cell exceeding the allowable bandwidth is not transmitted.

[0006] The data transmission unit 41 converts the input cell into
In response to an instruction from the band control unit 44, the data is transmitted to the transmission buffer 42. The transmission buffer 42 includes a data transmission unit 41
Temporarily stores the cell to be transmitted. The multiplexing unit 43 multiplexes the cells stored in the transmission buffer 42 and outputs the multiplexed cells.
The output cell is input to a conventional ATM switch.

[0007]

As described above, the apparatus shown in FIG. 4 controls the band of the user plane cell, thereby preventing the transmission buffer 42 from overflowing the buffer and causing cell discard. . However, in the apparatus of FIG. 4, since the signaling cell is input without band limitation, depending on the frequency of occurrence of information, the total bandwidth of the signaling cell and the user plane cell may cause the transmission buffer 42 to have an allowable capacity. May exceed. In this case, the input cells are discarded in excess. The same applies when the total bandwidth of the signaling cell and the user plane cell exceeds the processing capacity of the multiplexing unit 43.

Further, depending on the frequency of occurrence of information, cells exceeding the switching capacity may be input to the conventional ATM exchange at one time, and cell discarding may occur. Here, the exchange capacity of the ATM exchange is determined by the capacity of the buffer provided in the ATM exchange and the processing ability of the cell switch, and the number of cells exceeding one of these capacities and capacities is input at a time. Then, cell discard occurs.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a cell multiplex switching method capable of multiplexing / switching ATM cells more efficiently with limited multiplexing / switching capability, and an apparatus using the same. It is.

[0010]

The first invention is a cell multiplexing / switching method for multiplexing / switching ATM cells, wherein an input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell. And queuing for each signaling cell and user plane cell,
Further, the present invention is characterized in that the queued signaling cells and user plane cells are read out at a predetermined rate and multiplexed / exchanged.

As described above, the input cells are queued for each of the signaling cells and the user plane cells, and the queued signaling cells and user plane cells are read out at predetermined rates, thereby limiting the multiplexing. / More efficient A with exchange capacity
Multiplexing / switching of TM cells can be performed.

A second invention is characterized in that, in the first invention, a reading rate of a signaling cell is set according to a band use condition.

As described above, by setting an appropriate reading rate of the signaling cell according to the band use condition, the band used for the user plane cell can be managed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, when the band use condition does not reach the upper limit, the read rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate similarly to that of the user plane cell, and the upper limit is reached. In the case where the rate is increasing, the rate is set lower than the input rate.

As described above, when there is a margin in the band use condition, the reading rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate similarly to that of the user plane cell,
When the band usage situation is going to exceed the upper limit, by setting the rate lower than the input rate, it is possible to secure the band used for the user plane cell, and therefore, keep the reading rate of the user plane cell at a high rate. Can be.

A fourth invention is a cell multiplexing apparatus for multiplexing ATM cells, wherein the cell deciding means decides whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell, and the cell deciding means. A signaling queue means for queuing a cell determined to be a signaling cell, a user plane queue means for queuing a cell determined by the cell determination means to be a user plane cell, a signaling queue means and a user plane Reading means for reading and multiplexing signaling cells and user plane cells queued in the use queue means at predetermined rates, respectively, and bandwidth management for controlling the rate at which the reading means reads signaling cells in accordance with the bandwidth usage status. Means.

As described above, in the fourth aspect, the cell determination means determines whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell. The signaling queue means queues a cell determined by the cell determination means to be a signaling cell. The user plane queue means queues the cell determined by the cell determination means to be a user plane cell. The reading means reads out and multiplexes the signaling cells and the user plane cells queued in the signaling queue means and the user plane queue means at a predetermined rate. The band management unit controls a rate at which the reading unit reads out the signaling cells according to the band use status.

As described above, the input cells are queued for each signaling cell and user plane cell, and the queued signaling cells and user plane cells are read out at predetermined rates. At that time, depending on the band usage status, an appropriate signaling cell read rate is set, and the user plane cells are read at a predetermined rate, and the signaling cells are read at the set rate, thereby limiting the cell. With the multiplexing capability, the ATM cells can be multiplexed more efficiently.

In a fifth aspect based on the fourth aspect, the bandwidth management means is configured to determine whether the bandwidth usage status has not reached the upper limit.
As in the case of the user plane cells, the readout rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate, and when the upper limit is being reached, the readout rate is lower than the input rate.

As described above, when there is a margin in the band use status, the rate at which the signaling cell is read out is set to a rate equal to the input rate, similarly to that of the user plane cell,
When the band usage situation is going to exceed the upper limit, by setting the rate lower than the input rate, it is possible to secure the band used for the user plane cell, and therefore, keep the reading rate of the user plane cell at a high rate. Can be.

A sixth invention is an AT for exchanging ATM cells.
An M exchange, comprising: cell determination means for determining whether an input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell; and signaling queue means for queuing the cell determined by the cell determination means to be a signaling cell. And a user plane queue means for queuing a cell determined to be a user plane cell by the cell determination means, a signaling cell queued in the signaling queue means and the user plane queue means,
Reading means for reading and multiplexing the user plane cells at a predetermined rate, band management means for controlling the rate at which the reading means reads signaling cells in accordance with band usage conditions, and signaling cells output by the reading means. Cell switching means for recognizing the destination of the user plane cell following the signaling cell based on the included information and transmitting the user plane cells output by the reading means toward the respective destinations.

As described above, in the sixth aspect, the cell determining means determines whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell. The signaling queue means queues a cell determined by the cell determination means to be a signaling cell. The user plane queue means queues the cell determined by the cell determination means to be a user plane cell. The reading means reads out and multiplexes the signaling cells and the user plane cells queued in the signaling queue means and the user plane queue means at a predetermined rate. The band management unit controls a rate at which the reading unit reads out the signaling cells according to the band use status. The cell switching unit recognizes the destination of the user plane cell following the signaling cell based on the information included in the signaling cell output by the reading unit, and sets the user plane cell output by the reading unit to each destination. Send to.

In this way, the input cells are queued for each signaling cell and user plane cell, and the queued signaling cells and user plane cells are read at predetermined rates. At that time, depending on the band usage status, an appropriate signaling cell read rate is set, and the user plane cells are read at a predetermined rate, and the signaling cells are read at the set rate, thereby limiting the cell. With the exchange capability, ATM cells can be exchanged more efficiently.

[0024] In a seventh aspect based on the sixth aspect, the bandwidth management means comprises:
As in the case of the user plane cells, the readout rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate, and when the upper limit is being reached, the readout rate is lower than the input rate.

As described above, when there is a margin in the band use condition, the reading rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate similarly to that of the user plane cell,
When the band usage situation is going to exceed the upper limit, by setting the rate lower than the input rate, it is possible to secure the band used for the user plane cell, and therefore, keep the reading rate of the user plane cell at a high rate. Can be.

The eighth invention relates to an AT for exchanging ATM cells.
A plurality of input processing means for outputting an input signaling cell and a user plane cell at a predetermined rate, and a rate at which the plurality of input processing means outputs a signaling cell, according to a band use condition. Based on information included in a signaling cell output by a plurality of input processing means, and by recognizing a destination of a user plane cell subsequent to the cell, and outputting a user plane output by the plurality of input processing means. Cell exchange means for transmitting cells to respective destinations,
Each of the plurality of input processing means includes a cell determination means for determining whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell, and a signaling means for queuing the cell determined by the cell determination means to be a signaling cell. A queuing unit, a user plane queuing unit for queuing a cell determined to be a user plane cell by the cell judging unit, and a signaling unit queued in the signaling queuing unit at a rate specified by the bandwidth management unit. Reading means for reading and multiplexing the user plane cells queued in the plane queue means at a preset rate.

As described above, in the eighth aspect, the plurality of input processing units output the input signaling cells and user plane cells at predetermined rates. The band management unit controls the rate at which the plurality of input processing units output the signaling cells in accordance with the band use status.
The cell switching unit recognizes a destination of a user plane cell subsequent to the cell based on information included in the signaling cell output by the plurality of input processing units, and generates a user plane cell output by the plurality of input processing units. , And send to each destination. At this time, each of the cell determination units of the plurality of input processing units determines whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell. The signaling queue means queues a cell determined by the cell determination means to be a signaling cell. The user plane queue means queues the cell determined by the cell determination means to be a user plane cell. The reading means reads and multiplexes the signaling cells queued in the signaling queue means at a rate designated by the band management means and the user plane cells queued in the user plane queue means at a preset rate. Become

As described above, the input cell is queued for each signaling cell and user plane cell, and the queued signaling cell and user plane cell are read at a predetermined rate. At that time, depending on the band usage status, an appropriate signaling cell read rate is set, and the user plane cells are read at a predetermined rate, and the signaling cells are read at the set rate, thereby limiting the cell. With the exchange capability, ATM cells can be exchanged more efficiently.

A ninth invention is characterized in that, in the eighth invention, the band management means sets the output rate of the signaling cell to a mutually different rate for each of the plurality of input processing means.

[0030] Thus, different switching bands for signaling cells can be allocated to each input processing means, so that ATM cells can be exchanged more efficiently.

According to a tenth aspect based on the eighth aspect, a synchronizing means for controlling a timing at which the plurality of input processing means outputs the signaling cell is further provided.

Thus, it is possible to prevent the collision of the signaling cells output from the respective input processing means.

In an eleventh aspect based on the eighth aspect, each of the plurality of input processing means further includes a cell dividing means for dividing a signaling cell among cells obtained by multiplexing the reading means.

Thus, each of the plurality of input processing means can output the signaling cells obtained by the division by the cell dividing means even when the band use condition is close to the upper limit. Exchange can take place.

The twelfth aspect of the present invention relates to an A for exchanging ATM cells.
A TM exchange, which is connected to a signaling processing device that transmits instruction information and a signaling cell for setting a destination of a user plane cell based on information included in a signaling cell from a terminal, and a signaling cell from the terminal. First input processing means for outputting a user cell and a user plane cell at a predetermined rate, second input processing means for outputting a signaling cell from a signaling processing apparatus at a predetermined rate, and first and second input processing means. Bandwidth management means for controlling a rate at which the second input processing means outputs a signaling cell in accordance with the bandwidth usage status;
A cell switching unit that sets a destination of the user plane cell based on the instruction information transmitted by the signaling cell processing device, and transmits the user plane cell output by the first input processing unit to the set destination. The first input processing means comprises: a cell determination means for determining whether an input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell; and queues a cell determined by the cell determination means to be a signaling cell. A first signaling queue unit, a user plane queue unit for queuing a cell determined to be a user plane cell by the cell determination unit, and a bandwidth management of the signaling cell queued in the first signaling queue unit. User play queued in the user plane queue means at the rate specified by the means First reading means for reading and multiplexing cells at a preset rate, respectively, and the second input processing means comprises a second input processing means for queuing signaling cells transmitted by the signaling cell processing device. And a second means for reading and multiplexing the signaling cells queued in the second signaling queue means at a rate specified by the bandwidth management means.
Reading means.

As described above, in the twelfth invention, the ATM
The exchange is connected to a signaling processing device that transmits instruction information for setting a destination of a user plane cell and a signaling cell based on information included in the signaling cell from the terminal. The first input processing means of the ATM switch outputs a signaling cell and a user plane cell from the terminal at a predetermined rate.
The second input processing means outputs a signaling cell from the signaling processing device at a predetermined rate. The band management unit controls a rate at which the first input processing unit and the second input processing unit output a signaling cell in accordance with a band use condition. The cell switching unit sets a destination of the user plane cell based on the instruction information transmitted by the signaling cell processing device, and performs a first operation toward the set destination.
The user plane cell output by the input processing means is transmitted. At this time, the cell determination means of the first input processing means determines whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell. The first signaling queue means queues a cell determined by the cell determination means to be a signaling cell. The user plane queue means queues the cell determined by the cell determination means to be a user plane cell. The first reading means is configured to set the signaling cells queued in the first signaling queue means at a rate specified by the bandwidth management means, and to set the user plane cells queued in the user plane queue means to a preset rate. Then, each is read and multiplexed. The second signaling queue unit of the second input processing unit queues a signaling cell transmitted by the signaling cell processing device. The second reading means reads and multiplexes the signaling cells queued in the second signaling queue means at a rate specified by the band management means.

As described above, the input cell is queued for each signaling cell and user plane cell, and the queued signaling cell and user plane cell are read at a predetermined rate. At that time, depending on the band usage status, an appropriate signaling cell read rate is set, and the user plane cells are read at a predetermined rate, and the signaling cells are read at the set rate, thereby limiting the cell. With the exchange capability, ATM cells can be exchanged more efficiently. Further, by providing the second input processing means for performing only the input processing of the signaling cell transmitted by the signaling processing device, it is possible to exchange the ATM cells more efficiently.

[0038]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the concept of the cell multiplex switching method according to the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a cell determination unit 11, a signaling queue 12, a user plane queue 13, and a reading unit 1.
4 and a multiplexing / switching unit 15 are included.

The cell determination unit 11 determines whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell, and sends the determined cell to the signaling queue 12 to the user plane cell. Are output to the user plane queue 13 side. The signaling queue 12
The signaling cell output from the cell determination unit 11 is queued. The user plane queue 13 queues user plane cells output from the cell determination unit 11. The reading unit 14 reads the user plane cells queued in the user plane queue 13 and the signaling cells queued in the signaling queue 12 at predetermined rates. The multiplexing / exchange unit 15 multiplexes / reads the cells read by the reading unit 14.
Exchange.

Hereinafter, the concept of the cell multiplex switching method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Cell determination unit 1
1 determines whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell. When determining that the cell is a signaling cell, the cell determination unit 11 outputs the cell to the signaling queue 12 side, and when determining that the cell is a user plane cell, outputs the cell to the user plane queue 13 side.

The signaling queue 12 and the user plane queue 13 are respectively
Queue the signaling cells and user plane cells output by 1. The reading unit 14 reads the user plane cells queued in the user plane queue 13 and the signaling cells queued in the signaling queue 12 at predetermined rates.
The output cells read by the reading unit 14 are multiplexed / exchanged in the multiplexing / exchange unit 15.

The reading rate of the signaling cell and the user plane cell is determined by the multiplexing / exchange unit 15 having a limited multiplexing / exchange capability, that is, by the multiplexing / exchange unit 15.
The rate is set to an appropriate rate so that ATM cells can be multiplexed / exchanged more efficiently with a certain multiplexing / exchanging capacity determined by the capacity of the buffer provided in the cell and the processing capacity of the cell switch.

For example, when the frequency of occurrence of information is relatively low and the band use condition has not reached the upper limit, the readout rate of both the signaling cell and the user plane cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate. If the frequency of occurrence of is relatively high and the band usage situation is approaching the upper limit, the signaling cell read rate is set to a rate lower than the input rate. As a result, even when the band usage situation is reaching the upper limit, the band used for the user plane cell can be secured, and
The read rate of the user plane cells can be kept high.

As described above, it is determined whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell, and queuing is performed for each signaling cell and each user plane cell. Then, the queued signaling cells and user plane cells are read at predetermined rates. This allows for limited multiplexing / switching capabilities,
Multiplexing / exchange of ATM cells can be performed more efficiently.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a cell multiplexing device using the cell multiplexing and switching method according to the present invention. 2 includes a cell determination unit 21, a signaling queue 22, a user plane queue 23, a reading unit 24, and a band management unit 25.

The cell determination unit 21 determines whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell, and if it determines that the input cell is a signaling cell,
When it is determined that the cell is a user plane cell to the signaling queue 22 side, it is output to the user plane queue 23 side. The signaling queue 22 queues a signaling cell output from the cell determination unit 21. User plane queue 23
Queues the user plane cell output from the cell determination unit 21.

The band management unit 25 sets an appropriate signaling cell read rate in accordance with the band use condition. The reading unit 24 reads the user plane cells queued in the user plane queue 23 at a predetermined rate and the signaling cells queued in the signaling queue 22 at a rate set by the bandwidth management unit 25. And multiplex the read cells and output.

In the following, the ATM shown in FIG.
The operation of multiplexing cells will be described. The cells input to the apparatus of FIG. 2 through a plurality of input ports are first collected in the cell determination unit 21. The cell determination unit 21 determines whether the cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell by checking the VPCI / VCI field in the cell header of each cell. If it is determined that the cell is a signaling cell, the cell determination unit 21 sends the cell to the signaling queue 22 side.
Output to each side.

The signaling queue 22 and the user plane queue 23 queue the signaling cells and the user plane cells output from the cell determination unit 21, respectively. The bandwidth management unit 25 manages the bandwidth usage status, and sets an appropriate signaling cell read rate according to the bandwidth usage status. That is, if there is room in the bandwidth usage, the reading rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate, similarly to that of the user plane cells, and if the bandwidth usage is going over the upper limit, the rate exceeds the upper limit. The reading rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate lower than the input rate so as not to cause the error.

The read unit 24 manages the user plane cells queued in the user plane queue 23 at a predetermined rate, for example, at a rate equal to the input rate, to control the bandwidth of the signaling cells queued in the signaling queue 22. At the rate set by unit 25,
Each cell is read, and the read cells are multiplexed and output.

As described above, the input cells are queued for each signaling cell and user plane cell, and the queued signaling cells and user plane cells are read at predetermined rates. At that time, depending on the band usage status, an appropriate signaling cell read rate is set, and the user plane cells are read at a predetermined rate, and the signaling cells are read at the set rate, thereby limiting the cell. With the multiplexing capability, the ATM cells can be multiplexed more efficiently.

The readout rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate, similarly to that of the user plane cell, when there is a margin in the band use condition, and is lower than the input rate when the band use condition is going to exceed the upper limit. Is also low. As a result, the band used for the user plane cells can be secured, and the rate at which the user plane cells are read can be maintained at a high rate.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an ATM switch using the cell multiplex switching method according to the present invention. 3 includes a plurality of input processing units 31, a cell switching unit 32, and a band management unit 33. Each of the plurality of input processing units 31 includes a cell determination unit 311, a signaling queue 312, a user plane queue 313, and a reading unit 314.

Each of the plurality of input processors 31 outputs a signaling cell and a user plane cell at a predetermined rate. The band management unit 33 sets the rate at which the plurality of input processing units 31 output the signaling cells to an appropriate rate according to the band use situation. The cell switching unit 32 recognizes a destination of a user plane cell following the signaling cell based on information included in the signaling cell output from each of the plurality of input processing units 31, and outputs the plurality of input processing units 31 To be transmitted to the respective destinations. Other components perform the same operation as that of FIG.

In the following, the ATM shown in FIG.
The operation of exchanging cells will be described. The device of FIG.
It is connected to a communication network including a plurality of terminals.
Each input processing unit 31 is assigned a predetermined number of terminals, and cells from each terminal are collected in the corresponding input processing unit 31. In the input processing unit 31, first, the cell determination unit 311 determines whether the VPCI
By examining the / VCI field, it is determined whether the cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell. If it is determined that the cell is a signaling cell, the cell determination unit 311 sets the cell as the signaling queue 3
When it is determined that the cell is a user plane cell, the cell is output to the user plane queue 313 side.

The signaling queue 312 and the user plane queue 313 each include a cell determination unit 311.
Queue the signaling cells and user plane cells output by. The band management unit 33 manages the band use status, and each of the input processing units 31 according to the band use status.
Set the rate at which the reading unit 314 reads out signaling cells to an appropriate rate. That is, if there is room in the bandwidth usage, the reading rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate, similarly to that of the user plane cells, and if the bandwidth usage is going over the upper limit, the rate exceeds the upper limit. The reading rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate lower than the input rate so as not to cause the error.

The read unit 314 converts the user plane cells queued in the user plane queue 313 at a predetermined rate, for example, at a rate equal to the input rate, and transmits the signaling cells queued in the signaling queue 312 to the user plane cells. At the rate set by the band management unit 33, each cell is read, and the read cells are multiplexed and output. The cell switching unit 32 includes a reading unit 314
On the basis of the information included in the signaling cell output by the terminal, the destination of the user plane cell following the signaling cell is recognized. The cell switching unit 32
The destination of the user plane cell output by each input processing unit 31 is recognized, and the user plane cell output by each input processing unit 31 is transmitted to each destination.

As described above, the input cell is queued for each signaling cell and user plane cell, and the queued signaling cell and user plane cell are read at a predetermined rate. At that time, depending on the band usage status, an appropriate signaling cell read rate is set, and the user plane cells are read at a predetermined rate, and the signaling cells are read at the set rate, thereby limiting the cell. With the exchange capability, ATM cells can be exchanged more efficiently.

The reading rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate, similarly to that of the user plane cell, when there is room in the band use condition, and is lower than the input rate when the band use state is going to exceed the upper limit. Is also low. As a result, the band used for the user plane cells can be secured, and therefore, the read rate of the user plane cells can be maintained at a high rate.

It should be noted that instead of recognizing the destination of a user plane cell following the signaling cell based on the information contained in the signaling cell, cell switching section 32 connects the signaling processing device outside the ATM exchange. Alternatively, the signaling processing device may transmit the instruction information based on the information included in the signaling cell, and cause the cell switching unit 32 to set the destination.

In this case, the signaling cell from each terminal is transmitted to the signaling processing device via the input processing unit 31 and the cell switching unit 32, and then the signaling processing device sets the destination in the cell switching unit 32 The instruction information and the signaling cell to be transmitted are transmitted to the cell switching unit 32 via the input processing unit 31.
Therefore, if another input processing unit (the input processing unit 31 in FIG. 3 excluding the user plane queue 313) is provided to perform only input processing of the signaling cell transmitted by the signaling processing device, the efficiency is further improved. A
Exchange of TM cells can be performed.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 3, a read synchronizing unit for controlling the timing at which the read unit 314 of each input processing unit 31 reads a signaling cell may be further provided. Thereby, it is possible to prevent collision of signaling cells from each input processing unit 31.

Further, in the apparatus shown in FIG.
3, instead of setting the rate at which the reading unit 314 of each input processing unit 31 reads out signaling cells to the same rate, assigns a priority to each input processing unit 31 and sets a rate according to the priority. It may be. As a result, the switching band of the signaling cell can be allocated according to the priority, and therefore, the ATM can be more efficiently used.
Cell exchange can be performed.

Further, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 3, each of the plurality of input processing units 31 may further include a cell division unit for dividing a signaling cell among the cells output from reading unit 314. Thereby, each of the plurality of input processing units 31 can output the signaling cells obtained by the division by the cell division unit even when the band use condition is close to the upper limit, and therefore, the ATM cell exchange is more efficiently performed. It can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the concept of a cell multiplex switching method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a cell multiplexing apparatus using a cell multiplexing and switching method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an ATM using the cell multiplex switching method according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an exchange.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a cell multiplexer according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11, 21, 311 Cell determination unit 12, 22, 312 Signaling queue 13, 23, 313 User plane queue 14, 24, 314 Reading unit 15 Multiplexing / switching unit 25, 33 Band management unit 31 Input processing unit 32 cells Exchange department

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A cell multiplexing / switching method for multiplexing / switching ATM cells, comprising: determining whether an input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell; A cell multiplexing and switching method characterized by reading out queuing and queuing signaling cells and user plane cells at a predetermined rate and multiplexing / switching. 2. The read rate of a signaling cell,
2. The cell multiplex switching method according to claim 1, wherein the setting is performed according to a band use condition. 3. When the band usage status has not reached the upper limit, the readout rate of the signaling cell is set to a rate equal to the input rate, similarly to that of the user plane cell, and when the upper limit is being reached, the readout rate is lower than the input rate. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the rate is low. 4. A cell multiplexing device for multiplexing ATM cells, comprising: a cell deciding unit for deciding whether an input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell; Signaling queue means for queuing a cell determined to be: a user plane queue means for queuing a cell determined to be a user plane cell by the cell determination means; a signaling queue means and the user plane Reading means for reading and multiplexing signaling cells and user plane cells queued in the use queue means at a predetermined rate, respectively; and a band for controlling a rate at which the reading means reads signaling cells in accordance with a band use condition. A cell multiplexing device including a management unit. 5. The band management means sets the readout rate of the signaling cell to a rate equal to the input rate similarly to that of the user plane cell when the band use state has not reached the upper limit, and when the band use state is approaching the upper limit. 5. The cell multiplexing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the rate is lower than the input rate. 6. An ATM exchange for exchanging ATM cells, comprising: a cell judging unit for judging whether an input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell; and wherein the cell judging unit is a signaling cell. A signaling queue unit for queuing the determined cell; a user plane queue unit for queuing a cell determined by the cell determination unit to be a user plane cell; the signaling queue unit and the user plane queue unit Reading means for reading and multiplexing the signaling cells and the user plane cells queued at a predetermined rate, respectively, and a band management means for controlling a rate at which the reading means reads the signaling cells according to a band use condition. A signal output by the reading means Cell switching means for recognizing the destination of the user plane cell following the signaling cell based on the information included in the ring cell, and transmitting the user plane cell output by the reading means toward each destination. ATM switch provided. 7. The band management means sets the readout rate of the signaling cell to a rate equal to the input rate similarly to that of the user plane cell when the band use state has not reached the upper limit, and when the upper limit is being reached. 7. The ATM switch according to claim 6, wherein the rate is lower than the input rate. 8. An ATM switch for exchanging ATM cells, comprising: a plurality of input processing means for outputting an input signaling cell and a user plane cell at a predetermined rate, respectively; Based on information included in a signaling cell output by the plurality of input processing units, based on information included in a signaling cell output from the plurality of input processing units, and recognizing a destination of a user plane cell subsequent to the output rate. And a cell switching means for transmitting user plane cells output by the plurality of input processing means to respective destinations, wherein each of the plurality of input processing means determines whether an input cell is a signaling cell. Cell determination means for determining whether the cell is a user plane cell; and wherein the cell determination means is a signaling cell. A signaling queue means for queuing the cell determined to be determined, a user plane queue means for queuing the cell determined to be a user plane cell by the cell determination means, and a queued signal for the signaling queue means. Reading means for reading and multiplexing signaling cell cells at a rate specified by the band management means and at a preset rate for user plane cells queued in the user plane queue means.
M exchange. 9. The ATM exchange according to claim 8, wherein said band management means sets an output rate of a signaling cell to a mutually different rate for each of said plurality of input processing means. 10. The ATM switch according to claim 8, further comprising a synchronizing means for controlling a timing at which said plurality of input processing means outputs a signaling cell. 11. The input processing means includes:
Among the cells obtained by multiplexing the reading means, further includes a cell dividing means for dividing a signaling cell,
An ATM switch according to claim 8. 12. An ATM exchange for exchanging ATM cells, comprising: signaling processing for transmitting instruction information for setting a destination of a user plane cell and a signaling cell based on information included in a signaling cell from a terminal. First input processing means connected to the apparatus for outputting a signaling cell and a user plane cell from a terminal at a predetermined rate, respectively, and second input processing for outputting a signaling cell from the signaling processing apparatus at a predetermined rate Means, a band management means for controlling a rate at which the first input processing means and the second input processing means output a signaling cell in accordance with a band use condition, and instruction information transmitted by the signaling cell processing device Set the destination of the user plane cell based on the Cell switching means for transmitting a user plane cell output by the first input processing means, wherein the first input processing means determines whether the input cell is a signaling cell or a user plane cell. Cell determining means for determining; first signaling queue means for queuing a cell determined by the cell determining means to be a signaling cell; queuing of a cell determined by the cell determining means to be a user plane cell A user plane queue means for performing the processing, and the user plane cells queued in the user plane queue means at a rate specified by the bandwidth management means for the signaling cells queued in the first signaling queue means. First reading means for reading and multiplexing each at a set rate; Wherein the second input processing means comprises: a second signaling queue means for queuing a signaling cell transmitted by the signaling cell processing device; and a signaling cell queued in the second signaling queue means. And a second reading means for reading and multiplexing at a rate designated by the bandwidth management means.