The present invention describes a system and method for communicating voice and data over a packet-switched network that is adapted to coexist and communicate with a legacy PSTN. The system permits packet switching of voice calls and data calls through a data network from and to any of a LEC, a customer facility or a direct IP connection on the data network. The system includes soft switch sites, gateway sites, a data network, a provisioning component, a network event component and a network management component. The system interfaces with customer facilities (e.g., a PBX), carrier facilities (e.g., a LEC) and legacy signaling networks (e.g., SS7) to handle calls between any combination of on-network and off-network callers. The soft switch sites provide the core call processing for the voice network architecture. The soft switch sites manage the gateway sites in a preferred embodiment, using a protocol such as the Internet Protocol Device Control (IPDC) protocol to request the set-up and tear-down of calls. The gateway sites originate and terminate calls between calling parties and called parties through the data network. The gateway sites include network access devices to provide access to network resources. The data network connects one or more of the soft switch sites to one or more of the gateway sites. The provisioning and network event component collects call events recorded at the soft switch sites. The network management component includes a network operations center (NOC) for centralized network management.

Voice over data telecommunications network architecture

The present invention provides a firewall that achieves maximum network security and maximum user convenience. The firewall employs “envoys” that exhibit the security robustness of prior-art proxies and the transparency and ease-of-use of prior-art packet filters, combining the best of both worlds. No traffic can pass through the firewall unless the firewall has established an envoy for that traffic. Both connection-oriented (e.g., TCP) and connectionless (e.g., UDP-based) services may be handled using envoys. Establishment of an envoy may be subjected to a myriad of tests to “qualify” the user, the requested communication, or both. Therefore, a high level of security may be achieved. The usual added burden of prior-art proxy systems is avoided in such a way as to achieve fall transparency-the user can use standard applications and need not even know of the existence of the firewall. To achieve full transparency, the firewall is configured as two or more sets of virtual hosts. The firewall is, therefore, “multi-homed,” each home being independently configurable. One set of hosts responds to addresses on a first network interface of the firewall. Another set of hosts responds to addresses on a second network interface of the firewall. In one aspect, programmable transparency is achieved by establishing DNS mappings between remote hosts to be accessed through one of the network interfaces and respective virtual hosts on that interface. In another aspect, automatic transparency may be achieved using code for dynamically mapping remote hosts to virtual hosts in accordance with a technique referred to herein as dynamic DNS, or DDNS.

Firewall providing enhanced network security and user transparency

A system and method for facilitating packet transformation of multi-protocol, multi-flow, streaming data. Packet portions subject to change are temporarily stored, and acted upon through processing of protocol-dependent instructions, resulting in a protocol-dependent modification of the temporarily stored packet information. Validity tags are associated with different segments of the temporarily-stored packet, where the state of each tag determines whether its corresponding packet segment will form part of the resulting modified packet. Only those packet segments identified as being part of the resulting modified packet are reassembled prior to dispatch of the packet.

System and method for providing transformation of multi-protocol packets in a data stream

A system includes one or more computer systems and a fulfillment coordination computer coupled to the computer systems over a network. The fulfillment coordination computer is operable to receive an order, use a first set of rules to split the order into one or more work packages necessary to fulfill the order, and use a second set of rules to assign the work packages to one or more partners.

Supply chain fulfillment coordination

Methods and apparatus for aggregating IP packets over an access link between a wireless access router and a core node and for managing resource allocation to access link packet aggregates, e.g., as a function of the status of wireless communications links used to couple mobile nodes to the access router are described. Improved aggregate resource control messages and use of such messages are described. Some of the new messages allow aggregate resources for both upstream and downstream aggregates to be controlled in a single message. A single message may include information corresponding to multiple aggregates and/or multiple constituent flows included in an aggregate with aggregate direction information being included. Use of tunnels to communicate management messages, e.g., messages used to control resource allocation to aggregates is also described. Propagation of access link aggregate information is communicated to tunnel end nodes which generate packets that are communicated over the access link.

Messages and control methods for controlling resource allocation and flow admission control in a mobile communications system

A forwarding table data structure and a memory optimization process that involves variable multi-stage lookups. The data structure for an address translation system includes, a plurality of blocks, each of the plurality of blocks includes a contiguous set of data records; each data record includes a pointer and an action indicator; if the action indicator is equal to a prescribed value the pointer represents an address of a translation target in the data structure; and if the action indicator is not equal to the prescribed value the pointer represents an address of a selected one of the plurality of blocks in the data structure. The data structure is built based on the input data set (e.g. IP routing table) to be memory optimized. The number of stages can be flexibly determined based on memory restrictions, input data set etc. Since the data structure is essentially "customized" optimal routing speeds can be obtained.

Address translation method and system having a forwarding table data structure

A high-capacity switch for transferring variable-sized packets under rate control is described. The packets are divided in the switch into segments of predetermined equal size. The packets are reconstructed before egress from the switch. The switch serves traffic of different classes of service, but the class of service distinction is relevant only at the ingress or egress modules. The switch control is preferably centralized to facilitate effective sharing of the inner capacity of the switch. The control is based on modulating the ingress/egress rate according to traffic load, the central control being unaware of the class of service disposition of the traffic it controls. The advantage is a high capacity switch adapted to transfer variable-sized packets with guaranteed rate control.

Rate-controlled multi-class high-capacity packet switch

A large capacity ATM switch (10) includes a space switch core (16) connecting input buffer modules (12) and output buffer modules (14) by way of high speed links (34) Upon request from an input buffer module, the space switch core sets up a connection to a desired output module Data are sent in a burst consisting of a train of ATM cells of any arbitrary number As the data are sent in trains of more than one ATM cell, the connection control (32) of the core can be made to operate at a much slower speed Electro-optical arrangements of the space switch core (Figure 8) are described as embodiments

Large capacity ATM switch

A new architecture of an ATM or ATM/STM switching node which is functionally equivalent to the classical buffer-space-buffer (BSB) architecture is disclosed. In the basic embodiment, it uses middle packet buffers with a rotator (commutator) at its input and output. It has two main advantages over the BSB architecture. First of all, in the ATM mode, the need for arbitration when more than one inlet competes for the same outlet during the same time slot is eliminated. Each packet knows when to proceed without being aware of the competing packets. This greatly simplifies the switching-control mechanism. Secondary, the switch hardware complexity is reduced through the use of clock-driven rather than state-controlled cross points. The cross-point ratio is 4/√n, where n is the number of inlets (outlets).

Rotating-access atm-stm packet switch

An ATM packet switching system has output segregated input buffers, which are operated on a realtime by crosspoint selection circuits implementing a combined buffer fill/age algorithm to come up with a new selection every packet cycle.

Ernst August Munter

Papers

Address translation method and system having a forwarding table data structure

Rate-controlled multi-class high-capacity packet switch

Large capacity ATM switch

Rotating-access atm-stm packet switch

Method and apparatus for input-buffered asynchronous transfer mode switching