Systeme unifie de communication a programmation regroupant les communications de l'art anterieur (telles que par exemple la television, la radio, l'impression transmise electroniquement, et les communications par ordinateur) ainsi que les nouveaux mass medias specifiques aux utilisateurs. Unified programming communication system involving communications of the prior art (such as eg television, radio, print transmitted electronically, and computer communications) and new mass media specific users. Dans le systeme unifie, des moyens (205) et procedes mettant en oeuvre des systemes d'ordinateurs ont la capacite de produire des informations specifiques a un utilisateur particulier, simultanement a chaque poste (26) d'une pluralite de postes d'abonnes (26). In the unified system, means (205) and methods employing computer systems have the ability to generate specific information to a particular user, simultaneously with each station (26) a plurality of subscriber stations ( 26).

Signal processing apparatus and methods.

A system in which a single VLAN architecture spans multiple VLAN transport protocols and technologies, including a method and system in which multiple different VLANs may be combined in a single enterprise network. Each LAN-switch in the sytem identifies each frame with an identifier, and associates that identifier with particular VLAN identifiers for each type of VLAN technology. When a frame is bridged or routed from a first type of VLAN to a second type of VLAN, the first VLAN encapsulation is removed and the second VLAN encapsulation is added, with appropriate change in the VLAN identifier for the frame or packet. The identifier may also be implicit for the frame, such as when a particular set of sender's MAC addresses are identified with a particular VLAN. Individual VLANs, of whatever architecture, may be added, configured or reconfigured, modified, or deleted, using control tools associated with the multiple VLAN architecture system. Individual ports may be associated with particular VLANs, or may be designated "dynamic" so that frames or packets associated with those ports are associated with particular VLANs in response to source or destination addresses or other information.

Multiple VLAN architecture system

A system is provided for adapting one of a number of different types of instruments to a common protocol. Each instrument has a serial input-output (I/O) port, a control for the serial I/O port, and an input for operating power to the instrument. The system includes a different type of housing for each different type of instrument. Each different type of housing includes openings through which selected controls and displays of a respective one of the instruments are accessible. Each different type of housing includes couplers for coupling to a respective type of instrument's serial I/O port, and to a respective type of instrument's operating power input, and a data processing module including a first multiple conductor. Each type of housing includes a complementary second multiple conductor connector for connecting to the first multiple conductor connector when a respective housing is mated to the data processing module.

Glucose test data acquisition and management system

A reliable transport protocol, suitable for routing protocols, that works with unicast transmission and multicast transmission, and an improved routing protocol based thereon. Multicast transmissions can be interspersed with unicast transmissions in situations where some of the receivers have received all of the packets sent to them and others have not. A mechanism to deliver multicast packets quickly to some receivers, even when there are unacknowledged packets pending for other receivers. When a packet is multicast from a sender node to all of its neighbors, the sender puts the packet on a queue for each neighbor and retransmits the packet if an acknowledgement has not been received within a predetermined period of time. If the packet is retransmitted, it is transmitted as a unicast. The invention takes advantage of the fact that the sender already has to maintain state information to determine who has not received its packets. A technique for distributing routing information gathered by a router outside an autonomous system of routers using the same routing protocol. A metric calculated by an identical routing protocol or a different routing protocol may be distributed and used by routers in a different autonomous system. Packets may be labeled with authentication information or with an administrative tag that specifies a method of routing in response to policy considerations.

Reliable transport protocol for internetwork routing

The invention provides a method and system for switching in networks responsive to message flow patterns. A message “flow” is defined to comprise a set of packets to be transmitted between a particular source and a particular destination. When routers in a network identify a new message flow, they determine the proper processing for packets in that message flow and cache that information for that message flow. Thereafter, when routers in a network identify a packet which is part of that message flow, they process that packet according to the proper processing for packets in that message flow. The proper processing may include a determination of a destination port for routing those packets and a determination of whether access control permits routing those packets to their indicated destination.

Network flow switching and flow data export

A technique and implementation of generating and supplying synchronization and error checking signals to a serially transmitted data stream includes the generation of flag bytes which define the end boundaries of the serial data stream, an abort character for aborting the transmission of a frame of data in response to certain conditions, and a diagnostic evaluation character inserted into the data stream. In addition, the invention provides a technique for ensuring that the unique binary code by which a flag byte is defined occurs in the transmitted data stream only where intended. The flag code has been chosen to contain a prescribed number of consecutive one bits, (i.e. -- six) flanked by zeroes, and circuitry monitors the contents of a data frame as it is being serialized out for transmission to a remote terminal at times other than during flag transmission. When five consecutive one bits are detected, serializing out of the next bit in the data is interrupted, and a dummy zero bit is inserted prior to the next bit. As a result, the transmitted frame of data will contain no more than five consecutive one bits, except during the flag bytes, (or an abort character) thus ensuring proper synchronization of the end points of the frame. At the receiver terminal, detection and decoding circuitry also monitors the number of consecutive one's in the received data stream. When five consecutive one's are detected, the receiver decoder circuitry checks to see whether the next bit is a dummy zero bit. If the next bit is a zero bit, it is deleted so that the intended data will be correctly reassembled.

System for controlling synchronization in a digital communication system

Communications between processor terminals are carried out through the use of communication adapters. Each adapter receives selected control signals for transmitting or receiving data over a serial communication link to or from a remote terminal. The transmission portion of an adapter includes pretransmission control circuitry which receives control signals and stores transmission control signals which are used to control the format and serial transmission of a frame of data to a remote terminal. Each frame of data is begun and terminated with a uniquely encoded flag byte. Following the first flag byte are successive address and control fields. An optional information field may follow the control field and may include encoded information designating a dynamic change in the byte size of the data. Immediately following the information field, a frame check sequence field, generated in accordance with the contents of each of the address, control, and information field, is transmitted, followed by a frame terminating flag byte. In order to enable the adapter to receive a serial data stream from a remote terminal and couple this received data to its assoicated processor, the adpater includes pre-reception control and direct memory access control circuitry coupled over the common control bus to the common control module and its associated memory. Upon completely disassembling a frame, the adapter generates appropriate status signals and an interrupt is supplied to the common control.

Digital data communication adapter

A digital communication system employs a technique of effectively controlling the size of the bytes making up a field of data to be serially transmitted from one station to another, particularly one wherein the byte size may be selectively changed during the transmission of the data field. Assembly of a transmitted data field is controlled so that it includes an encoded data byte, termed a first pre-header byte, which contains information as to whether or not a change in the byte size of the data field is to occur. If the first pre-header byte indicates the occurrence of a byte size change, it also will contain a code representative of the size of the change. In addition, for a change in byte size, a second encoded data byte, termed a second pre-header or count byte is generated and immediately follows the first pre-header byte. The count byte contains information which specifies the length of that portion of the data field which precedes the occurrence of the change in byte size. Thereafter, following these pre-header bytes are a number of bytes of a first byte length (usually eight bits), which number is designated by the count byte, succeeded by those data bytes whose size is that specified in the first pre-header byte.

John J. Kurtz

Papers

System for controlling synchronization in a digital communication system

Digital data communication adapter

Digital communications system utilizing controllable field size

Verfahren und vorrichtung zur seriellen uebertragung von informationen