A computerized method of presenting information from a variety of sources on a display device. Specifically the present invention describes a graphical user interface for organizing the simultaneous display of information from a multitude of information sources. In particular, the present invention comprises a graphical user interface which organizes content from a variety of information sources into a grid of tiles, each of which can refresh its content independently of the others. The grid functionality manages the refresh rates of the multiple information sources. The present invention is intended to operate in a platform independent manner.

System and method for simultaneous display of multiple information sources

A computer network having multiple, dissimilar network devices includes a system for implementing high-level, network policies. The high-level policies, which are generally device-independent, are translated by one or more policy servers into a set of rules that can be put into effect by specific network devices. Preferably, a network administrator selects an overall traffic template for a given domain and may assign various applications and/or users to the corresponding traffic types of the template. Location-specific policies may also be established by the network administrator. The policy server translates the high-level policies inherent in the selected traffic template and location-specific policies into a set of rules, which may include one or more access control lists, and may combine several related rules into a single transaction. Intermediate network devices, which may have one or more roles assigned to their interfaces, are configured to request traffic management information from the policy server which replies with a particular set of transactions and rules. The rules, which may correspond to the particular roles assigned to the interfaces, are then utilized by the intermediate devices to configure their particular services and traffic management mechanisms. Other rules are utilized by the intermediate devices to classify packets with a particular priority and/or service value and to treat classified packets in a particular manner so as to realize the selected high-level policies within the domain.

Method and apparatus for defining and implementing high-level quality of service policies in computer networks

A system and method for controlling routing of data. It is determined whether at least one data flow is active, the at least one data flow having an ingress portion of a current ingress path to a first point from a second point and an egress portion of a current egress path to the second point from the first point. Another data flow is routed via a next ingress portion of a next path to the first point from the second point.

System and method to provide routing control of information over networks

An architecture for a line card in a network routing device is provided. The line card architecture provides a bi-directional interface between the routing device and a network, both receiving packets from the network and transmitting the packets to the network through one or more connecting ports. In both the receive and transmit path, packets processing and routing in a multi-stage, parallel pipeline that can operate on several packets at the same time to determine each packet's routing destination is provided. Once a routing destination determination is made, the line card architecture provides for each received packet to be modified to contain new routing information and additional header data to facilitate packet transmission through the switching fabric. The line card architecture further provides for the use of bandwidth management techniques in order to buffer and enqueue each packet for transmission through the switching fabric to a corresponding destination port. The transmit path of the line card architecture further incorporates additional features for treatment and replication of multicast packets.

Pipelined packet switching and queuing architecture

A method of controlling ablation volume depth includes providing a treatment apparatus. The apparatus comprises a housing having a proximal and distal end including a tissue contacting surface. The housing defines an interior with an energy delivery device positionable in the interior. The energy delivery device includes at least one electrode with a tissue penetrating distal end and is configured to be advanced from the interior into a target tissue site to define an ablation volume. An advancement device is coupled to the energy delivery device and is configured to advance the at least one electrode. The at least one electrode is advanced to a selected deployment depth beneath a tissue surface while avoiding a critical structure. Energy is delivered from the energy delivery device. An ablation volume is created at a controlled depth below the tissue surface responsive to the deployment depth while minimizing injury to the critical structure.

Tissue surface treatment apparatus and method

A flexible, policy-based, mechanism for managing, monitoring, and prioritizing traffic within a network and allocating bandwidth to achieve true quality of service (QoS) is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for managing bandwidth allocation in a network that employs a non-deterministic access protocol, such as an Ethernet network. A packet forwarding device receives information indicative of a set of traffic groups, such as: a MAC address, or IEEE 802.1p priority indicator or 802.1Q frame tag, if the QoS policy is based upon individual station applications; or a physical port if the QoS policy is based purely upon topology. The packet forwarding device additionally receives bandwidth parameters corresponding to the traffic groups. After receiving a packet associated with one of the traffic groups on a first port, the packet forwarding device schedules the packet for transmission from a second port based upon bandwidth parameters corresponding to the traffic group with which the packet is associated. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for managing bandwidth allocation in a packet forwarding device. The packet forwarding device receives information indicative of a set of traffic groups. The packet forwarding device additionally receives information defining a QoS policy for the traffic groups. After a packet is received by the packet forwarding device, a traffic group with which the packet is associated is identified. Subsequently, rather than relying on an end-to-end signaling protocol for scheduling, the packet is scheduled for transmission based upon the QoS policy for the identified traffic group.

Policy based quality of service

A method and system for an aggregated virtual local area network (VLAN) architecture in which several VLANs in a network share the same default router address and subnet mask, but remain isolated from one another's network traffic. Instead of the traditional method of assigning one subnet to a VLAN, each VLAN is assigned only a portion of a subnet's IP address space, and is further grouped into a super-VLAN uniquely associated with that subnet. Intra-VLAN traffic is forwarded only to host IP addresses assigned to that same VLAN according to a VLAN identifier carried in the data packet. Inter-VLAN traffic is processed by a virtual router interface which routes the data packet by applying the routing configuration for the subnet uniquely associated with the super-VLAN, according to a super-VLAN identifier carried in the data packet. The routing configuration used by the virtual router interface includes routing protocols, static routes, redundant router protocols and access-lists. Since each VLAN shares the same virtual router interlace, the traditional address overhead of a subnet is minimized, requiring only one default router and subnet mask, as well as only one pair of subnet broadcast addresses for all hosts on the subnet and the subnet itself. The aggregated VLAN architecture provides for the efficient use and management of a network's IP address space.

Method and system for VLAN aggregation

A packet switching device having a central shared memory and a number of medium access controllers each coupled to a communications medium to exchange data packets therewith, and a controller coupled to each medium access controller via a data path to exchange data packets with the media access controller. The controller has a number of data path controllers each connected to each medium access controller via a separate and like portion of the data path to exchange a corresponding portion of the data packets with the medium access controller. The data path controllers each have a number of buffers each connected to one of the medium access controllers to which the data path controller is connected, to hold the portion of the data packets exchanged with the corresponding medium access controller. Each data path controller has a selector that selects the buffer from which to transmit or receive the portion of the data packets with the central shared memory and control logic that controls the selector to concurrently select the buffer corresponding to the same medium access controller. A comparison engine associated with each data path controller detects the slice of a field in a data packet buffered in the corresponding data path controller and computes a hashing function on the contents of the slice of the field to generate a hash key. A packet forwarding controller reads one or more entries from a hash bucket in a forwarding database indexed by the hash key and sends the entries to the comparison logic. The comparison logic compares the slice of the field in the buffer to each of the entries and returns the results of the compare to a packet forwarding controller. The forwarding controller then forwards, filters or identifies packets based on the results of the comparisons done on each slice of a field in the packets.

Sliced comparison engine architecture and method for a LAN switch

A network interconnect device (100) and message exchange protocol for forwarding data among packet forwarding devices (105) are provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, data is forwarded between a first and second packet forwarding device (105) coupled to an interconnect device (100). The interconnect device (100) receives a menu message from the first packet forwarding device that indicates one or more types of data that are awaiting transmission on the first packet forwarding device (105). Based upon the menu message, the interconnect device (100) transmits an order message selecting a type of data of the one or more types of data awaiting transmission to the first packet forwarding device (105). The interconnect device (100) receives a message from the first packet forwarding device (105) containing data of the type selected by the order message. The interconnect device (100) then forwards the data to the second packet forwarding device.

Network interconnect device and protocol for communicating data among packet forwarding devices

A method and system is provided in which MAN traffic is segregated at a customer and a provider domain level. A switch at the edge of the MAN encapsulates a data packet in a new header, which is used to specify the customer domain tags. The data packet is encapsulated further in another new header, which is used to specify new VMAN tags. The nested encapsulation is repeated as necessary until the data packet is forwarded to a remote switch at the edge of the MAN in accordance with the VMAN configuration or the source and destination address in the original data packet. The remote switch strips the VMAN tags from the data packet, and forwards the stripped data packet to the receiving customer domain as specified in the customer domain tag.

Michael Yip

Papers

Policy based quality of service

Method and system for VLAN aggregation

Sliced comparison engine architecture and method for a LAN switch

Network interconnect device and protocol for communicating data among packet forwarding devices

Method and system for VMAN protocol