Inventors:
Francois J. Bitz - Pittsburgh PA
Onat Menzilcioglu - Pittsburgh PA
Eric C. Cooper - Pittsburgh PA
Robert D. Sansom - Pittsburgh PA
Assignee:
Fore Systems, Inc. - Warrendale PA
International Classification:
H04L 1256
Abstract:
An ATM cell interface for dispatching an ATM cell having a header. The interface is comprised of N input ports, where N. gtoreq. 1 and is an integer. The cell is also comprised of a table lookup mechanism that directs a cell from an input port to any desired destination. The table lookup mechanism has entries which identify desired destination for corresponding cells. The number of possible entries in the table lookup mechanism is less than a total number of entries supported by the ATM cell header. Preferably, a cell includes a VCI field having a value and a VPI field having a value. The table lookup mechanism preferably includes a first table which produces a first signal based on the value of the VPI field and a second level table which produces a second signal based on the value of the VCI field. The first and second signals are used to route the cell from an input port to a desired destination. Additionally, there is a method for dispatching an ATM cell.