ATM telecommunications systems and method for routing narrow band traffic
View Patent ↗A telecommunications system comprises an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network having uncommitted bandwidth, and a plurality of adaptive grooming routers (AGR) coupled to the network. The AGRs comprise a group adapted to function as a virtual transit exchange whose fabric and control are distributed over the group. The virtual comprising the AGRs incorporates independent connection control and call routing functions and has means for determining the current system status whereby to set up narrow band connections across the ATM network based on that status determination.
1. A telecommunications system comprising:
an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network; and
a plurality of adaptive grooming routers (AGRs) coupled to the network, each AGR comprising an ATM switch including at least one adaptive virtual junctor (AVJ) for adapting narrowband traffic received at said AGR to/from the ATM adaptation layer,
wherein the AGRs are interconnected across the ATM network by virtual trunks and are arranged to function as a distributed narrowband exchange to set up narrowband connections across the ATM network.
2. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a plurality of local exchanges are coupled to the network and wherein the local exchanges are dual homed to the network.
3. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the network incorporates means for load balancing of traffic originating from the local exchanges.
4. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the virtual transit exchange comprising the AGRs incorporates independent connection control and call routing functions.
5. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the call routing function is adapted to perform a selection of potential voice routes and to prioritise that selection.
6. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein said prioritisation is performed from an assessment of congestion of said potential voice routes.
7. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the service and connection aspects of the connection control function are separated whereby to facilitate support of advanced services and a plurality of connection models.
8. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein said call routing function incorporates means for determining availability of a destination and for rejecting at source traffic to that destination in the event that the destination is unavailable.
9. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 1 and incorporating means for providing a narrow band multicast function.
10. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 1 and incorporating means for voice path tracing whereby to effect failure recovery.
11. A telecommunications system as claimed in claim 1 including means for determining the current traffic status of the system whereby to effect routing of narrow band traffic across the system.
12. A method of routing handling telecommunications traffic in a telecommunications system, the method comprising the steps of:
an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network; and
interconnecting a plurality of adaptive grooming routers (AGRs) coupled to the an asynchronous transfer mode ( ATM ) network, each AGR comprising an ATM switch including at least one adaptive virtual junctor (AVJ) for adapting narrowband traffic received at said AGR to/from the ATM adaptation layer, the interconnecting being by virtual trunks across the ATM network,
wherein the AGRs are interconnected across the ATM network by virtual trunks and are arranged arranging the routers to function as a distributed narrowband exchange to set up narrowband connections across the ATM network; and
adapting narrowband traffic received at a said router to/from an ATM adaptation layer.
13. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein comprising determining a set of potential voice routes are determined for a connection and wherein a prioritisation of prioritizing said routes is performed from an assessment of congestion of said potential voice routes.
14. A method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein comprising determining the availability of a destination is determined and rejecting traffic to that destination at source in the event that the destination is unavailable.
15. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein comprising determining the current traffic status of the system is determined prior to effecting routing of narrowband traffic across the system.
16. A telecommunications system comprising:
an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network; and
a plurality of adaptive grooming routers (AGRs) coupled to the network, each AGR comprising an ATM switch including means for adapting narrowband traffic received at said AGR to/from the ATM adaptation layer,
wherein the AGRs are interconnected across the ATM network by virtual trunks and are arranged to function as a distributed narrowband exchange to set up narrowband connections across the ATM network.
17. A telecommunications system comprising:
a broadband digital communications network; and
a plurality of adaptive grooming routers ( AGRs ) coupled to the network, each AGR comprising a traffic switch including at least one adaptive virtual junctor ( AVJ ) for adapting narrowband traffic received at said AGR to/from the network,
wherein the AGRs are interconnected across the network by virtual trunks and are arranged to function as a distributed narrowband exchange to set up narrowband connections across the network.
18. A telecommunications system according to claim 17 , wherein a plurality of local exchanges are coupled to the network.
19. A telecommunications system according to claim 18 , wherein the local exchanges are dual homed to the network.
20. A telecommunications system according to claim 19 , wherein the network incorporates means for load balancing of traffic originating from the local exchanges.
21. A telecommunications system according to claim 17 , wherein the distributed narrowband exchange incorporates independent connection control and call routing functions.
22. A telecommunications system according to claim 21 , wherein the call routing function is arranged to perform a selection of at least one potential voice route.
23. A telecommunications system according to claim 21 , wherein the call routing function is arranged to perform a selection of potential voice routes and to prioritise that selection.
24. A telecommunications system according to claim 23 , wherein said prioritisation is performed from an assessment of congestion of said potential voice routes.
25. A telecommunications system according to claim 21 , wherein connection control and call routing functions are separated whereby to facilitate support of advanced services and a plurality of connection models.
26. A telecommunications system according to claim 21 , wherein said call routing function incorporates means for determining availability of a destination and for rejecting at source traffic to that destination in the event that the destination is unavailable.
27. A telecommunications system according to claim 17 and incorporating means for providing a narrow band multicast function.
28. A telecommunications system according to claim 17 and incorporating means for voice path tracing whereby to effect failure recovery.
29. A telecommunications system according to claim 17 including means for determining the current traffic status of the system whereby to effect routing of narrow band traffic across the system.
30. A telecommunications system according to claim 17 , wherein the network is a packet- switched network.
31. A telecommunications system according to claim 17 , wherein the network is a connection- oriented network.
32. A telecommunications system according to claim 31 , wherein the network is an asynchronous transfer mode ( ATM ) network.
33. A telecommunications system according to claim 32 , wherein the traffic switch is an ATM traffic switch and the AVJ is for adapting narrowband traffic received at a said AGR to/from an ATM adaptation layer for the ATM network.
34. A telecommunications system according to claim 17 , wherein the network is a wide area network ( WAN ).
35. A method of handling telecommunications traffic in a telecommunications system, the method comprising the steps of:
interconnecting a plurality of routers coupled to a broadband digital communications network, the interconnecting being by virtual trunks across the network;
arranging the routers to function as a distributed narrowband exchange to set up narrowband connections across the network; and
adapting narrowband traffic received at a said router to/from the network.
36. A method according to claim 35 , comprising determining one or more potential voice routes for a connection.
37. A method as claimed in 35 , comprising determining a set of potential voice routes for a connection and prioritizing said routes from an assessment of congestion of said potential voice routes.
38. A method as claimed in 35 , comprising determining the availability of a destination and rejecting traffic to that destination at source in the event that the destination is unavailable.
39. A method as claimed in 35 , comprising determining the current traffic status of the system prior to effecting routing of narrowband traffic across the system.
40. A method according to claim 35 , wherein the network is a packet- switched network.
41. A method according to claim 35 , wherein the network is a connection- oriented network.
42. A method according to claim 41 , wherein the network is an asynchronous transfer mode ( ATM ) network.
43. A method according to claim 35 , wherein the network is a wide area network ( WAN ).
44. An adaptive grooming router ( AGR ) for use in a telecommunications system comprising a broadband digital communications network to which the AGR may be coupled, the AGR comprising:
a traffic switch including at least one adaptive virtual junctor ( AVJ ) for adapting narrowband traffic received at said AGR to/from the network, and
an interface for interconnecting the AGR with one or more other AGRs across the network by virtual trunks,
wherein the AGR is arranged to function as at least part of a distributed narrowband exchange for setting up narrowband connections across the network.
45. An AGR according to claim 44 , wherein the AGR incorporates a connection control function.
46. An AGR according to claim 45 , wherein the AGR incorporates a call routing function.
47. An AGR according to claim 46 , wherein the connection control function and the call routing functions are independent.
48. An AGR according to claim 46 , wherein the call routing function is arranged to perform a selection of at least one potential voice routes.
49. An AGR according to claim 46 , wherein the call routing function is arranged to perform a selection of potential voice routes and to prioritise that selection.
50. An AGR according to claim 49 , wherein said prioritisation is performed from an assessment of congestion of said potential voice routes.
51. An AGR according to claim 46 , wherein the connection control and call routing functions are separated whereby to facilitate support of advanced services and a plurality of connection models.
52. An AGR according to claim 46 , wherein said call routing function incorporates means for determining availability of a destination and for rejecting at source traffic to that destination in the event that the destination is unavailable.
53. An AGR according to claim 44 , wherein the network is a packet- switched network.
54. An AGR according to claim 44 , wherein the network is a connection- oriented network.
55. An AGR according to claim 54 , wherein the network is an asynchronous transfer mode ( ATM ) network.
56. An AGR according to claim 55 , wherein the traffic switch is an ATM traffic switch and the AVJ is for adapting narrowband traffic received at said AGR to/from an ATM adaptation layer for the ATM network.
57. An AGR according to claim 44 , wherein the network is a wide area network ( WAN ).
58. A method of routing traffic in a telecommunications system the method comprising the steps of:
interconnecting a plurality of routers across a broadband digital communications network by virtual trunks;
setting up narrowband connections across the network using the virtual trunks, the plurality of routers thereby being arranged to function as a distributed narrowband exchange; and
adapting narrowband traffic received at one of said routers to/from the network.
59. A method according to claim 58 , comprising the step of:
determining one or more potential voice routes for a connection.
60. A method according to claim 58 , comprising the steps of:
determining a set of potential voice routes for a connection; and
prioritising said routes from an assessment of congestion of said potential voice routes.
61. A method according to claim 58 , comprising the steps of:
determining the availability of a destination; and
rejecting at source traffic to that destination in the event that the destination is unavailable.
62. A method according to claim 58 , comprising the steps of:
determining the current traffic status of the system; and
routing narrowband traffic across the system in dependence on the determined current traffic status.
63. A method according to claim 58 , wherein the network is a packet- switched network.
64. A method according to claim 58 , wherein the network is a connection- oriented network.
65. A method according to claim 64 , wherein the network is an asynchronous transfer mode ( ATM ) network.
66. A method according to claim 58 , wherein the network is a wide area network ( WAN ).