Importance

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Abstract

An Ethernet-to-ATM and ATM-to-Ethernet converter is coupled between an Ethernet physical layer and an ATM physical layer. In an Ethernet-to-ATM communication path, the converter includes a start frame delimiter unit coupled to an output of an Ethernet physical interface. The start frame delimiter unit is coupled to a first buffer and to a cell separation and threshold logic unit. The first buffer is in turn coupled to an ATM physical interface. Software in a personal computer can format a frame that is sent along the Ethernet-to-ATM communication path. The frame is prepared as an Ethernet-type frame with a data field having one or more cells formatted similarly to ATM cells. In an ATM-to-Ethernet communication path of the converter, a second buffer is coupled to the ATM physical interface. A preamble generation logic unit is coupled to the second buffer and to the Ethernet physical interface. An ATM cell received from the ATM physical interface is held in the second buffer, and a preamble is added to the ATM cell to transform it into an Ethernet-type frame that is subsequently sent to the Ethernet physical interface.

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First Claim