摘要:
A method and an apparatus for shaping the output traffic in the transmit part of a network node adapter. The network node supports fixed length cell switching user information traffic between a source unit and a destination unit. The method and apparatus use two lookup tables called an active and a standby calendar per output line. Each entry in the calendars represents the position of one cell in the output cell stream. Three parameters tables are used to store the information on user traffic in the descending order of the user bandwidth share negotiated at traffic establishment time for the calendars. The active calendar is continuously read by a transmit device and the corresponding cells are sent onto the output line. Under control of a control device, a placement device places entries in the standby calendar reserved as changes occur in the traffic. Once filled up, the standby calendar is swapped to the active calendar and is read by the transmit device.