Method of Transferring Structured Data of Constant Bit Rate Traffic in an ATM Network

1. For use in a data communication network in which constant bit rate traffic is to be transported in fixed length cells having a fixed length cell header and a fixed length cell data payload, a method of generating data cells to be transported over a given connection established between a source node and a destination node to allow said data cells to be used for transport of N-byte data structures, said method comprising the steps of: a) setting an indicator in a cell header to a first value and a count to N, filling the cell payload portion with complete or partial data structures, forwarding the data cell for transport, resetting the header indicator to a second value and setting N equal to N-1; b) for each subsequent data cell to be transported over the same given connection, determining whether N equals 1; c) where N is not equal to 1, writing any bits of a data structure which was only partially loaded into the preceding cell's payload portion into leading positions of the current cell's payload portion and filling the remainder of the payload portion with complete or partial data structures, forwarding the data cell for transport and setting N equal to N-1; and d) repeating steps b) and c) until step b) indicates that N equals 1 and then repeating steps a) through c) until the last cell to be transported over the same given connection has been forwarded.

2. In a data communication network in which constant bit rate traffic is to be transported in fixed length cells having a fixed length cell header and a fixed length cell data payload, a method of receiving data cells used in transporting N-byte data structures over a given connection established between a source node and a destination node, each of said cells having a cell header indicator set to either a first value or a second value, said method comprising the steps of: a) receiving a data cell; b) determining whether the header indicator in the received cell equals the first value or the second value; c) where the header indicator in the received cell is found to equal the first value, setting a count equal to N, processing the cell, repeating steps a) and b) and setting N equal N-1; d) where the header indicator in the received cell is found to be equal to the second value, processing the cell and determining whether the current count is equal to 1; e) where the current count is greater than 1, setting N equal N-1 and repeating steps a) through d) until step d) shows that the current count is equal to 1 or until the last data cell has been received; and f) where the current count is equal to 1, repeating steps a)through e) until the last data cell has been received.