Output Triggering adds Classes of Service to the Associative Chandelier

Abstract In ATM switches, data from more than one input port can be multiplexed onto a single output port. Thus the cell arrival rate can exceed the port's capacity. Switches conventionally deal with this problem by discarding cells. Buffering could reduce this problem, but is generally avoided in ATM designs, to minimise delays and jitter. The association between buffering and the drawbacks of delay and jitter is not inevitable, however; an earlier buffering system, the associative chandelier reduced delay and jitter for Available Bit Rate and Unspecified Bit Rate channels, and with the addition of the output triggering mechanism proposed here, it eliminates them for the all-important Available Bit Rate and Unspecified Bit Rate channels.