text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Dec 5, 1995
|Filing date
|Nov 21, 1994
|Priority date
|Nov 21, 1994
|Fee status
|Publication number
|Diana L. Lorenz, Robert F. Shaw, Ronald A. Spanke
|Original Assignee
|At&T Corp.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (3), Referenced by (51), Classifications (20), Legal Events (8)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This invention relates to the field of packet switching networks, and, more specifically, to the area of controlling congestion in packet switch nodes that receive more packets that they can process during a given time interval.
Packet switching networks are being used in more and more applications to provide communications among distributed processors, wherein the sum total of the processors can provide more processing power than any one large processor. Increasingly, these processing networks communicate with other processing networks to further distribute the processing load, and for other reasons. Such inter-network communication is provided by a "gateway" in each system whose job it is to send and receive messages over the communications media connecting it to another gateway, and to perform any translation of protocol necessary for transmission on the gateway's network (referred to as the "home" network).
Today's packet switching networks continually increase in network speed as new technology becomes available. However, gateways generally have a throughput bandwidth (i.e., the speed at which the gateway can perform the protocol and/or data format changes) less than the speed of its home network. Further, the speed of the interconnection medium is frequently far less than the speed of the network. As a result, if there are many messages going from the network to the gateway, the gateway becomes overloaded.
In the prior art, the problem of gateway overload is usually addressed by providing the gateway with a very large receive buffer, by the gateway dropping messages when it becomes overloaded, or both. Gateways with very large receive buffers are expensive both in cost of the buffer and the system needed to maintain such a large buffer. Dropping messages is generally an acceptable solution only for those applications that use a level two or level three protocol. In these protocols, the sender waits for an acknowledgment back from the receiver, otherwise the sender sends the message again. Such solutions are appropriate for data or low speed applications, but not for high speed data transmission or low latency applications, such as packetized voice. Handshake protocols not only slow transmission down, but in many applications, the acknowledgment and retransmission protocols cannot be used, due to the low latency requirements. In these applications, dropping messages may be catastrophic.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of packetized voice transmission which requires such low latency. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless telephone switching system covering a wide geographical area. A CDMA system transmits/receives voice or data at the relatively slow rate of approximate 8 Kbps between a mobile unit 54 and a cell site such as 39 over a spread spectrum signal. A transceiver at the cell site sends/receives the spread spectrum signal and translates the content of the signal into packets. A speech processor (SP) then translates the packets into a digital 64 Kbps pulse code modulated (PCM), as used in standard digital switching. CDMA cellular communication is more fully described in "The Wideband Spread Spectrum Digital Cellular System Dual-Mode Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard," "CDMA Digital Common Error Interface Standard," revision 1.0, October, 1990, and "An Overview of the Application of Code Division Multiple Access to Digital Cellular Systems and Personal Cellular Networks," May 21, 1992, available from Qualcomm, Inc.--10555 Sorrento Valley Road--San Diego, Calif.
In most CDMA system designs, the speech processor is at the cell site. However, in this illustrated embodiment, the speech processor is on a packet switch, (such as 47, 147, and N47), connected to the cell site and the data received at the transceiver is packetized and then sent through a packet network to the designated speech processor. A system and method for such packetization and routing through the packet networks is described in U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 08/040,819 and 08/040,818, assigned to the assignee of this invention, which are incorporated herein by reference.
In this exemplary embodiment, wireless telephone (not shown) 50 in car 54 initiates a call to telephone 100, when car 54 is in cell 5, connected to packet switch 47. Packet handler (PH) 55 receives packets from cell 5 and sends them on bus 61 to speech processor (SP) 57, which connects the call to and from public switched telephone (PSTN) 3 and, thus, to telephone 100. As mobile 54 moves from cell 5 to cell 7, an executive call processor (EPC) network (not shown for clarity in this figure but well known in the art) informs cell site 7 of the SP 57 handling the call. As wireless telephone 54 moves into the boundary area between cells 7 and 9, packet handlers 53 and 54 both send packets on bus 61 to speech processor 57. Speech processor 57 continues to be the only connection to PSTN network 3 and, thus, to telephone 100 for this call. Wireless telephone 54 then moves fully into cell 9, and only packet handler 51 sends packets to speech processor 57.
Wireless telephone 54 then moves from cell 9 into adjoining cell 25, which is serviced by packet handler 155, and packet switch 147. Cell 25 sends packets to packet handler 155, which places them on packet bus 161. Gateway 202 recognizes that the address is not for a member of the packet bus 161 community, encapsulates the packets with ATM protocol, as described in the above-referenced patent applications, indicating the destination community, and sends them through self-routing asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network 400. Self-routing ATM network 400 examines the address and routes the cells to the appropriate gateway, which in this case is gateway 200, since the cells are destined for packet bus 61 and speech processor 57. Encapsulated packets arrive at gateway 200 in packet switch 47, are reassembled, and put on packet bus 61 to speech processor 57.
Similarly, when wireless telephone 54 moves through cells 35, 37, 39, and all intervening cells, all packets are sent to/from speech processor 57, since all of the packet switches are connected to ATM network 400. Thus, the call from speech processor 57 through PSTN 3 to telephone 100 does not have to be torn down as wireless telephone 54 traverses cell and switch boundaries. Therefore, no hard hand-off ever takes place throughout the entire network. An entire metropolitan area may be connected in this manner, with all cellular switches connected to one ATM network.
In the above example, only one wireless telephone is shown. In reality, there are many wireless devices, all sending calls to speech processors which are not necessarily on the same packet switch. Therefore, more packet handlers send packets to speech processors that are not on the same packet switch and, thus, send more traffic through their respective gateways 200 and 202, than they send to a destination on their own packet bus. So, for example, if there are 50 speech processors in the packet switch network of FIG. 1 equally distributed among five switches, then only one fifth (on the average) of all packets will be handled in the same packet switch. That means four fifths of the packet traffic will be sent through gateways. Additionally, CDMA packet traffic is packetized voice samples which are very time sensitive. If these packets are not delivered at a nearly steady rate, the call will be torn down. Thus, gateways 200 and 202 must have some method to avoid being overloaded by heavy time-sensitive packet traffic being sent to other switches.
Therefore, a problem in the art is that there is no system and method for preventing gateways from becoming overloaded when the nodes on the gateway's network are sending many messages to other networks.
This problem is solved and a technical advance is achieved in the art by a system and method that controls node congestion in a packet switching network by the congested node seizing control of transmission on the packet switching network and not relinquishing control until it has drained its receive buffer of the backlog of packets. Congestion is controlled at the congested node because no other node in the network can transmit packets to it; thus the congested node can guarantee that it will not continue to become overloaded to the point that it must drop packets. The packet network therefore does not require protocols that add to overhead, and will not cause disruption of high speed packet delivery on the average.
These results are achieved by a method operative in a gateway or other node on a network, wherein the node receives a large portion of the packet traffic on the network. In response to the node's receive buffer reaching a predetermined occupancy level, the node requests the network's arbiter for transmission rights on the network. Advantageously, the predetermined occupancy level is determined so that there is enough space left in the receive buffer for worst-case packet delivery to the buffer before the node receives transmission rights. During all this time the node is still processing packets out of its receive buffer.
When the node receives transmission rights from the arbiter, the node continues to process packets from the receive buffer. Advantageously, the node can also transmit any packets that it has to send on the packet network, but does not give up transmission rights when it is finished transmitting. This system will not continue to add congestion to the overloaded node, since any packets that it transmits are destined for other nodes in the system. Only when the occupancy of the receive buffer reaches a second predetermined threshold does the node release the transmission right, and thus permit other nodes to transmit packets to it (and to other nodes) again.
A more complete understanding of the invention may be obtained from consideration of the following description in conjunction with the drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a code division, multiple access wireless telephone communications network wherein a plurality of switches within a metropolitan area are connected to each other by gateways incorporating an exemplary embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary packet network from FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a gateway incorporating an exemplary embodiment of this invention connected to the packet network of FIG. 2; and
FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the operation of the gateway of FIG. 3.
Turning now to FIG. 2, a packet switch unit 47 is shown in which an exemplary embodiment of this invention prevents such gateway from becoming overloaded. Packet switch 47 is connected to ATM network 400 and, via the ATM network, to other packet switches, such as packet switch 147, via gateway 200. As in FIG. 1, packet switch unit 47 comprises a plurality of speech handlers represented by speech handler 57 and a plurality of packet handlers represented by packet handler 55. There is also a gateway 200, according to an exemplary embodiment of this invention, as will be described further below in connection with FIG. 3. According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, there may be up to 80 different units in packet switch 47.
Packet bus 61 is shown in more detail in FIG. 2. Packet bus 61 comprises arbiter 71, data select 73 and data fanout 75. Arbiter 71 maintains orderly transmission access to the units by determining which unit has the right to transmit packets. Data select is under control of arbiter 71 and selects data from one of the units connected to packet bus 61, depending on which unit arbiter 71 granted transmission rights. Data is then moved from data select 73 over bus 74 to data fanout 75. Data fanout 75 broadcasts data passed to it from data select 73 to all units connected to packet bus 61. If a unit recognizes that the address in the data packet is for that particular unit, the unit receives the data and puts it into a receive buffer (as will be described below). If the unit sees that the address is not for that unit, the unit ignores the packet.
Arbiter 71 comprises two basic units, a selector 76 and a grant generator 77. Selector 76 receives transmission right requests from all of the units connected to packet bus 61 and selects one of those units according to an algorithm. The algorithm selected is not important to this invention, as it may be any algorithm, such as round-robin, token ring, priority select, etc. In this exemplary embodiment, a token ring is used. In token ring selection, each unit is sequentially given an opportunity to "seize" the token. A unit that has a packet to transmit on bus 61 will issue a request to send (RTS) signal to selector 76. Selector 76 passes the token among all units connected to it. The next unit with its RTS signal active "seizes" the token. Selector 76 will then select that particular unit to be granted the transmission right. After the unit has transmitted its packet, a predetermined number of packets or all packets, the unit gives up the token by inactivating its RTS signal, whereby the next unit may seize the token.
When selector 76 has made its selection, it informs grant generator 77. Grant generator 77 generates a grant signal which is sent to the selected unit to indicate that the selected unit may broadcast on packet bus 61. Selector 76 also transmits its selection to data select 73, so that it may configure itself to receive data from the selected unit.
As seen in FIG. 1, packet handlers 55 will generally outnumber speech handlers 57 and will certainly outnumber gateways, such as 200. Packet handlers 55 send packets anywhere in the system for call handling. As shown above, gateway 200 will receive the majority of packets transmitted on packet bus 61. Also, due to the time-sensitive nature of the CDMA transmissions, it is very important that gateway 200 handle all packets in a timely manner without dropping any packets, which would cause unacceptable tear down of in-progress calls. Thus, acknowledgment and retransmission protocols must be avoided.
Turning now to FIG. 3, gateway 200 is illustrated in a block diagram, according to an exemplary embodiment of this invention. Gateway 200 includes a receive buffer 81 for receiving packets from the packet bus, and a transmit buffer 82 for storing packets before they are transmitted to the packet bus. Gateway 200 also includes a control circuit 83 connected to transmit buffer 82 which determines when the transmit buffer has one or more packets to transmit. When control 83 determines that there is a packet to transmit in transmit buffer 82, it asserts a request-to-send (RTS) lead 84 which is connected to selector 76 (FIG. 2). When selector 76 grants the request to gateway 200, grant generator 77 asserts a signal on the clear-to-send (CTS) line 85. This clear-to-send signal is received at control 83 which causes transmit buffer 82 to transmit one or more packets to the packet bus. When the packet or packets have been transmitted, control 83 deactivates the RTS signal and, thus, relinquishes its transmission rights.
Receive buffer 81 receives packets from data fanout 75 (FIG. 2), through screen 91. Screen 91 monitors the address of received packets and only allows packets with the address of gateway 200 to pass to receive buffer 81. Microprocessor 86 then causes packets in receive buffer 81 to be moved into interface 87, which in this embodiment is an ATM interface that prepares the data for transmission on ATM network 400. Interface 87 also receives data from ATM network 400, removes the ATM encapsulation information, and reassembles packets (if they are larger than the ATM payload). Microprocessor 86 then causes packets to be moved from interface 87 to transmit buffer 82.
As stated above, the architecture of packet switch 47 (FIG. 2), and network (FIG. 1 ) tend to cause receive buffer 81 of gateway 200 to become instantaneously overloaded. In order to prevent such overload, receive buffer 81 is also connected to microprocessor 86, according to an exemplary embodiment of this invention. Microprocessor 86 senses when the number of packets in receive buffer 81 reaches a first predetermined level and then asserts the hold-off (HO) signal on lead 90, which causes the RTS signal on line 84 to be asserted. This trigger level may be calculated to prevent the buffer from overflowing. That is, this trigger level should be less than the maximum possible number of additional packets that may be received after microprocessor 86 causes the hold-off (HO) signal 90 to be asserted and before the clear-to-send signal on line 85 is received.
As stated above, when microprocessor 86 determines that receive buffer 81 is at or above its predetermined threshold, microprocessor 86 sends a hold-off signal 90. Microprocessor 86 continues to assert the hold-off signal 90 until the number of packets in receive buffer 81 are less than or equal to a second predetermined number. This second predetermined number may be the same as the first. Thus, as long as receive buffer 81 has more than the first predetermined level, microprocessor 86 will assert the hold-off signal 90, which causes the RTS signal 84 to be asserted.
Microprocessor 86 continues to process packets from receive buffer 81 through interface 87. Microprocessor 86 does not release the hold-off signal 90 until the number of packets is less than or equal to a second predetermined threshold. In this manner, no other packets may be sent to gateway 200 (after gateway 200 receives its clear-to-send signal) because gateway 200 itself is holding on to the packet bus 61. Therefore, the number of packets in receive buffer 81, by definition, will not continue to increase, and cannot overflow and, thus, no packets will be lost. Additionally, this system will cause only minimal backups in the transmit buffers of the other units connected to packet bus 61, because the amount of time that gateway 200 holds onto the transmit grant to empty its receive buffer 81 will be minimal. Each node has direct control of its own transmit buffer and will not continue to generate packets if its own transmit buffer fills up. In addition, packet buffering is essentially shared between the transmit buffers of all nodes on the system, rather than being concentrated in the receive buffer of the overload node, as in the prior art. However, far less buffering is required in the transmit buffers of other nodes with this invention than would have been required if copies of packets were held for retransmission until an acknowledgment was received.
Transmission buffer 82 may have packets to transmit at times when microprocessor 86 is not asserting a hold-off signal. To this end, OR gate 88 is added to control 83, according to this exemplary embodiment, so that either microprocessor 86 or control 83 may assert a signal on the request-to-send line 84. Additionally, AND gate 89 is used so that when transmit buffer 82 has packets to send while microprocessor 86 is holding on to the request to send lead 84, control 83 sees the clear-to-send signal on line 85. Control 83 will only transmit when it has something to transmit, and thus, not flood packet bus 61 with bad data.
Turning now to FIG. 4, a flow chart of the operation of gateway 200 is shown. Processing starts at 400 and proceeds to decision diamond 402. In decision diamond 402, a determination is made whether there are a number of packets greater than or equal to the first threshold in the receive buffer. If there are not, then processing returns back to decision diamond 402. If, in decision diamond 402, there are a number of packets greater than or equal to the first threshold, then processing proceeds to action box 404, wherein gateway 200 requests the transmission right from the arbitration control 71. Processing continues to decision diamond 405, where a determination is made whether gateway 200 has been granted transmission rights. If not, then processing returns back to decision diamond 405. When the transmission right is granted, processing continues to decision diamond 406 to determine whether the gateway 200 has one or more packets to transmit. If there are packets to transmit, then processing proceeds to action box 408 where one packet is transmitted.
Processing proceeds from both decision diamond 406 and action box 408 to decision diamond 410, where a determination is made whether there have been sufficient packets processed from the receive buffer such that the number of packets in the receive buffer are less than or equal to a second threshold. If there are not, then processing proceeds back to decision diamond 406. If there are fewer packets in the receive buffer than the second threshold, then processing proceeds to action box 412 where the transmission right is released. Processing then returns to decision diamond 402.
It is to be understood that the above-described embodiment is merely an illustrative principle of the invention and that many variations may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Other types of networks besides packet switches may use this embodiment of this invention without departing from this invention. For example, applicants' invention will work on a local area network regardless of the priority scheme. It is, therefore, intended that such variations be included within the scope of the claims.
|Cited Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Sep 21, 1988
|Sep 12, 1989
|Nec Corporation
|Star topology local area network
|Dec 24, 1985
|Feb 13, 1990
|American Telephone And Telegraph Company
|Data transmission security arrangement for a plurality of data stations sharing access to a communication network
|Mar 18, 1992
|Sep 7, 1993
|Fischer & Porter Company
|Network architecture suitable for multicasting and resource locking
|Citing Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Apr 19, 1995
|Nov 25, 1997
|Lucent Technologies Inc.
|System and method for increasing throughput of inter-network gateways using a hardware assist engine
|Feb 10, 1997
|Apr 7, 1998
|Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
|Network connecting apparatus with separate data and control signal lines
|Jun 5, 1996
|Jul 28, 1998
|Compaq Computer Corporation
|Multicast data communications switching system and associated method
|Apr 30, 1996
|Sep 8, 1998
|Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson
|Packet data communications system having a malfunction list
|Nov 12, 1996
|Mar 9, 1999
|Hewlett-Packard Company
|Dynamic allocation of queue space using counters
|Apr 14, 1997
|Mar 23, 1999
|Lsi Logic Corporation
|Single chip network adapter apparatus
|Sep 20, 1996
|May 4, 1999
|Nec Corporation
|ATM cell buffer managing system in ATM node equipment
|May 31, 1996
|Aug 31, 1999
|Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc.
|Low latency transport of signals in an error correcting data modem
|Sep 22, 1997
|Jan 18, 2000
|Lsi Logic Corporation
|High speed network interface having SAR plus physical interface
|Aug 19, 1997
|Jan 25, 2000
|Ericsson Messaging Systems Inc.
|Message buffering for prioritized message transmission and congestion management
|Jan 2, 1996
|Jan 30, 2001
|Cisco Systems, Inc.
|Enhanced network services using a subnetwork of communicating processors
|Mar 19, 1997
|Feb 20, 2001
|Yrp Mobile Telecommunications Key Technology Research Laboratories Co., Ltd.
|Method for flow control, node and communication network employing the flow control
|Mar 6, 1998
|Feb 20, 2001
|Alcatel Internetworking, Inc.
|Repeater with flow control device transmitting congestion indication data from output port buffer to associated network node upon port input buffer crossing threshold level
|Feb 13, 1998
|Feb 20, 2001
|Intel Corporation
|Method/apparatus for dynamically changing FIFO draining priority through asynchronous or isochronous DMA engines in response to packet type and predetermined high watermark being reached
|Oct 6, 1997
|May 29, 2001
|Ericsson Messaging Systems Inc.
|Method and apparatus for managing control messages in a communication system
|Jan 21, 1998
|Apr 9, 2002
|Lucent Technologies, Inc.
|Method and system for half-duplex wireless communication
|Apr 9, 1998
|Aug 5, 2003
|Aspect Communications Corporation
|Dynamic allocation of communication resources within a communication system
|Apr 28, 1999
|Sep 23, 2003
|Cisco Technology, Inc.
|Dynamically delisting and relisting multicast destinations in a network switching node
|Jan 31, 2000
|Dec 16, 2003
|Motorola, Inc.
|Reassembly unit and a method thereof
|Feb 2, 1999
|Mar 2, 2004
|Broadcom Corporation
|Bit slice arbiter
|Sep 30, 1998
|Apr 6, 2004
|Stmicroelectronics, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for controlling network data congestion
|Nov 22, 2000
|Sep 27, 2005
|P-Cube, Ltd.
|Method and apparatus for process flow random early discard in service aware networking systems
|Mar 25, 1999
|Oct 18, 2005
|Cisco Technology, Inc.
|Call record management for high capacity switched virtual circuits
|Feb 24, 2004
|Jul 4, 2006
|Stmicroelectronics, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for controlling network data congestion
|Sep 16, 2002
|Apr 17, 2007
|Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
|Arrangement and method for controlling dataflow on a data bus
|Apr 26, 2002
|Aug 7, 2007
|P-Cube Ltd.
|Apparatus and method for pattern matching in text based protocol
|Apr 25, 2000
|Dec 18, 2007
|Thomson Licensing S.A.
|Multi-channel power line exchange protocol
|Jan 14, 2002
|Jan 29, 2008
|Fujitsu Limited
|Weighted credit-based arbitration using credit history
|Oct 29, 2004
|Apr 29, 2008
|Intel Corporation
|Method in a frame based system for reserving a plurality of buffers based on a selected communication protocol
|Mar 31, 2004
|Nov 4, 2008
|Intel Corporation
|Receive buffer in a data storage system
|Jan 20, 2004
|Nov 11, 2008
|Broadcom Corporation
|Bit slice arbiter
|Mar 29, 2002
|Aug 4, 2009
|Cisco Technology, Inc.
|Network-wide congestion control of SPVC signaling messages
|Sep 19, 2007
|Aug 9, 2011
|Cisco Technology, Inc.
|Behavioral classification of communication sessions using active session initiation
|Jun 4, 2008
|Sep 20, 2011
|Microsoft Corporation
|Simple flow control protocol over RDMA
|Jan 26, 2000
|Apr 17, 2012
|Cisco Technology, Inc.
|Managing network congestion using dynamically advertised congestion status
|Nov 6, 2003
|Aug 27, 2013
|Avaya, Inc.
|System and method for per flow guaranteed throughput, multiple TCP flow bandwidth provisioning, and elimination of packet drops for transmission control protocol (TCP) and TCP-friendly protocols
|Apr 1, 2002
|Oct 2, 2003
|Hanners Ernest M.
|Orthopedic shoulder weight halter
|Apr 26, 2002
|Oct 30, 2003
|P-Cube Ltd.
|Apparatus and method for pattern matching in text based protocol
|Nov 6, 2003
|Jul 15, 2004
|Moore Sean S. B.
|System and method for per flow guaranteed throughput, multiple TCP flow bandwidth provisioning, and elimination of packet drops for transmission control protocol (TCP) and TCP-friendly protocols
|Jan 20, 2004
|Aug 12, 2004
|Broadcom Corporation
|Bit slice arbiter
|Feb 24, 2004
|Sep 9, 2004
|Stmicroelectronics, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for controlling network data congestion
|Mar 31, 2004
|Oct 6, 2005
|Pak-Lung Seto
|Receive buffer in a data storage system
|Oct 29, 2004
|May 4, 2006
|Pak-Lung Seto
|Buffer utilization in a frame based communication system
|Sep 16, 2002
|Jul 13, 2006
|Mans Cederlof
|Bus control arrangement and method
|Jun 4, 2008
|Dec 24, 2009
|Microsoft Corporation
|Simple Flow Control Protocol Over RDMA
|Mar 21, 1997
|Oct 1, 1997
|YRP Mobile Telecommunications Key Technology Research Laboratories Co., Ltd.
|Method for flow control, node and communication network employing the flow control
|Mar 21, 1997
|Oct 27, 1999
|YRP Mobile Telecommunications Key Technology Research Laboratories Co., Ltd.
|Method for flow control, node and communication network employing the flow control
|Sep 28, 1999
|Jun 28, 2000
|SGS-THOMSON MICROELECTRONICS, INC. (a Delaware corp.)
|Method and apparatus for controlling network congestion
|Sep 28, 1999
|Oct 16, 2002
|SGS-THOMSON MICROELECTRONICS, INC. (a Delaware corp.)
|Method and apparatus for controlling network congestion
|Aug 10, 1999
|Feb 24, 2000
|S3 Incorporated
|Communicating the status of a peripheral device controller to a host processor
|Jan 31, 2000
|Aug 10, 2000
|Cisco Technology, Inc.
|Switched virtual circuit controller for a setup congestion management strategy
|U.S. Classification
|370/229, 370/452, 370/403, 370/462, 370/335
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Nov 21, 1994
Owner name: AT&T CORP., NEW YORK
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:LORENZ, DIANA LYNNE;SHAW, ROBERT FRANCIS;SPANKE, RONALD ANTHONY;REEL/FRAME:007257/0824;SIGNING DATES FROM 19941118 TO 19941121
|May 3, 1995
Owner name: AT&T IPM CORP., FLORIDA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:AT&T CORP.;REEL/FRAME:007467/0511
Effective date: 19950428
|Jul 9, 1996
|Certificate of correction
|Jun 1, 1999
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|May 1, 2003
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 8
|May 31, 2007
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 12
|Mar 7, 2013
Free format text: SECURITY INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:ALCATEL-LUCENT USA INC.;REEL/FRAME:030510/0627
Effective date: 20130130
Owner name: CREDIT SUISSE AG, NEW YORK
|Oct 9, 2014
Owner name: ALCATEL-LUCENT USA INC., NEW JERSEY
Free format text: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:CREDIT SUISSE AG;REEL/FRAME:033950/0261
Effective date: 20140819


text:
The eBook, Winter Soups, was created by gathering fantastic recipes from 52 food bloggers. These recipes include soups made with dairy, squash and roots, beans or lentils, or different meats and can range from sweet to sour in flavor. Each blogger offers his/her very own healthy soup recipe. Some soups are concocted from basic ingredients most people have in the pantry, while others will test a person's palate with a wonderful blend of unique herbs and spices.
Pat Robinson, a former critical care nurse, and Aubrey Griffin Johnson, a wife and mother of three, gathered an awesome collection of individuals to provide a plethora of winter soup recipes for anyone interested in whipping up wholesome food for any occasion. Each recipe is nicely laid out with a clear heading, appetizing photo, list of ingredients, and step-by-step instructions on how to prepare the soup. A short, but sweet, bio for the blogger the recipe came from is listed below the set of directions, as well as useful contact information.
A Table of Contents combines soups with similar ingredients for easy finding within the eBook. The individual sections include:
- Cheese and Cream Soups,
- Pumpkin, Squash and Root Vegetable Soups,
- Sweet, Sour and Exotic Flavored Soups,
- Beans and Lentil Soups,
- Beef Based Soups,
- Poultry Based Soups,
- Pork Based Soups,
- and Seafood Based Soups.
For looking up a particular soup by name, there is also an index towards the end of the eBook which lists soups in alphabetical order. Following the soup index is the Community Cookbook Contributors Page Index, which identifies the blogger, his/her website, as well as the page number his/her soup recipe is listed on.
Overall, this eBook of winter soup recipes is nicely laid out, easy to follow, and enjoyable to peruse. Do you have a favorite winter soup recipe?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Previous Chapter: Desupai 1
Next Chapter: Desupai 3
HappyScans! & Mahjongkrazy
read desupai 2 english, desupai 2 raw manga, desupai 2 online, desupai 2 chap, desupai 2 chapter, desupai 2 high quality, desupai 2 manga scan
Copyrights and trademarks for the manga, and other promotional materials are held by their respective owners and their use is allowed under the fair use clause of the Copyright Law. © 2017 MangaFox.me.Privacy Policy | Legal Disclaimer | Terms of Service | Contact Us


text:
There have been a couple of articles recently about Athens Regional Medical Center's plans to cut services and lay off some workers due to decline in revenue.
May I suggest and old axiom: Leadership by example.
If I recall correctly, the Athens Banner-Herald also reported some time ago that the CEO of ARMC received an annual salary and benefit package of about $750,000.
I would suggest the CEO voluntarily reduce his pay to, say, half a million dollars per year. Perhaps other administrators could do the same and avoid any loss of service or personnel.
M.R. Bachler
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday, September 4, 2003.
© 2017. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


text:
All New HTC One Shown In Picture Gallery With One Max Size Comparisons
The All New HTC One has been leaked a ton over the past few months. We've seen pictures, accessories, and even a super amateur hands on video. HTC is set to have an event on March 25th for the "All New HTC One", as they're calling it. We've seen official HTC teasers that show customers the differences between the previous HTC One and the newest One. We've also been seeing leaks for HTC's new accessories, which look like flip covers that show you the weather and time using lighted dots. The leaks keep getting more and more frequent as the announcement event nears. We're now seeing more pictures of the All New HTC One. The images come from China, and they show us size comparisons between the HTC One Max and the All New HTC One. We also get to see the HTC One by itself, and with the new wallpaper. We don't really see much software in this set of photos, but it's nice to see the comparison of size between the two HTC phones.
The HTC One is going to showcase an updated version of HTC's Sense UI, named Sense 6.0. It'll also be using Kit Kat's white notification bar, as seen in many leaks. It also looks like we'll be seeing a MicroSD card slot on this device, as leaked in the amateur video of the All New HTC One. Evleaks also stated that there will be a Google Play Edition of the All New HTC One coming in the future. The All New HTC One will be using on-screen software buttons, rather than the soft key buttons on the original HTC One. As far as colors go, rumor has it that we'll be seeing gold, blue, silver and black. HTC has also mentioned in one of their teasers that they'll be updating BoomSound for the All New HTC One.
Black Friday 2017 Deals: Find Great Deals on Android Smartphones, TV's, Smart Speakers, Chromebooks and More.
We've heard quite a bit about this device. It seems like the only thing HTC has left to do is hold their event and actually launch the phone. Who knows, though? They might have some secrets that they've managed to hold out on. It's very hard to keep a brand new flagship device on lockdown these days. We'll just have to wait until March 25th to officially see the device.


text:
Best Foods For Weight Loss
It goes without saying that hitting the gym is extremely important when it comes to trying to get rid of unwanted weight. However many people fail to remember that incorporating the right foods into your diet goes hand in hand with exercise. Regardless of how many hours you clock at the gym you will never reach the full potential of your fitness goals without a creating a healthy lifestyle all around. Try adding the suggested foods!
Green Tea: Helps promote weight loss by helping the body burn calories and fat.
Romaine Lettuce: An excellent source of B vitamins, folic acid, and manganese, which helps regulate blood sugar. When your blood sugar is balanced it helps your body burn stored fat, increase your metabolism and helps you to lose weight.
Almonds: Curbs hunger and blocks the body's absorption of fat!
Whey: Consume in moderation coupled with a regular workout routine. Whey builds muscle and also burns fat.
Cayenne Pepper: This spice can help rev up your metabolism by burning fat and increasing your energy.
Water: Reaching for the water bottle when you think you are hungry is one sure fire way to ward off extra snacking. Often times when we think we are hungry our body is usually crying out for hydration.
Berries: Prevents cravings.
Grapefruit: Contains soluble fiber, vitamin C and folic acid. Research has found that when you include half a grapefruit before each meal it can lead to greater weight loss.
Broccoli: Because broccoli is low in calories you can have a considerable serving without the guilt. The fiber rich veggie is only 54 calories per cup!