Patent attributes
A method for transporting real-time data such as voice over a packet-based infrastructure, and a switch for use with that method, are disclosed. In this method, datagrams from multiple data streams are packaged in a single tunnel packet for transport across a network to an intermediate switching point (switch). To reduce bandwidth, each datagram in the tunnel packet (e.g., tunneled datagram) can be sent in a compressed-header format identified by a context identifier (CID) for its data stream. The switch saves context state for each tunnel and CID it is receiving packets for. The switch deaggregates received tunnel packets into tunneled datagrams and associates each datagram with its context state. Based on the destination indicated in its context state, each datagram it re-aggregated in an outgoing tunnel packet bound for a next switch or the destination endpoint itself.
