Identification of VC merging source during multipoint-to-point communication

The VC merging algorithm is used widely for multipoint-to-point ATM communication. For AAL5 lacking multiplex ID field, the downstream receiving point cannot distinguish the multiplexed source in a multipoint-to-point VC after VC merging. So the source based rate distribution algorithms cannot work properly. We designed a source detection algorithm to enable the switch to know the number of sources and the cell rate of each source in a multipoint-to-point VC. These information is very important for the source based rate distribution algorithm. We used the ERICA algorithm in our simulations and the simulations demonstrated the proper operation of the source detection algorithm.