Bounds on the mean system-size and delay for a movable-boundary integrated circuit and packet switched communications channel

Consideration is given to a multiaccess communications channel which is shared on an integrated circuit-switched and packet-switched basis. Applications include time-division multiplexing and demand-assigned/TDMA (time-division multiaccess) communication channels which are shared by circuit-switched services (such as isochronous voice) and packet-switched services (such as data). Frames of fixed duration are established and divided into two parts: one part is used for voice transmissions while the other part serves to accommodate packetized data traffic. These two parts are separated by a movable boundary, so that data traffic can use the frame capacity which is temporarily unoccupied by voice transmissions. An exact expression is derived for the mean packet system size and delay. To reduce the computational complexity involved in using this expression, simpler expressions for upper and lower bounds are derived for the mean packet system size and packet delay. Examples that demonstrate the tightness of these numerically efficient bounds are presented