Rate-Controlled Optical Burst Switching
First Claim
1. A method of burst switching in a network that includes at least one core node and a plurality of edge nodes, comprising the steps of:
- generating, by a core node from among said at least one core node, at least one edge-node-specific burst transfer permit;
distributing, by said core node, said at least one edge-node-specific permit to at least one of said plurality of edge nodes; and
sending, by at least one of said plurality of edge nodes, data bursts to said core node, the data bursts being assembled responsive to information in said burst-transfer permit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for low latency loss-free burst switching. Burst schedules are initiated by controllers of bufferless core nodes and distributed to respective edge nodes. In a composite-star network, the burst schedules are initiated by any of a plurality of bufferless core nodes and distributed to respective edge nodes. Burst formation takes place at source nodes and a burst size is determined according to an allocated bitrate of a burst stream to which the burst belongs. An allocated bitrate of a burst stream may be modified according to observed usage of scheduled bursts of a burst stream. A method of control-burst exchange between each of a plurality of edge nodes and each of a plurality of bufferless core nodes enables burst scheduling, time coordination, and loss-free burst switching. Both the payload bursts and control bursts are carried by optical channels connecting the edge nodes and the core nodes. A method and a circuit are provided for generating burst descriptors wherein each burst is associated with a burst stream and each burst stream is allocated a service bitrate. The generated burst descriptors are used in each master controller in each core node to create the burst schedules. In a conventional burst-scheduling process, the burst queues at a master controller of an optical switch receives burst descriptors from the source nodes and schedules the burst switching times. In a distinct departure, according to the present invention the burst descriptors are generated by a master controller of an optical switch in a core node, the switching times of the corresponding bursts are scheduled, and the schedules are distributed to the respective edge nodes. The burst-descriptor generation is based on burst-stream bitrate-allocation defined by the source nodes.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method of burst switching in a network that includes at least one core node and a plurality of edge nodes, comprising the steps of:
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generating, by a core node from among said at least one core node, at least one edge-node-specific burst transfer permit;
distributing, by said core node, said at least one edge-node-specific permit to at least one of said plurality of edge nodes; and
sending, by at least one of said plurality of edge nodes, data bursts to said core node, the data bursts being assembled responsive to information in said burst-transfer permit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. Network communication equipment that facilitates burst switching, comprising:
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a plurality of edge nodes;
a core node having a plurality of optical switches, each of said optical switches including;
a burst scheduler operative to generate at least one edge-node-specific burst transfer permit;
a transmitter operative to distribute said at least one edge-node-specific permit to a plurality of edge nodes; and
a receiver operative to receive data bursts sent from said edge nodes to said core node, wherein said data bursts are assembled responsive to information in said burst-transfer permit. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of burst switching in a communication network having at least one core node and a plurality of edge nodes, comprising the steps of:
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sending, by at least one of the edge nodes, a bitrate allocation request for a node pair, said request being sent to a controller of a core node from among said at least one core node;
generating, by said controller of the core node, at least one edge-node-specific burst transfer permit corresponding to the bitrate allocation request, including updating the bitrate allocation request for the node pair and including an updated bitrate allocation on the burst transfer permit;
distributing said at least one edge-node-specific burst transfer permit by said controller to at least one of the plurality of edge nodes; and
sending data bursts from at least one of the plurality of edge nodes to said core node based at least in part upon said burst-transfer permit. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification