Access Device and Service Transmission Method

• US 20070291764A1
• Filed: 04/30/2006
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wu, Haijun
• Granted Patent: US 7,899,061 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/395.5
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/505 Cell based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data

Abstract

An access device includes a Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) connection management functional module for establishing a label connection and using the label connection for service transmission. The present invention also discloses a service transmission method, including establishing, in the access device, an external connection with the network side, and getting the received service mapped by the access device to the external label for transmission. A high bandwidth of the access device is ensured by utilizing a simple label switching principal in the MPLS protocol according to this invention; meanwhile, it is possible for the access device to support the access of multiple services, such as those of a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), a Fast Ethernet (FE) and an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), by utilizing the good service adaptability of the MPLS protocol to effectively increase the utilization rate of the network.

Claims

1. An access device, comprising:

a subscriber interface functional module;

a main control switching functional module; and

a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) connection management functional module for establishing a label connection needed for a service transmission of the access device and for using, controlling and releasing the label connection during the service transmission.

2. The access device according to claim 1, wherein the MPLS connection management functional module comprises:

an MPLS control management module, for establishing the label connection, sending a control instruction for using and controlling the label connection when transmitting a service, and sending another control instruction for releasing the label connection when the service transmission is over; and

an MPLS service processing module for mapping, according to the control instruction sent from the MPLS control management module, each service sent from a user terminal to the label connection sent from the MPLS control management module and transferring the service, releasing the label connection when the service transmission is over, and de-encapsulating the label connection based service sent from the network side.

3. The access device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a clock system module for providing a reference timing for the whole access device, outputting the reference timing from the clock module of the main control switching functional module of the access device to each clock module of the access device.

4. The access device according to claim 1, wherein the label connection comprises a single layer MPLS Label Switched Path (LSP) connection, an MPLS LSP stack connection, pseudo wires edge-to-edge emulation PWE3 encapsulation information loaded on the corresponding MPLS label connection and attribute information related with the label connection.

5. The access device according to claim 1, wherein the MPLS connection management functional module is configured in the subscriber interface functional module and/or the main control switching functional module of the access device, or independently configured outside of the subscriber interface functional module and the main control switching functional module.

6. The access device according to claim 1, wherein, when the service is transferred between the subscriber interface functional module and the main control switching functional module of the access device using the MPLS protocol based label connection, the MPLS connection management functional module comprises:

an internal MPLS connection resource management module for managing connection resources between the subscriber interface functional module and the main control switching functional module in the access device, and sending out the connection resource information,

an MPLS control management module for establishing an internal label connection between the subscriber interface functional module and the main control switching functional module according to the connection resource information sent from the internal MPLS connection resource management module, establishing an external label connection between the access device and the network side, and sending out the established internal and external label connections; and

an MPLS service processing module for mapping the service sent from the user terminal to the internal and external label connections established by the MPLS control management module for transmission, performing a label switching during the service transmission, and de-encapsulating the label connection based service sent from the network side.

7. The access device according to claim 6, wherein the MPLS connection resource management module and the MPLS control management module are configured in the main control switching functional module of the access device, and a distributed MPLS connection configuration module and a distributed MPLS service processing module are configured distributely in the subscriber interface functional module, wherein:

the distributed MPLS connection configuration module is for sending the label connection established by the MPLS control management module down to the distributed MPLS service processing module in the subscriber interface functional module; and

the distributed MPLS service processing module is for mapping the service sent from the user terminal to the label connection sent from the distributed MPLS connection configuration module for transmission, and de-encapsulating the label connection based service sent from the network side.

8. The access device according to claim 6, wherein the access device further comprises:

a line interface module for matching the service sent from other interfaces to the interface of the subscriber interface functional module, and sending the matched service to a data service processing module; and

the data service processing module for adapting the service sent by the line interface module from a non-MPLS protocol bearer architecture to the MPLS protocol bearer architecture, and sending the adapted service to the main control switching functional module.

9. The access device according to claim 1, wherein, when the service is transferred between the main control switching functional module of the access device and the network side using the MPLS protocol based label connection, the MPLS connection management functional module comprises:

an external MPLS control management module for establishing the external label connection between the main control switching functional module and the network side, sending the control instruction for using and controlling the label connection when the service is sent by the main control switching functional module to the network side, and sending out the control instruction for releasing the established label connection when the service transmission is over; and

an external MPLS service processing module for mapping, according to the control instruction sent from the external MPLS control management module, the service sent to the network side to the label connection established by the external MPLS control management module for transmission, releasing the label connection when the service transmission is over, and de-encapsulating the label connection based service sent from the network side.

10. The access device according to claim 1, wherein the access device is a broadband access device.

11. A service transmission method used in an access device comprising a subscriber interface functional module and a main control switching functional module, comprising

establishing in the access device an external label connection between the access device and the network side;

mapping, by the access device after receiving a service sent from a user terminal, the service to the established external label connection; and

sending the service mapped to the label connection to the network side by the access device.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, when an MPLS protocol based label connection is used by the access device for service transmission between the subscriber interface functional module and the main control switching functional module, the step of the access device mapping the service to the established external label connection comprises:

after receiving the service sent from the user terminal, the subscriber interface functional module of the access device choosing a corresponding label connection for the service in an uplink label connection table stored in itself according to the service bearer information and/or service type comprised in the service, mapping the service to the selected label connection for transmission to the main control switching functional module, wherein the outmost layer label of the label connection is an internal label of the access device.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of the access device sending the service mapped to the label connection to the network side comprises:

receiving, by the main control switching functional module of the access device, the label connection based service sent by the subscriber interface functional module; and

sending the service to the network side after performing label switching to the outmost layer label by the main control switching functional module, wherein the outmost layer label after switching is the external label between the access device and the network side.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the step of the main control switching functional module sending the service to the network side after the label switching of the outmost layer label of the service performed comprises:

searching by the main control switching functional module according to the service bearer information received from the subscriber interface functional module, a corresponding label in the outmost layer label crosstab saved by the main control switching module itself, switching the outmost layer label of the service according to the label found, and then sending the service to the network side.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein, when the service is transferred using the MPLS protocol based label connection only between the main control switching functional module of the access device and the network side, the step of the access device mapping the service to the established external label connection, after receiving the service sent from a user terminal comprises:

sending the service from the user terminal directly to the main control switching functional module by the subscriber interface functional module; and

the step of the access device sending the service mapped to the label connection to the network side comprises;

choosing, according to the service bearer information and/or service type in the service received, a corresponding label connection for the service in its own uplink label connection table by the main control switching functional module, mapping the service to the selected label connection and then sending the service to the network side.

16. The method according to claim 11, before the step of establishing in the access device the external label connection between the access device and the network side, further comprising:

configuring an interface attribute and an interface type in the access device, binding the interface attribute, the interface type and a remote end device IP address, and starting to establish the label connection;

after the label connection has been established, configuring a corresponding label switching table in the main control switching functional module and configuring in the subscriber interface functional module the label connection table of the subscriber interface functional module according to the label switching table sent from the main control switching functional module.

17. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

de-encapsulating the service based on the MPLS protocol after the main control switching functional module receives the service sent from the network side, and sending the de-encapsulated service to the subscriber interface functional module.

18. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

performing the label switching based to the outmost layer label of the service after the main control switching functional module receives the service from the network side, and sending the service after the label switching to the subscriber interface functional module;

after the service is received by the subscriber interface functional module, de-encapsulating the service based on the MPLS protocol and sending the de-encapsulated service to the user terminal.