DYNAMIC MIXING OF TDM DATA WITH DATA PACKETS

• US 20080130689A1
• Filed: 01/15/2008
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Netlogic I LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sheikh, Khalid, Gupta, Chandrasekaran Nageswara, Woo, Thomas Yat Chung, Mukherjee, Debaditya, Kumar, Addepalli Sateesh, Shah, Tushar Ramanlal, Agrawal, Jai Prakash
• Granted Patent: US 8,503,457 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/498
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6402 Hybrid switching fabrics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0066 Provisions for optical burst or packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0071 Provisions for the electrical-optical layer interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0033 using time division switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0084 Quality of service aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/20 Negotiating bandwidth

Abstract

To more fully utilize the available bandwidth of a network link, network nodes in accordance with the present invention allow TDM data to be combined with packet data. A Packet/TDM cross connect switch, having both a TDM switch and a packet switch, is used in these embodiments. Data packets are transformed into TDM packet columns. The TDM packet columns are combined with standard TDM data columns in the payload of a TDM data frame. Data packets may be sorted based on a priority scheme, in which high priority data packets are given precedence over lower priority data. However, both high priority and low priority may be combined in a TDM packet column

Claims

1. A method of forming a TDM frame, the method comprising determining an available bandwidth for a current TDM data frame;

selecting a predefined TDM bandwidth with a predefined payload size, wherein the predefined TDM bandwidth is greater than the available bandwidth,

determining an fractional payload size for the current TDM data frame based on the available bandwidth; and

creating the current TDM data frame having a payload that is less than or equal to the fractional payload size.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a header for the current TDM frame based on the predefined TDM bandwidth and the predefined payload size.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined TDM bandwidth is an integral multiple of a base bandwidth.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the base bandwidth is OC-1/STS-1.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the available bandwidth is not an integral multiple of the base bandwidth.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating the current TDM data frame having a payload that is less than or equal to the fractional payload size comprises:

receiving a plurality of TDM data columns;

receiving a plurality of data packets,

transforming a first subset of the data packets into one or more TDM packet columns;

combining the TDM packet columns with a first subset of the TDM data columns to form the payload of the current TDM data frame.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a TDM packet column includes a high priority data packet and a low priority data packet.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiving a plurality of TDM data columns further comprises receiving an incoming TDM data frame containing a second subset of TDM data columns.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the receiving a plurality of TDM data columns further comprises receiving a third subset of TDM data columns from a TDM user interface.

10. A method of transmitting TDM data frames between a first network node and a second network node over a data link, the method comprising:

determining an available bandwidth for a current TDM data frame;

selecting a predefined TDM bandwidth with a predefined payload size, wherein the predefined TDM bandwidth is greater than the available bandwidth.

determining an fractional payload size for the current TDM data frame based on the available bandwidth;

creating the current TDM data frame having a payload that is less than or equal to the fractional payload size; and

transmitting the current TDM data frame from the first network node to the second network node using timing based on the predefined TDM bandwidth.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising padding the payload of the current TDM data frame to be of the predefined payload size.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising creating a header for the current TDM frame based on the predefined TDM bandwidth and the predefined payload size.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the predefined TDM bandwidth is an integral multiple of a base bandwidth.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the base bandwidth is OC-1/STS-1.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the available bandwidth is not an integral multiple of the base bandwidth.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the creating the current TDM data frame having a payload that is less than or equal to the fractional payload size comprises:

receiving a plurality of TDM data columns;

receiving a plurality of data packets,

transforming a first subset of the data packets into one or more TDM packet columns;

combining the TDM packet columns with a first subset of the TDM data columns to form the payload of the current TDM data frame.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein a TDM packet column includes a high priority data packet and a low priority data packet.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the receiving a plurality of TDM data columns further comprises receiving an incoming TDM data frame containing a second subset of TDM data columns.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the receiving a plurality of TDM data columns further comprises receiving a third subset of TDM data columns from a TDM user interface.

20. A method of forming a plurality of TDM frames, the method comprising:

determining a first available bandwidth for a first TDM data frame;

selecting a first predefined TDM bandwidth with a first predefined payload size, wherein the first predefined TDM bandwidth is greater than the first available bandwidth;

determining a first fractional payload size for the current TDM data frame based on the first available bandwidth;

creating the first TDM data frame having a first payload that is less than or equal to the first fractional payload size; and

determining a second available bandwidth for a second TDM data frame;

selecting a second predefined TDM bandwidth with a second predefined payload size, wherein the second predefined TDM bandwidth is greater than the second available bandwidth. determining a second fractional payload size for the current TDM data frame based on the second available bandwidth; and

creating the second TDM data frame having a second payload that is less than or equal to the second fractional payload size.