DEVICE AND METHOD FOR COORDINATING AUTOMATIC PROTECTION SWITCHING OPERATION AND RECOVERY OPERATION

• US 20110276825A1
• Filed: 01/21/2010
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Original Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Zhenyu, Dong, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 8,775,869 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/437 Ring fault isolation or reconfiguration for SDH/SONET ring networks H04J3/085
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device and a method for coordinating an APS operation and a recovery operation. The device includes a working channel detection unit, a protection channel detection unit, a protection protocol unit and a recovery protocol unit. The method comprises: when the working channel of current service fails, the working channel detection unit reporting a working channel alarm to the protection protocol unit and a recovery protocol unit of current node; the recovery protocol unit starting up a timer after receiving the working channel alarm, and the protection protocol unit determining whether the recovery operation needs to be started up immediately after receiving the working channel alarm, and if yes, the protection protocol unit notifying the recovery protocol unit to start up the recovery operation immediately; the recovery protocol unit starting up the recovery operation immediately after receiving the notification. The present invention reduces the damage time of the service in the case of the APS function failure.

Claims

1. A device for coordinating an Automatic Protection Switching (APS) operation and a recovery operation, comprising a working channel detection unit, a protection protocol unit and a recovery protocol unit, wherein the working channel detection unit is configured to monitor the working channel failures of services and to report a working channel alarm to the protection protocol unit and the recovery protocol unit in the case of failure occurring in the working channel,

the protection protocol unit is configured to receive the working channel alarm and to determine whether a recovery operation needs to be started up immediately according to the working channel alarm, wherein if yes, it notifies the recovery protocol unit to start up the recovery operation immediately, otherwise it starts up a Automatic Protection Switching (APS) operation;

the recovery protocol unit is configured to receive the working channel alarm and the notification of immediately starting up the recovery operation, wherein it starts up the recovery operation when the notification of immediately starting up the recovery operation is received, or when the working channel alarm received still exists even if the time limit expires.

2. The device for cooperating an APS operation and a recovery operation according to claim 1, wherein,

the device further comprises a protection channel detection unit, which is configured to perform fault monitoring on the protection channel of service and to report a protection channel alarm to the protection protocol unit when the protection channel fails;

and the protection protocol unit is further configured to receive the protection channel alarm.

3. A device for coordinating an APS operation and a recovery operation according to claim 2, wherein, the protection protocol unit is further configured to determine the type of received alarm, and to record the alarm information of the protection channel and mark the state of the protection channel “

on alarm”

when the protection channel alarm is received.

4. A method for coordinating an Automatic Protection Switching (APS) operation and a recovery operation, wherein comprising the following steps:

a working channel detection unit reporting a working channel alarm to a protection protocol unit and a recovery protocol unit of the present node when the working channel of current service fails;

the recovery protocol unit starting up a timer after receiving the working channel alarm, the protection protocol unit determining whether the recovery operation needs to be started up immediately after receiving the working channel alarm, wherein if yes, the protection protocol unit notifies the recovery protocol unit to start up the recovery operation immediately, and the recovery protocol unit starts up the recovery operation immediately when the notification is received; and

the alarm processing for this time is finished.

5. A method for coordinating an APS operation and a recovery operation according to claim 4, wherein upon the protection protocol unit determining whether the recovery operation needs to be started up immediately after receiving the working channel alarm, the protection protocol unit starts up the APS operation if the result of the determination is the recovery operation needs not to be started up immediately;

and the recovery protocol checks whether the working channel detection unit still has the alarm after waiting for expiration of the timer, wherein if the result is yes, it starts up the recovery operation, and then the alarm processing for this time is finished, otherwise the alarm processing for this time is finished.

6. A method for coordinating an APS operation and a recovery operation according to claim 4,

if the protection channel of current service fails, the protection channel detection unit reports a protection channel alarm to the protection protocol unit of the present node.

7. A method for coordinating an APS operation and a recovery operation according to claim 6, wherein the protection protocol unit determines the type of an alarm after receiving the alarm, wherein if it is a working channel alarm, the recovery protocol unit starts up a timer after receiving the working channel alarm, and the protection protocol unit determines whether a recovery operation needs to be started up immediately after receiving the working channel alarm, wherein if it is a protection channel alarm, the protection protocol unit records the protection channel alarm information and marks the state of the protection channel “

on alarm”

.

8. A method for coordinating an APS operation and a recovery operation according to claim 7, wherein the protection protocol unit determines whether a recovery operation needs to be started up immediately in the following approaches:

checking whether the state of the protection channel of current service is of having an alarm, wherein if yes, the recovery operation needs to be started up immediately, otherwise, it further checks whether the protection group of the service is in non-enabled state, where if the result is yes, the recovery operation needs to be started up immediately, otherwise the recovery operation needs not to be started up immediately.

9. A method for coordinating an APS operation and a recovery operation according to claim 4, wherein the protection protocol unit notifies the recovery protocol unit to start up the recovery operation immediately via but not limited to a Data Communication Network (DCN), a High Level Data Link Control (HDLC) protocol bus, and a communication approach among internal progresses of CPU.

10. A method for coordinating an APS operation and a recovery operation according to claim 6, wherein the protection channel detection unit reports an alarm to the protection protocol unit via but not limited to a DCN and a HDLC protocol bus.

11. A method for coordinating an APS operation and a recovery operation according to claim 6, wherein the protection protocol unit determines the type of an alarm after receiving the alarm, wherein if it is a working channel alarm, the recovery protocol unit starts up a timer after receiving the working channel alarm, and the protection protocol unit determines whether a recovery operation needs to be started up immediately after receiving the working channel alarm, wherein if it is a protection channel alarm, the protection protocol unit records the protection channel alarm information and marks the state of the protection channel “

on alarm”

.