Method of Providing End-to End Connection in a Unified Optical and Coaxial Network

• US 20130004155A1
• Filed: 06/28/2012
• Published: 01/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Liang, Haixiang, Fang, Liming, Chen, Jim, El Bakoury, Hesham
• Granted Patent: US 8,842,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/9
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0067 Provisions for optical access or distribution networks, e.g. Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GE-PON), ATM-based Passive Optical Network (A-PON), PON-Ring
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0071 Provisions for the electrical-optical layer interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0079 Operation or maintenance aspects

Abstract

A method in a network device for providing end-to-end connection in a unified optical and coax network, comprising receiving at an integrated node device (IND) a frame from an optical line terminal (OLT), wherein the frame comprises a data frame and a logical link identifier (LLID), and placing the data in a one of a plurality of buffers based on the LLID, wherein the one of the plurality of buffers corresponds to a customer premises equipment (CPE) associated with the LLID, wherein the data frame stays intact in a media access control (MAC) layer.

Claims

1. A method in a network device for providing end-to-end connection in a unified optical and coax network, comprising:

receiving at an integrated node device (IND) a frame from an optical line terminal (OLT), wherein the frame comprises a data frame and a logical link identifier (LLID); and

placing the data in one of a plurality of buffers based on the LLID, wherein the one of the plurality of buffers corresponds to a customer premises equipment (CPE) associated with the LLID, wherein the data frame stays intact in a media access control (MAC) layer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the frame comprises a passive optical network (PON) scheduling message, and wherein the method further comprises translating with a processor the PON scheduling message into a coax scheduling message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) and provisioning messages targeted to the CPE pass through the IND and are terminated at the CPE.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising scheduling and transmitting the data frame to the CPE using modulation substantially optimized for a channel to the CPE.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the frame comprises an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) and an EPON multi-point control protocol (MPCP), and wherein the frame further comprises terminating the EPON DBA and the EPON MPCP at IND EPON interface in the IND.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising building a coax MAC control comprising a coax DBA and a coax MPCP in the IND based on the EPON DBA and the EPON MPCP to reschedule traffic to the CPE.

7. A method for establishing a connection between a customer premises equipment (CPE) and an optical line terminal (OLT), comprising:

establishing a link between the CPE and a coax physical (PHY) layer in an integrated node device (IND) under control of a coax media access control (MAC) control (CNTL);

informing, with the coax MAC CNTL an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) optical network unit in the IND to setup a link between the OLT and the ONU;

establishing an EPON link with a standard EPON protocol; and

transferring the EPON link information to the COAX MAC CNTL by a protocol translator.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising assigning a logical link identifier to the EPON link.

9. A system for providing end-to-end connection in a unified optical and coax network, comprising:

an optical line terminal (OLT);

an integrated node device (IND) coupled to the OLT, wherein the IND comprises an optical network unit (ONU), a buffer manager, and a plurality of buffers; and

a plurality of customer premises equipment (CPEs),

wherein the ONU is configured to receive frames from the OLT,

wherein the frames comprise a data frame and a logical link identifier (LLID),

wherein the buffer manager is configured to place the data frame and the coax MAC control message in one of the plurality of buffers based on the LLID wherein the one of the plurality of buffers corresponds to a one of the plurality of CPEs.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the IND further comprises an Ethernet over coax (EoC) head end (HE) and the EoC HE is configured to transmit the data frame from the one of the plurality of buffers to the corresponding one of the plurality of CPEs.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein each of the frames further comprise an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) media access control (MAC) control message, wherein the IND further comprises a translator, and wherein the translator is configured to build a coax MAC control message based on the EPON MAC control message.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the ONU comprises a plurality of virtual MACs that each act as a proxy to a corresponding one of plurality of CPEs so that the one of the plurality of CPEs is visible to and manageable by the OLT.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein a delay in a coax cable segment is set with a fixed value to allow upstream data from a one of the plurality of CPEs to arrive at the IND before scheduling on a fiber to the OLT.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the data frame stays intact from an optical fiber to a coax cable.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) message and a provisioning messages targeted to one of the plurality of CPEs pass through the IND and are terminated at the one of the plurality of CPEs.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the coax MAC control acts as a slave for the EPON MAC control message.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein downstream data frames in a physical (PHY) layer are converted from a broadcast mode on a fiber to one of a unicast and a multicast mode on a coax cable based on the LLID to substantially optimize efficiency on the coax cable and to reduce CPE PHY demodulation requirements.

18. An integrated node device (IND) for providing end-to-end connection in a unified optical and coax network, comprising:

an optical network unit (ONU) for receiving a plurality of frames from and transmitting a plurality of frames to an optical line terminal (OLT), wherein each of the plurality of frames from the OLT comprise a data frame and a logical link identifier (LLID);

a buffer manager;

a plurality of buffers; and

an Ethernet over coax (EoC) head end (HE) for receiving a plurality of frames from and transmitting a plurality of frames to a plurality of customer premises equipment (CPEs),

wherein the buffer manager is configured to place the data frame from the OLT in one of the plurality of buffers based on the LLID,

wherein each of the plurality of buffers corresponds to a one of the plurality of CPEs,

wherein the LLID identifies a respective one of the plurality of CPEs, and

wherein the EoC HE is configured to transmit the data frame from the one of the plurality of buffers to the corresponding one of the plurality of CPEs.

19. The IND of claim 18, wherein each of the frames further comprise an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) media access control (MAC) control message, and wherein the IND further comprises a translator configured to build a coax MAC control message based on the EPON MAC control message.

20. The IND of claim 18, wherein the ONU comprises a plurality of virtual MACs that each act as a proxy to a corresponding one of plurality of CPEs so that the one of the plurality of CPEs is visible to and manageable by the OLT.

21. The IND of claim 18, wherein a delay in a coax cable segment is set with a fixed value to allow upstream data from a one of the plurality of CPEs to arrive at the IND before scheduling on a fiber to the OLT.

22. The IND of claim 18, wherein the data frame stays intact from an optical fiber to a coax cable.

23. The IND of claim 18, wherein an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) message and a provisioning messages targeted to one of the plurality of CPEs pass through the IND and are terminated at the one of the plurality of CPEs.

24. The IND of claim 19, wherein the coax MAC control acts as a slave for the EPON MAC control message.

25. The IND of claim 18, wherein downstream data frames in a physical (PHY) layer are converted from a broadcast mode on a fiber to one of a unicast and a multicast mode on a coax cable based on the LLID to substantially optimize efficiency on the coax cable and to reduce CPE PHY demodulation requirements.