Ethernet Carrier Group Alarm (CGA)

• US 20150049601A1
• Filed: 08/14/2014
• Published: 02/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bugenhagen, Michael K.
• Granted Patent: US 10,389,577 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0686 Additional information in the notification, e.g. enhancement of specific meta-data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0847 Transmission error

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques for providing network state information to customer equipment. In some embodiments, an operations, administration, and management (“OAM”) server might determine a status of a network connection between at least two network devices, might generate state information indicating the determined status of the network connection, and might send the state information to one or more customer equipment, using in-band signaling over a band between the at least two network devices. The state information might include one or more alarms that indicate one or more of a receive path error, a transmit path error, or a performance issue error (which might indicate at least one of jitter, delay, frame loss, peak actual throughput, or average actual throughput). The OAM server might be disposed or embodied within at least one of a customer equipment, a user network interface device, a network interface device, or a server over a network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, with an operations, administration, and management (“

OAM”

) server, a status of a network connection between at least two network devices;

generating, with the OAM server, state information indicating the determined status of the network connection between the at least two network devices; and

sending, with the OAM server, the state information to one or more customer equipment, using in-band signaling over a first band between the at least two network devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information comprises one or more of a first alarm, a second alarm, or a third alarm, wherein the first alarm indicates, as a status of the network connection, a receive path error from the network perspective of the one or more customer equipment, wherein the second alarm indicates, as a status of the network connection, a transmit path error from the network perspective of the one or more customer equipment, and wherein the third alarm indicates, as a status of the network connection, a performance issue error.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the performance issue error indicates at least one of jitter, delay, frame loss, peak actual throughput, or average actual throughput.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, in response to a determination that predetermined jitter tolerances are exceeded, the OAM server generates state information comprising a first performance issue error indicating jitter, wherein, in response to a determination that predetermined delay tolerances are exceeded, the OAM server generates state information comprising a second performance issue error indicating delay, wherein, in response to a determination that a frame loss ratio is exceeded in at least one of a transmit direction or a receive direction, the OAM server generates state information comprising a third performance issue error indicating frame loss.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the at least two network devices comprises one of a customer equipment, a user network interface device, a network interface device, or a server over a network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the OAM server is disposed or embodied within at least one of the one or more customer equipment, one or more user network interface devices, one or more network interface devices, or one or more servers over a network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of voice data or non-state information data is communicated over the first band between the at least two network devices, wherein the in-band signaling of the state information to the one or more customer equipment comprises signaling of metadata and control information associated with the state information over the first band that is also used to communicate the at least one of voice data or non-state information data.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

additionally sending, with the OAM server, the state information to the one or more customer equipment, using out-of-band signaling over a second band between the at least two network devices, the second band being a separate and dedicated band compared with the first band, wherein the second band communicates only state information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing, using a shaper, at least one of adjusting signal flow or shaping signal flow of at least one of voice data or non-state information data over the first band to ensure that communication of the at least one of voice data or non-state information data over the first band remains within predetermined threshold levels.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the shaper performs the at least one of adjusting signal flow or shaping signal flow of at least one of voice data or non-state information data over the first band, based at least in part on the state information received from the OAM server.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the shaper comprises a second OAM server that determines status of the network connection between the at least two network devices and generates second state information indicating the determined status, and wherein the shaper performs the at least one of adjusting signal flow or shaping signal flow of at least one of voice data or non-state information data over the first band, based at least in part on the second state information generated by the second OAM server within the shaper.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the shaper is disposed within at least one of the one or more customer equipment.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the shaper is disposed within at least one of one or more user network interface devices, one or more network interface devices, or one or more servers over a network.

14. A system, comprising:

an operations, administration, and management (“

OAM”

) server, comprising;

at least one processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with the at least one processor, the computer readable medium having stored thereon software comprising a set of instructions that when executed by the at least one processor causes the OAM server to perform one or more functions, the set of instructions comprising;

instructions for determining a status of a network connection between at least two network devices;

instructions for generating state information indicating the determined status of the network connection between the at least two network devices; and

instructions for sending the state information to one or more customer equipment, using in-band signaling over a first band between the at least two network devices.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the state information comprises one or more of a first alarm, a second alarm, or a third alarm, wherein the first alarm indicates, as a status of the network connection, a receive path error from the network perspective of the one or more customer equipment, wherein the second alarm indicates, as a status of the network connection, a transmit path error from the network perspective of the one or more customer equipment, and wherein the third alarm indicates, as a status of the network connection, a performance issue error.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein each of the at least two network devices comprises one of a customer equipment, a user network interface device, a network interface device, or a server over a network.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the OAM server is disposed or embodied within at least one of the one or more customer equipment, one or more user network interface devices, one or more network interface devices, or one or more servers over a network.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a shaper configured to perform at least one of adjusting signal flow or shaping signal flow of at least one of voice data or non-state information data over the first band, based at least in part on the state information.

19. The OAM server of claim 18, wherein the shaper is disposed within at least one of the one or more customer equipment.

20. An operations, administration, and management (“

OAM”

) server, comprising;

at least one processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with the at least one processor, the computer readable medium having stored thereon software comprising a set of instructions that when executed by the at least one processor causes the OAM server to perform one or more functions, the set of instructions comprising;

instructions for determining a status of a network connection between at least two network devices;

instructions for generating state information indicating the determined status of the network connection between the at least two network devices; and

instructions for sending the state information to one or more customer equipment, using in-band signaling over a first band between the at least two network devices.

21. The OAM server of claim 20, wherein the OAM server is disposed or embodied within at least one of the one or more customer equipment, one or more user network interface devices, one or more network interface devices, or one or more servers over a network.