METHOD OF PROCESSING TRAFFIC IN A NODE IN A TRANSPORT NETWORK WITH A NETWORK CONTROLLER

• US 20170118547A1
• Filed: 01/09/2017
• Published: 04/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Inventors: WEST, Stephen J., PRADELS, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 10,237,634 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/43 Arrangements comprising a plurality of opto-electronic elements and associated optical interconnections
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4452 Distribution frames
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/44526 Panels or rackmounts covering a whole width of the frame or rack
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/44528 Patch-cords; Connector arrangements in the system or in the box routing arrangements H04Q1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4472 Manifolds
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/801 using optical interconnects, e.g. light coupled isolators, circuit board interconnections
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/08 Time-division multiplex systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/1652 Optical Transport Network [OTN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/66 Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/193 at the transport layer, e.g. TCP related
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 1/09 Frames or mounting racks not otherwise provided for
• 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 2011/0073 Provisions for forwarding or routing, e.g. lookup tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0086 Network resource allocation, dimensioning or optimisation

Abstract

A network element of a transport network has three fabrics housed within a single shelf of a telco rack, namely a packet fabric, an electrical fabric and an optical fabric. A stream of traffic including a plurality of lambdas is received at a trunk interface of such a shelf. The optical fabric in the shelf performs optical switching on the stream to replace a first lambda in the stream with a second lambda. The first lambda is converted within the shelf into an electrical signal. Also within the shelf, first frames are recovered from the electrical signal. The packet fabric in the shelf is used to perform packet switching on the first frames to generate a flow of second frames. The flow of second frames is transmitted at a client interface of the shelf.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A node in transport network, the node comprising:

one or more service interfaces each interfacing traffic;

a packet fabric adapted to perform packet switching of the traffic, wherein the packet fabric is communicatively coupled to the one or more service interfaces; and

an interface communicatively coupled to a network controller external from the node which is adapted to provision the traffic through the transport network at the node via the packet fabric, wherein the network controller is adapted to determine a path for the traffic and make associated forwarding entries at the node based on the determined path.

22. The node of claim 21, further comprising:

an optical fabric adapted to perform lambda switching of the traffic, wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the traffic through the transport network at the node via the packet fabric and the optical fabric.

23. The node of claim 21, further comprising:

an electrical fabric adapted to perform time-division-multiplexed (TDM) of the traffic, wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the traffic through the transport network at the node via the packet fabric and the electrical fabric.

24. The node of claim 21, further comprising:

an optical fabric adapted to perform lambda switching of the traffic; and

an electrical fabric adapted to perform time-division-multiplexed (TDM) of the traffic, wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the traffic through the transport network at the node via the packet fabric, the optical fabric, and the electrical fabric.

25. The node of claim 21, wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the node for the determined path for a flow of encapsulated packets, based on one or more fields in a Media Access Control header.

26. The node of claim 21, wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the node for the determined path that is identified in Provider Backbone Bridging-Traffic Engineering.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the network controller is aware of a configuration of the node.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the network controller is adapted to switch the traffic via the packet fabric and through lambda and electrical based service interfaces.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein the traffic is forwarded by the packet fabric using provisioning from the network controller in lieu of Ethernet discovery mechanisms for routing the traffic.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein the network controller decides on a path for the traffic and makes forwarding entries at the node and any additional intermediate nodes between a source node and destination node in the transport network.

31. The system of claim 21, wherein the network controller establishes continuity checks for the traffic in both directions at the node, and the node is adapted to switch the traffic to a protection path based on the continuity checks.

32. A method in a node in transport network, the method comprising:

interfacing traffic via one or more service interfaces associated with the node;

receiving provisioning data for the traffic from a network controller external from the node, wherein the network controller is adapted to determine a path for the traffic and make associated forwarding entries at the node based on the determined path; and

performing packet switching of the traffic via a packet fabric communicatively coupled to the one or more service interfaces, wherein the packet fabric performs the packet switching based on the associated forwarding entries from the network controller.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

performing lambda switching of the traffic via an optical fabric, wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the traffic through the transport network at the node via the packet fabric and the optical fabric.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

performing time-division-multiplexed (TDM) of the traffic via an electrical fabric, wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the traffic through the transport network at the node via the packet fabric and the electrical fabric.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

performing lambda switching of the traffic via an optical; and

performing time-division-multiplexed (TDM) of the traffic via an electrical fabric, wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the traffic through the transport network at the node via the packet fabric, the optical fabric, and the electrical fabric.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the node for the determined path for a flow of encapsulated packets, based on one or more fields in a Media Access Control header.

37. The method of claim 32, wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the node for the determined path that is identified in Provider Backbone Bridging-Traffic Engineering.

38. The method of claim 32, wherein the network controller decides on a path for the traffic and makes forwarding entries at the node and any additional intermediate nodes between a source node and destination node in the transport network.

39. The method of claim 32, wherein the network controller establishes continuity checks for the traffic in both directions at the node, and the node is adapted to switch the traffic to a protection path based on the continuity checks.

40. A transport network supporting traffic provisioned by a network controller, the transport network comprising:

a plurality of nodes, wherein each of the plurality of nodes comprise a packet fabric adapted to perform packet switching of the traffic; and

a network controller communicatively coupled to the plurality of nodes;

wherein the network controller is adapted to provision the traffic through the transport network via the packet fabric at each of the plurality of nodes, wherein the network controller is adapted to determine a path for the traffic and make associated forwarding entries at associated nodes of the plurality of nodes based on the determined path.