Support for quality of service and vertical services in digital subscriber line domain
First Claim
1. A method of providing a combination of access to two different network domains through an access data network, comprising the steps of:
- provisioning a logical communication circuit extending from a customer premises through the access data network to a communication access node coupled to a first network domain, wherein the provisioning comprises defining the logical communication circuit in terms of a layer-2 protocol;
at an intermediate node along the logical communication circuit, examining communicated information in transmissions from the customer premises, for a protocol encapsulated within said layer-2 protocol, to distinguish transmission types;
forwarding each detected transmission of a first transmission type from the intermediate node to the communication access node over the logical communication circuit defined in terms of the layer-2 protocol; and
forwarding each detected transmission of a second type, different from the first transmission type, to a second network domain logically separate from the first network domain.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Offering vertical services to subscribers and service providers is an avenue to immediately improve the competitiveness of digital subscriber line access service, for example of the type offered by a local exchange carrier. To deliver high-quality vertical services, however, the underlying ADSL Data Network (ADN) or the like needs to establish Quality of Service (QoS) as a core characteristic and offer an efficient mechanism for insertion of the vertical services. The inventive network architecture introduces QoS into the ADN, in a manner that enables the delivery of sophisticated and demanding IP-based services to subscribers, does not affect existing Internet tiers of service, and is cost-effective in terms of initial costs, build-out, and ongoing operations. The architecture utilizes a switch capable of examining and selectively forwarding packets or frames based on higher layer information in the protocol stack, that is to say on information that is encapsulated in the layer-2 information utilized to define normal connectivity through the network. The switch enables segregation of upstream traffic by type and downstream aggregation of Internet traffic together with traffic from a local vertical services domain.
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Citations
78 Claims
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1. A method of providing a combination of access to two different network domains through an access data network, comprising the steps of:
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provisioning a logical communication circuit extending from a customer premises through the access data network to a communication access node coupled to a first network domain, wherein the provisioning comprises defining the logical communication circuit in terms of a layer-2 protocol;
at an intermediate node along the logical communication circuit, examining communicated information in transmissions from the customer premises, for a protocol encapsulated within said layer-2 protocol, to distinguish transmission types;
forwarding each detected transmission of a first transmission type from the intermediate node to the communication access node over the logical communication circuit defined in terms of the layer-2 protocol; and
forwarding each detected transmission of a second type, different from the first transmission type, to a second network domain logically separate from the first network domain. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of segregating traffic for at least two different network domains, comprising:
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establishing a contiguous layer 2 protocol connectivity upstream from a customer premises to a communication access node coupled to a first network domain;
at an intermediate point along the contiguous connectivity, distinguishing upstream transmissions of at least two types from the customer premises based on information encapsulated within said layer-2 protocol;
forwarding each distinguished transmission of a first transmission type from the intermediate point to the first network domain; and
forwarding each detected transmission of a second type, other than the first transmission type, from the intermediate point to a second network domain logically separated from the first network domain. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A method of providing a combination of wide area internetwork service and vertical communication services through a local access network, comprising the steps of:
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provisioning a logical communication circuit to support service to the wide area internetwork, the logical communication circuit extending from a customer premises to a communication access node coupled to the wide area internetwork, wherein the provisioning comprises defining the logical communication circuit in terms of a layer-2 protocol;
at an intermediate node along the communication circuit, examining communicated information in transmissions from the customer premises, for protocol layers encapsulated within said layer-2 protocol, to distinguish transmission types;
forwarding each detected transmission of a first transmission type from the intermediate node to the communication access node over the logical communication circuit defined in terms of said layer-2 protocol; and
forwarding each detected transmission type of a second type, other than the first transmission type, from the logical communication circuit at the intermediate node to a vertical services network coupled locally to the intermediate node. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method of providing a combination of wide area internetwork service and vertical communication services through a local access network to a plurality of subscribers, comprising the steps of:
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for each respective subscriber, provisioning a respective logical communication circuit to support a respective subscriber selected grade of service to the wide area internetwork, each logical communication circuit extending from a customer premises of the respective subscriber to a communication access node coupled to the wide area internetwork;
communicating to and from each customer premises from and to an intermediate node along the logical communication circuits, at optimum rates of physical links to the customer premises, which rates are at or above rates corresponding to respective subscriber-selected grades of service;
segregating upstream transmissions from respective logical communication circuits intended for a vertical services domain, at the intermediate node, from transmissions on the respective logical communication circuits intended to continue on to the communication access node;
providing downstream transmissions for the subscribers from the vertical services domain to the intermediate node and receiving the segregated upstream transmissions from subscribers in the vertical services domain from the intermediate node;
aggregating downstream transmissions from the communication access node and the downstream transmissions from the vertical services domain for each subscriber onto each respective logical communication circuit; and
regulating traffic for each of the logical communication circuits between the intermediate node and the communication access node, such that rates thereof conform to rates corresponding to the respective subscriber-selected grades of service. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method, comprising:
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providing rate adaptive digital subscriber line communications from a digital subscriber line access multiplexer to a plurality of subscribers, over respective subscriber lines, at maximum rates respective line conditions will allow;
providing wide area access services for each subscriber, from an access router node coupled with the digital subscriber line access multiplexer to a node coupled to a wide area internetwork, at rates conforming to service level agreements with respective subscribers; and
for each subscriber, aggregating and segregating communications for a vertical services domain with the wide area access services at the router access node based on a protocol within a layer-2 protocol, for communication therewith via the maximized-rate digital subscriber line communications.
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39. An access data network, for providing access services to at least two different network domains, comprising:
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a communication access node coupled to a first network domain;
a plurality of digital subscriber line transceivers coupled to network ends of subscriber lines, for data communication with transceivers coupled to customer premises ends of respective subscriber lines;
an access switch coupled for data communication with the digital subscriber line transceivers, for receiving data from customer premises equipment via respective ones of the digital subscriber line transceivers and for supplying data intended for transmission to predetermined customer premises equipment to the respective ones of the digital subscriber line transceivers;
a high-speed data link between the access switch and the communication access node;
a layer-2 protocol logical communication circuit provisioned through the access switch and the high-speed data link for each subscriber line, wherein each logical communication circuit is provisioned to extend from a respective customer premises to the communication access node;
a second network domain coupled logically to the access switch; and
a controller associated with the access switch, for examining communicated information in transmissions from respective customer premises, for a protocol encapsulated within said layer-2 protocol, to distinguish transmission types, and in response to cause the switch to;
forward each detected transmission of a first transmission type to the communication access node over a respective one of the logical communication circuits defined in terms of the layer-2 protocol, and forward each detected transmission of a second type, different from the first transmission type, to the second network domain. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. An access data network, for providing a combination of wide area internetwork access service and vertical communication services, comprising:
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a communication access node coupled to the wide area network;
a plurality of digital subscriber line transceivers coupled to network ends of subscriber lines, for data communication with transceivers coupled to customer premises ends of respective subscriber lines;
an access switch coupled for data communications with the digital subscriber line transceivers, for receiving data from customer premises equipment via respective ones of the digital subscriber line transceivers and for supplying data intended for transmission to predetermined customer premises equipment to the respective ones of the digital subscriber line transceivers;
a high-speed data link between the access switch and the communication access node;
a logical communication circuit provisioned in terms of layer-2 protocol through the access switch and the high-speed data link for each subscriber line, wherein each logical communication circuit is provisioned to extend from a respective customer premises of the subscriber to the communication access node and to support a respective subscriber-selected grade of service to the wide area internetwork between the access switch and the communication access node;
a vertical services network coupled logically to the access switch; and
means associated with the access switch for examining communicated information in transmissions on the logical communication circuit from each respective customer premises, encapsulated with said layer-2 protocol, to distinguish transmission types;
wherein;
the access switch routes each detected transmission of a first transmission type, received from a customer premises over the respective logical communication circuit, over the respective logical communication circuit on the high-speed data link to the communication access node, at a transmission rate corresponding to the respective subscriber-selected grade of service, and the access switch extracts each detected transmission of a type other than the first transmission type from the respective logical communication circuit for routing to the vertical services network. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56)
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57. A data communication network, for providing a combination of wide area internetwork service and vertical communication services, comprising:
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a communication access node coupled to the wide area internetwork;
a physical communication circuit for coupling a customer premises communication equipment of the subscriber;
a logical communication circuit provisioned to support a subscriber-selected grade of service to the wide area internetwork, the logical communication circuit extending through the physical communication circuit and extending to the communication access node;
wherein the provisioning defines the logical communication circuit in terms of a layer-2 protocol; and
an intermediate communication node coupled to the physical communication circuit at an intermediate location along the logical communication circuit, the intermediate communication node comprising;
(a) a controller for examining communicated information in transmissions from the customer premises, for protocol encapsulated within said layer-2 protocol, to distinguish transmission types; and
(b) a switch fabric coupled to the logical communication circuit and responsive to said controller, for forwarding each detected transmission of a first transmission type from the intermediate communication node to the communication access node over the logical communication circuit, and for forwarding each detected transmission of a second type, different from the first transmission type, from the logical communication circuit through a port for connection to a vertical services domain. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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72. A data switch for use in a communication network, comprising:
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a first interface, for data communication to and from data equipment at a plurality of customer premises;
a second interface, for communication with a first network domain over low-layer protocol logical pipes carrying subscribers traffic for the first network domain in accord with a first type of a higher level protocol;
a third interface, for communication with a second network domain using a second type of the higher level protocol;
a switch fabric coupled to the interfaces; and
a controller coupled to the switch fabric, for controlling routing of traffic through the fabric between the interfaces, wherein;
upstream transmissions received through the first interface are segregated and routed either to the second interface or to the third interface, depending on whether the transmissions utilize the first or second type of the higher level protocol, respectively, and downstream communications received via the second and third interfaces for respective customer premises data equipment are aggregated and forwarded through the first interface. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78. A data switch for use in a local digital subscriber line communication network, comprising:
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a first interface, for data communication to and from data equipment at a plurality of customer premises;
a second interface, for communication with a wide area internetwork over layer-2 protocol logical pipes carrying subscribers wide area internetwork traffic in accord with a first type of protocol encapsulated within the layer-2 protocol;
a third interface, for communication with a vertical services domain network using a second type of protocol encapsulated within the layer-2 protocol;
a switch fabric coupled to the interfaces; and
a controller coupled to the switch fabric, for controlling routing of traffic through the fabric between the interfaces, wherein;
upstream transmissions received through the first interface are bifurcated and forwarded either through the second interface or through the third interface, depending on whether the transmissions utilize the first or second type of the protocol encapsulated within the layer-2 protocol, respectively, and downstream communications received via the second and third interfaces for respective customer premises data equipment are aggregated and forwarded via respective ones of the layer-2 protocol logical pipes through the first interface.
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Specification