Network architecture for intelligent network elements

• US 7,072,360 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2001
• Issued: 07/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Original Assignee: PhyFlex Networks, Inc. (Ciena Corporation)
• Inventors: Dravida, Subrahmanyam, Peralta, Frederick, Tandon, Manas, Rege, Kiran M, Gupta, Dev V
• Primary Examiner(s): HO, DUC CHI
• Application Number:
  US09/952,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20040019876A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,755 Days
• Field of Search: 370/465, 370/401, 370/400, 370/420, 370/412, 370/490, 370/389, 370/352, 370/254, 725/129
• US Class Current: 370/468
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2859 Point-to-point connection between the data network and the subscribers encapsulation H04L12/4633; virtual LANs H04L12/4641; routing of packets H04L45/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2861 Point-to-multipoint connection from the data network to the subscribers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4645 Details on frame tagging routing of packets H04L45/00; support for virtual LAN H04L49/354
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5605 Fibre
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5606 Metallic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/561 Star, e.g. cross-connect, concentrator, subscriber group equipment, remote electronics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5651 Priority, marking, classes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5679 Arbitration or scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2425 for supporting services specification, e.g. SLA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 : relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2491 : Mapping quality of service [QoS] requirements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 : by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 : Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 : using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/10 : Adaptations for transmission by electrical cable H04N7/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 : Transmission or handling of upstream communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 : involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems

Abstract

Hybrid fiber/coax networks employ the existing cable plant used for cable TV and transmit data signals in a frequency bandwidth above that which is used for cable TV. The present system used point-to-point data links between intelligent network elements located in the feeder/distribution network to provide reliable, secure, bi-directional broadband access. Digital signals are terminated at the intelligent network elements, switched and regenerated for transmission across additional upstream or downstream data links as needed to connect a home to a headend or router. The intelligent network elements can be co-located with or replace the standard network elements. A tree-and-branch network architecture is therefore established in which each intelligent network element is assigned a routing ID employed in the point-to-point transmissions while leaving legacy analog signals unimpeded. In this manner, the data links are made over relatively short runs of coax cable, which can provide greater bandwidth.

Claims

1. A communications system comprising:

a plurality of communications devices for supporting additional data bandwidth to end users including;

a coaxial input port for receiving a signal having legacy signal components and high-frequency signal components of data at frequencies greater than 860 MHz;

one or more output ports for combining high-frequency signal components with legacy signal components and transmitting the combined signal over a coaxial cable;

a legacy component passthrough electrically coupled to the coaxial input port and to the output ports and configured to separate out the high-frequency signal components from the signal and to forward the legacy signal components to the output ports; and

a high-frequency signal component processor having;

a modem in electrical communication with the input port and at least one of the output ports, the modem configured to convert incoming high-frequency signal components into packets of data and outgoing packets of data into high-frequency signal components;

a processor in communication with the modem for determining an intended destination of the data and for selecting one of the output ports based on the determined intended destination of the data; and

a switch responsive to the processor for directing data to the selected output port; and

a plurality of coaxial cable connections coupling the output ports of communication devices to input ports of other communications devices.

2. The communications system of claim 1 wherein the communications devices have assigned addresses representative of the location of the devices.

3. The communications system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the communications devices comprises an end user interface.

4. The communications system of claim 1 comprising a priority level queuing processor for bandwidth management.

5. The communications system of claim 1 comprising a topology server configured to discover a system topology of the communications system.

6. The communications system of claim 5, wherein the communications devices send information to the topology server indicating the identity of neighboring communications devices.

7. The communications system of claim 1 wherein the communications devices provide end users of the communications system a bandwidth between 2 and 100Mbps.

8. The communications system of claim 1 wherein a coaxial input port and an output port of a communications device utilize a shared transceiver.

9. A method of transmitting data over a coaxial cable network comprising:

sending to a communications device over the coaxial cable network a signal having legacy signal components and high-frequency signal components of data at frequencies over 860 MHz;

receiving at the communications device the signal;

separate out the high frequency signal components and forwarding the legacy signal components to a set of communications devices;

determining the intended destinations of the high-frequency signal components of the data;

switching high-frequency signal components of the data to a subset of the set of communications devices based on the determined intended destinations wherein the switching is based at least in part on priority level queuing.

10. The method of claim 9 comprising converting the high-frequency signal components into packets of data.

11. The method of claim 9 comprising determining a topology of the coaxial cable network by determining the locations and interconnections of the communications devices.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the switching of the high-frequency signal components is determined at least in part by the network topology.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the communications devices have unique routing IDs.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising forwarding the unique routing ID of one of the communications devices to a topology server.