Virtual burst-switching networks
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An edge node comprising:
- a plurality of ingress ports for receiving data packets from subtending data sources;
a plurality of inbound ports for receiving inbound data bursts from a plurality of bufferless core nodes and disassembling said inbound data bursts into constituent data packets;
a switch fabric;
an edge controller;
a plurality of egress ports for transmitting data packets to subtending data sinks; and
a plurality of outbound ports, where each outbound port is coupled to a burst-formation device, said burst-formation device;
forms outbound data bursts each containing a number of data packets received from ingress ports and from inbound ports through said switch fabric; and
transmits said outbound data bursts to a selected core node among said plurality of bufferless core nodes;
where said burst-formation device forms said outbound data bursts according to at least one of two modes;
in a first mode;
said each burst-formation device independently forms said bursts from already waiting data packets; and
sends scheduling requests to a corresponding core node;
in a second mode;
said each burst-formation device sends flow-rate allocation requests to a respective core node;
receives burst-transfer permits containing burst-formation instructions from said respective core nodes; and
forms constrained bursts according to said burst-formation instructions.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A time-shared network comprising edge nodes and optical core nodes may be dynamically divided into several embedded networks, each of which covering selected edge nodes. At least one of the edge nodes may host an embedded-network controller operable to form multiple-source flow-rate allocation requests each of the requests specifying flow-rate allocations to a plurality of paths from several source nodes to several sink nodes. A core node may also host an embedded-network controller or several embedded-network controllers. The time-shared network may use both time-division multiplexing and burst switching.
-
Citations
17 Claims
-
1. An edge node comprising:
-
a plurality of ingress ports for receiving data packets from subtending data sources; a plurality of inbound ports for receiving inbound data bursts from a plurality of bufferless core nodes and disassembling said inbound data bursts into constituent data packets; a switch fabric; an edge controller; a plurality of egress ports for transmitting data packets to subtending data sinks; and a plurality of outbound ports, where each outbound port is coupled to a burst-formation device, said burst-formation device; forms outbound data bursts each containing a number of data packets received from ingress ports and from inbound ports through said switch fabric; and transmits said outbound data bursts to a selected core node among said plurality of bufferless core nodes; where said burst-formation device forms said outbound data bursts according to at least one of two modes; in a first mode; said each burst-formation device independently forms said bursts from already waiting data packets; and sends scheduling requests to a corresponding core node; in a second mode; said each burst-formation device sends flow-rate allocation requests to a respective core node; receives burst-transfer permits containing burst-formation instructions from said respective core nodes; and forms constrained bursts according to said burst-formation instructions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A core node interconnecting a plurality of edge nodes, said core node comprising:
-
a plurality of input ports for receiving optical signals from said plurality of edge nodes; an optical switching fabric for switching said optical signals to a plurality of output ports, said output ports transmitting said optical signals to respective edge nodes; and a core controller including a burst-descriptor generator and a burst scheduler; wherein said core controller receives; burst-admission requests; and multiple-source connection requests each specifying at least two source edge nodes, and for each of the at least two source edge nodes; at least one sink edge node; and a specified flow-rate allocation; wherein each of said burst-admission requests contains; a request identifier “
00”
;an identifier of a requesting edge node; a number χ
.>
0 of destinations for which burst-scheduling is requested;multiple-destination burst-description records, one for each of said χ
destination, each record including;a cyclic burst number relevant to said requesting edge node; an identifier of a sink edge-node to which a corresponding burst is destined; and a size of said corresponding burst. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
-
-
10. A network comprising:
-
a plurality of edge nodes, each edge node having an edge controller; a plurality of bufferless core nodes, each core node having a core controller, and links connecting said edge nodes to said core nodes; wherein said each edge node has a link to said each core node; wherein said each edge node is time-locked to said each core node; and wherein at least one of said edge nodes hosts a virtual-network controller, said virtual-network controller; forms multiple-source flow-rate allocation requests where each of said multiple-source flow-rate allocation requests specifies flow-rate allocations for each directed pair of selected edge nodes among said plurality of edge nodes; and sends each multiple-source flow-rate allocation request to a selected core node among said plurality of core nodes. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
-
-
13. A parent network comprising:
-
a plurality of independent bufferless core nodes; a plurality of edge nodes each edge node having a time-locked path to each core node of said plurality of independent bufferless core nodes; and a plurality of virtual-network controllers, each virtual-network controller coupled to a respective edge node among said plurality of edge nodes; said parent network being shared by a plurality of embedded networks, each embedded network comprising a respective set of selected edge nodes among said plurality of edge nodes and a respective virtual-network controller, among said plurality of virtual-network controllers, configured to; determine flow-rate requirements for each directed pair of edge nodes within said respective set of edge nodes; determine capacity requirements of paths between each edge node of said respective set of selected edge nodes and said each core node; and communicate said capacity requirements to at least one of said plurality of independent bufferless core nodes. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
-
Specification