Lane bonding in passive optical networks (PONs)

An optical line terminal (OLT) comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive from an optical network unit (ONU) a register request message comprising a destination address field, a source address field, a length/type field, an operation code (opcode) field, a timestamp field, a flags field, an information field, a laser on time field, a laser off time field, a pad field, and a frame check sequence (FCS) field, the information field is 2 octets and comprises a first field indicating whether the ONU is 10 gigabit per second (G, Gb/s) upstream capable, a second field comprising only a first value or a second value indicating whether the ONU is 25G upstream capable, a third field indicating whether a 10G registration is attempted, and a fourth field indicating whether a 25G registration is attempted, the first field, the second field, the third field, and the fourth field are each 1 bit, the first value of the second field indicates an ONU transmitter is not capable of 25 Gb/s, and the second value of the second field indicates the ONU transmitter is capable of 25 Gb/s;
• and
• a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to process the register request message.

An optical line terminal (OLT) comprising:

• a processor configured to generate a discovery message comprising a destination address field, a source address field, a length/type field, an operation code (opcode) field, a timestamp field, a start time field, a grant length field, a discovery information field, a pad field, and a frame check sequence (FCS) field, the discovery information field is 2 octets and comprises a first field indicating whether the OLT is 10 gigabit per second (G, Gb/s) upstream capable, a second field comprising only a first value or a second value indicating whether the OLT is 25G upstream capable, a third field indicating whether the OLT is opening a 10G discovery window, and a fourth field indicating whether the OLT is opening a 25G discovery window, the first field, the second field, the third field, and the fourth field are each 1 bit, the first value of the second field indicates the OLT does not support 25 Gb/s reception, and the second value of the second field indicates the OLT does support 25 Gb/s reception;
• and
• a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to transmit the discovery message to an optical network unit (ONU).

An optical network unit (ONU) comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive from an optical line terminal (OLT) a discovery message comprising a destination address field, a source address field, a length/type field, an operation code (opcode) field, a timestamp field, a start time field, a grant length field, a discovery information field, a pad field, and a frame check sequence (FCS) field, the discovery information field is 2 octets and comprises a first field indicating whether the OLT is 10 gigabit per second (G, Gb/s) upstream capable, a second field comprising only a first value or a second value indicating whether the OLT is 25G upstream capable, a third field indicating whether the OLT is opening a 10G discovery window, and a fourth field indicating whether the OLT is opening a 25G discovery window, the first field, the second field, the third field, and the fourth field are each 1 bit, the first value of the second field indicates the OLT does not support 25 Gb/s reception, and the second value of the second field indicates the OLT does support 25 Gb/s reception;
• and
• a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to process the discovery message.