# US 11,444,798 B2 · Methods and apparatus for configuring a flex ethernet node > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,444,798 B2 - Document ID: US11444798B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/955,005 - Filed: 2017-12-22 - Published: 2020-12-17 - Granted: 2022-09-13 - Earliest claimed: 2017-12-22 - Assignees: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) - Applicants: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) - Inventors: Jun Deng; Zhenning Zhao - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11444798B2 ## CPC - H04L 12/28: characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks] (wireless communication networks H04W {; arrangements for dividing the transmission path H04W40/00}) - H04L 12/2827: {Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality} - H04J 3/1652: {Optical Transport Network [OTN]} - H04J 3/1658: {carrying packets or ATM cells; (H04J3/1664 takes precedence for payloads with different packet types)} - H04L 49/351: for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches - H04L 69/22: Parsing or analysis of headers - H04J 2203/0085: Support of Ethernet - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04J: MULTIPLEX COMMUNICATION (transmission in general H04B; peculiar to transmission of digital information H04L5/00; systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal H04N7/08; in exchanges H04Q11/00; stereophonic systems H04S) ## Abstract Methods and apparatus are provided for processing communications. In one aspect, a method of processing Flex Ethernet (FlexE) data comprises receiving a plurality of data blocks over at least one physical layer connection, each data block corresponding to one of at least one FlexE client flow, wherein data blocks corresponding to a first client flow of the at least one FlexE client flow have a destination over at least one further physical layer connection and contain Ethernet packets and Operation, Administration & Management (OAM) blocks, forming at least one further Ethernet packet containing at least one of the OAM blocks, the at least one further Ethernet packet specifying the destination, and providing the at least one further Ethernet packet to a switching node for forwarding to the destination. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of processing Flex Ethernet (FlexE) data, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of data blocks over at least one physical layer connection, each data block corresponding to one of at least one FlexE client flow, wherein data blocks corresponding to a first client flow of the at least one FlexE client flow have a destination over at least one further physical layer connection and contain Ethernet packets and Operation, Administration & Management (OAM) blocks; forming at least one further Ethernet packet containing information from at least one of the OAM blocks, the at least one further Ethernet packet specifying the destination; and providing the at least one further Ethernet packet to a switching node for forwarding to the destination, wherein: the physical layer connection operates in accordance with a first layer of a communication protocol stack, where the first layer communicates data blocks between first layer peers; a second layer of the communication protocol stack communicates Ethernet packets between second layer peers; the switching node forms Ethernet packets from data blocks; a first output of the switching node is connected to a destination client; and a second output of the switching node is connected to a path to the at least one further physical layer connection. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: forming the Ethernet packets from the data blocks corresponding to the first client flow; and providing the Ethernet packets to the switching node. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one further Ethernet packet contains at least one of the data blocks corresponding to the first client flow. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, further comprising: forming a plurality of additional Ethernet packets, each containing at least of the one OAM blocks and/or at least one of the data blocks corresponding to the first client flow, the further Ethernet packets specifying the destination; and providing the plurality of additional Ethernet packets to the switching node for forwarding to the destination. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising encapsulating each one of the data blocks corresponding to the first client flow in the at least one further Ethernet packet or at least one additional Ethernet packet, and providing the at least one additional Ethernet packet to the switching node for forwarding to the destination. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein forming the at least one further Ethernet packet comprises including the at least one of the OAM blocks in payload of the at least one further Ethernet packet. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one physical connection comprises a first FlexE group, and the at least one further physical connection comprises a second FlexE group. ### Claim 8 A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method of processing Flex Ethernet (FlexE) data, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of data blocks over at least one physical layer connection, each data block corresponding to one of at least one FlexE client flow, wherein data blocks corresponding to a first client flow of the at least one FlexE client flow have a destination over at least one further physical layer connection and contain Ethernet packets and Operation, Administration & Management (OAM) blocks; forming at least one further Ethernet packet containing information from at least one of the OAM blocks, the at least one further Ethernet packet specifying the destination; and providing the at least one further Ethernet packet to a switching node for forwarding to the destination, wherein: the physical layer connection operates in accordance with a first layer of a communication protocol stack, where the first layer communicates data blocks between first layer peers; a second layer of the communication protocol stack communicates Ethernet packets between second layer peers; the switching node forms Ethernet packets from data blocks; a first output of the switching node is connected to a destination client; and a second output of the switching node is connected to a path to the at least one further physical layer connection. ### Claim 9 Apparatus for processing Flex Ethernet (FlexE) data, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry such that the apparatus is operable to: receive a plurality of data blocks over at least one physical layer connection, each data block corresponding to one of at least one FlexE client flow, wherein data blocks corresponding to a first client flow of the at least one FlexE client flow have a destination over at least one further physical layer connection and contain Ethernet packets and Operation, Administration & Management (OAM) blocks; form at least one further Ethernet packet containing information from at least one of the OAM blocks, the at least one further Ethernet packet specifying the destination; and provide the at least one further Ethernet packet to a switching node for forwarding to the destination, wherein: the physical layer connection operates in accordance with a first layer of a communication protocol stack, where the first layer communicates data blocks between first layer peers; a second layer of the communication protocol stack communicates Ethernet packets between second layer peers; the switching node forms Ethernet packets from data blocks; a first output of the switching node is connected to a destination client; and a second output of the switching node is connected to a path to the at least one further physical layer connection. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the memory contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry such that the apparatus is operable to: form the Ethernet packets from the data blocks corresponding to the first client flow; and provide the Ethernet packets to the switching node. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one further Ethernet packet contains at least one of the data blocks corresponding to the first client flow. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the memory contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry such that the apparatus is operable to: form a plurality of additional Ethernet packets, each containing at least one of the OAM blocks and/or at least one of the data blocks corresponding to the first client flow, the further Ethernet packets specifying the destination; and provide the plurality of additional Ethernet packets to the switching node for forwarding to the destination. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the memory contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry such that the apparatus is operable to, for each of the data blocks corresponding to the first client flow, encapsulate each one of the data blocks corresponding to the first client flow in the at least one further Ethernet packet or at least one additional Ethernet packet, and provide the at least one additional Ethernet packet to the switching node for forwarding to the destination. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the memory contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry such that the apparatus is operable to form the at least one further Ethernet packet by including the at least one of the OAM blocks in payload of the at least one further Ethernet packet. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one physical connection comprises a first FlexE group, and the at least one further physical connection comprises a second FlexE group.