US 11,595,119 B2Granted

Protection switching based on exchange of protection information

AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.

InventorsRaghunandan Annavajjala, Sudhir Kayamkulangara, Christian Schmutzer, Luca Della Chiesa, Rayen Mohanty

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Abstract

In one example, a first Provider Edge (PE) node is configured to communicate with a second PE node through a packet-switched network and with a third PE node through the packet-switched network. The first PE node communicates with a fourth PE node via the second PE node. The fourth PE node is configured to communicate with the second PE node over a working path through a time-division multiplexing transport network. The first PE node exchanges, with the fourth PE node, protection information. Based on exchanging the protection information, the first PE node communicates with the fourth PE node via the third PE node. The fourth PE node is further configured to communicate with the third PE node over a protection path through the time-division multiplexing transport network.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

at a first provider edge node configured to communicate with a second provider edge node through a packet-switched network and with a third provider edge node through the packet-switched network:
communicating with a fourth provider edge node via the second provider edge node using private line emulation techniques, wherein the fourth provider edge node is configured to communicate with the second provider edge node over a working path through a time-division multiplexing transport network;
determining that a number of consecutive packets from the second provider edge node to the first provider edge node have been lost;
in response to determining that the number of consecutive packets have been lost, exchanging, with the third provider edge node through the packet-switched network, one or more payloads of one or more in-band data packets, wherein the one or more payloads include one or more embedded K1/K2 bytes, wherein the third provider edge node is configured to convert between the one or more in-band data packets and a signal exchanged between the third provider edge node and the fourth provider edge node through the time-division multiplexing transport network;
and
based on exchanging the one or more payloads, communicating with the fourth provider edge node via the third provider edge node, wherein the fourth provider edge node is further configured to communicate with the third provider edge node over a protection path through the time-division multiplexing transport network.

3 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

a network interface configured to communicate with a first provider edge node through a packet-switched network and with a second provider edge node through the packet-switched network;
and
one or more processors coupled to the network interface, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
communicate with a third provider edge node via the first provider edge node using private line emulation techniques, wherein the third provider edge node is configured to communicate with the first provider edge node over a working path through a time-division multiplexing transport network;
determine that a number of consecutive packets from the first provider edge node to the apparatus have been lost;
in response to determining that the number of consecutive packets have been lost, exchange, with the second provider edge node through the packet-switched network, one or more payloads of one or more in-band data packets, wherein the one or more payloads include one or more embedded K1/K2 bytes, wherein the second provider edge node is configured to convert between the one or more in-band data packets and a signal exchanged between the second provider edge node and the third provider edge node through the time-division multiplexing transport network;
and
based on exchanging the one or more payloads, communicate with the third provider edge node via the second provider edge node, wherein the third provider edge node is further configured to communicate with the second provider edge node over a protection path through the time-division multiplexing transport network.

5 more elements

One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first provider edge node configured to communicate with a second provider edge node through a packet-switched network and with a third provider edge node through the packet-switched network, cause the processor to:

communicate with a fourth provider edge node via the second provider edge node using private line emulation techniques, wherein the fourth provider edge node is configured to communicate with the second provider edge node over a working path through a time-division multiplexing transport network;
determine that a number of consecutive packets from the second provider edge node to the first provider edge node have been lost;
in response to determining that the number of consecutive packets have been lost, exchange, with the third provider edge node through the packet-switched network, one or more payloads of one or more in-band data packets, wherein the one or more payloads include one or more embedded K1/K2 bytes, wherein the third provider edge node is configured to convert between the one or more in-band data packets and a signal exchanged between the third provider edge node and the fourth provider edge node through the time-division multiplexing transport network;
and
based on exchanging the one or more payloads, communicate with the fourth provider edge node via the third provider edge node, wherein the fourth provider edge node is further configured to communicate with the third provider edge node over a protection path through the time-division multiplexing transport network.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.