Optical burst scheduling using partitioned channel groups
OwnerSi Q. Zhenginventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical switch network (4) includes optical routers (10), which route information in optical fibers (12). Each fiber carries a plurality of data channels (20), collectively a data channel group (14), and a control channel (16). Data is carried on the data channels in data bursts and control information is carried on the control channel (18) in burst header packets. A burst header packet includes routing information for an associated data burst (28) and precedes its associated data burst. Parallel scheduling at multiple delays may be used for faster scheduling. In one embodiment, unscheduled times and gaps may be processed in a unified memory for more efficient operation.
Claims10
An optical burst-switched router, comprising:
- an optical switch for routing optical information from an incoming optical transmission medium to one of a plurality of outgoing optical transmission media, wherein each of the outgoing optical transmission media can transmit data over a plurality of channels;
- circuitry for assigning a group identifier to each channel;
- scheduling circuits each associated with a respective outgoing medium, each scheduling circuit comprising:
- one or more associative processors storing information indicative of times available for scheduling a data burst on said associated outgoing optical transmission medium;
- and
- circuitry for controlling said one or more associative processors to find an available time on one of a plurality of channels associated with a predetermined group identifier.
A method of routing information through an optical burst-switched router including an optical switch for routing optical information from an incoming optical transmission medium to one of a plurality of outgoing optical transmission media, wherein each of the outgoing optical transmission media can transmit data over a plurality of channels, comprising the steps of:
- assigning group identifiers for respective groups of one or more channels;
- scheduling data burst through said switch responsive to available time on one of a plurality of channels associated with a predetermined group identifier.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.