Method of restoring a facility failure in a communication network, a communication network, a network element, a protocol, a program module and a communication interface module therefor

A communication network for restoring a facility failure comprising a first ring and at least one second ring being adjacent to and interconnected with said first ring, each of said rings providing ring-shaped working transmission capacity and ring-shaped protection transmission capacity, said working and protection transmission capacity being provided by transmission sections, each transmission section being terminated by two network elements, said first ring and said at least one second ring sharing at least partly a part of said protection transmission capacity provided by at least one first shared transmission section, said network elements of said first ring and of said at least one second ring being adapted to carry out the steps of:

• monitoring said first ring and said at least one second ring for a facility failure by the network elements of the respective ring,
• responsive to detecting a facility failure, communicating failure information containing data about the span of said facility failure, said failure information identifying the ring affected by said facility failure by means of a ring identifier,
• based on said failure information, determining a restoration transmission channel to restore said facility failure, said restoration transmission channel using the undisturbed protection transmission capacity of the ring affected by said facility failure as indicated by said ring identifier, and
• switching working traffic of the ring affected by said facility failure to said restoration transmission channel.

A network element of a first ring of a communication network for restoring a facility failure, said communication network further comprising at least one second ring being adjacent to and interconnected with said first ring, each of said rings providing ring-shaped working transmission capacity and ring-shaped protection transmission capacity, said working and protection transmission capacity being provided by transmission sections, each transmission section being terminated by two network elements, said first ring and said at least one second ring sharing at least partly a part of said protection transmission capacity provided by at least one first shared transmission section, said network element terminating at least two of said transmission sections of said first ring and/or said at least one second ring, said network element comprising means for carrying out the steps of:

• monitoring said first ring and said at least one second ring for a facility failure by the network elements of the respective ring,
• responsive to detecting a facility failure, communicating failure information containing data about the span of said facility failure, said failure information identifying the ring affected by said facility failure by means of a ring identifier,
• based on said failure information, determining a restoration transmission channel to restore said facility failure, said restoration transmission channel using the undisturbed protection transmission capacity of the ring affected by said facility failure as indicated by said ring identifier, and
• switching working traffic of the ring affected by said facility failure to said restoration transmission channel.

A protocol for restoring a facility failure in a communication network comprising a first ring and at least one second ring being adjacent to and interconnected with said first ring, each of said rings providing ring-shaped working transmission capacity and ring-shaped protection transmission capacity, said working and protection transmission capacity being provided by transmission sections, each transmission section being terminated by two network elements, said first ring and said at least one second ring sharing at least partly a part of said protection transmission capacity provided by at least one first shared transmission section, the network elements of said first ring and said at least one second ring monitoring the respective ring for a facility failure, said network elements sending failure information about a facility failure upon detecting said failure by means of said protocol, said protocol containing data about the span of said facility failure and a ring identifier identifying the ring affected by said facility failure, said data and said ring identifier enabling said network elements to determine a restoration transmission channel to restore said facility failure and to switch the working traffic of the ring affected by said facility failure to said restoration transmission channel, said restoration transmission channel using the undisturbed protection transmission capacity of the ring affected by said facility failure as indicated by said ring identifier.

A program module for a network element of a first ring of a communication network for restoring a facility failure, said communication network further comprising at least one second ring being adjacent to and interconnected with said first ring, each of said rings providing ring-shaped working transmission capacity and ring-shaped protection transmission capacity, said working and protection transmission capacity being provided by transmission sections, each transmission section being terminated by two network elements, said first ring and said at least one second ring sharing at least partly a part of said protection transmission capacity provided by at least one first shared transmission section, said network element terminating at least two of said transmission sections of said first ring and/or said at least one second ring, said program module containing program code adapted to be executed by control means of said network element, the execution of said program module making said network element carrying out the step of:

• sending and/or receiving of failure information about a facility failure of said first ring and/or said at least one second ring, said failure information containing data about the span of said facility failure, said failure information identifying the respective first and/or at least one second ring affected by said facility failure by means of a ring identifier.