Optical-inclusive dWDM local area network
AssigneeMcnc
InventorsIlia Baldine, Laura Jackson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An optical-inclusive, dWDM local area network and the accompanying signaling protocol necessary to facilitate communication between nodes in a network. This network architecture provides for a packet-oriented network, independent of the number of nodes and the number of supported wavelengths, and provides for scheduled access to the medium, which guarantees higher utilization.
Claims17
An optical-inclusive dense wavelength division multiplexing network, the network comprising:
- a passive star coupler that serves as a network hub;
- one or more candidate nodes in optical communication with the passive star coupler, the one or more candidate nodes including a fast tunable transmitter and a slowly tunable receiver for receiving and transmitting optical signals, the one or more candidate nodes implementing an election algorithm to elect a scheduling entity from amongst the one or more candidate nodes;
- and
- a master node in optical communication with the passive star coupler and selected from amongst the one or more candidate nodes to serve as the scheduling entity, the master node implementing a scheduling algorithm that schedules the transmission of data frames throughout the network.
A node within an optical-inclusive dense wavelength division multiplexing network, the node comprising:
- a fast tunable transmitter for optically transmitting data frames
- a slowly tunable receiver for optically receiving data frames
- a plurality of queues that buffer the data frames, prior to transmission, on a per-wavelength basis;
- a queue manager that controls which frames are transmitted from the plurality of queues in accordance with a scheduling algorithm;
- and
- an election module that implements an election routine to elect a scheduling node from a plurality of predetermined nodes within the network.
A method for electing a scheduling node in an optical-inclusive dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (dWDM), Local Area Network (LAN), the method comprising the step of:
- failing to detect, at one or more candidate nodes, the presence of a scheduling node within the network;
- tuning the one or more candidate node receivers and transmitters to an election wavelength;
- announcing to the network that one or more candidate nodes are available as candidates for scheduling node election;
- and
- electing one of the one or more announced candidate nodes as the scheduling node
A method for adding a node to an optical-inclusive dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (dWDM), Local Area Network (LAN);
- the method comprising the steps of:
- synchronizing system time at a network node desiring to join the network by calculating a propagation delay to a Passive Star Coupler (PSC);
- transmitting, from the network node desiring to join the network to a network scheduling node, the propagation delay to the PSC and a request to join the network;
- and
- receiving, at the network node desiring to join the network, a schedule transmitted from the network scheduling mode that includes the network node desiring to join the network.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.