Fully shared communications network
AssigneeAT&T Bell Laboratories
InventorsGerald R. Ash, Steven D. Schwartz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The architecture of a communication network comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a transmission facility having a bandwidth divisible into channels of respective bandwidths, e.g., optical fiber, is enhanced by fully sharing the network bandwidth among the network nodes, such that each pair of nodes, on periodic basis, dynamically establishes respective direct links to each of the other network nodes, in which a direct link is formed from a group of channels obtained from the network bandwidth. The remaining bandwidth is then used to form a pool of bandwidth which is shared among the network nodes on a dynamic basis, such as, for example, establishing a communication path between a pair of nodes to route a call from one node to the other node of the pair of nodes.
Claims29
A fully shared telecommunications network comprising
- a plurality of nodes interconnected via a network transmission facility, said network transmission facility having a predetermined network bandwidth that may be segmented into a plurality of channels of respective bandwidths, said predetermined network bandwidth forming a common pool of bandwidth that may be shared among said network nodes on a dynamic basis, and
- means, operative during a current interval of time and contained in each of said nodes, for dynamically establishing to other ones of said nodes respective direct links for routing calls of respective classes of services, each of said direct links being formed from a number of channels obtained from said common pool, and operative during a next succeeding interval of time for changing the number of channels forming ones of said direct links based on the number of said calls routed over said ones of said direct links during the prior interval of time.
A fully shared telecommunications network comprising
- a plurality of nodes interconnected via a network transmission facility, said network transmission facility having a predetermined bandwidth that may be segmented on a dynamic basis into a plurality of channels of respective bandwidths,
- means, contained in each of said nodes, for dynamically establishing to individual other ones of said nodes respective direct links for routing calls of respective classes of services, each of said direct links comprising groups of channels associated with respective ones of said classes of services, in which each of said channels is a respective segment of said predetermined network bandwidth, and in which the remaining bandwidth of said predetermined network bandwidth is reserved as a pool of bandwidth that may be shared among said network nodes on a dynamic basis, and
- means, responsive to receipt at an associated one of said nodes of a call associated with a particular class of service and responsive to the unavailability of an associated channel to a terminating node that is to receive said call, for routing said call to said terminating node via an available channel associated with a class of service different from the class of service associated with said call.
A fully shared network comprising
- a first node and a plurality of second nodes,
- a transmission facility interconnecting each of said nodes, said transmission facility having a predetermined bandwidth divisible into a plurality of channels each having a respective bandwidth,
- means, contained in said first node and operative during a current predetermined interval of time, for dynamically establishing to individual ones of said second nodes respective direct links formed from a respective number of said channels, said channels being acquired as they are needed and said number being a function of traffic statistics accumulated by said first node during a preceding interval of time, and wherein the remaining channels of said transmission facility forming a pool of channels that may be shared among said nodes, and
- means, contained in said first node and thereafter operative responsive to receipt of a call identifying as a terminating node one of said individual ones of said second nodes, for advancing said call to said terminating node via a respective channel of the direct link to said terminating node.
A telecommunications network having a plurality of switching nodes interconnected via network transmission facilities comprising
- means, contained in at least one of said nodes and operative during a predetermined interval of time, for accumulating traffic statistics characterizing traffic demand for calls sent to other ones of said nodes over respective priorly established direct links, said transmission facilities having a predetermined bandwidth divisible into a plurality of channels of respective bandwidths, said links being formed from groups of said channels,
- means, contained in said at least one of said nodes and operative during a succeeding interval of time, for determining the bandwidth of each of said direct links that will be required during said succeeding interval for the sending of calls to each of said other ones of said nodes, the bandwidth of each of said direct links being a function of said accumulated traffic statistics, and
- means for forming the remaining channels of said transmission facilities into a common pool of channels that may be fully shared among said network nodes, and
- wherein said means for determining the bandwidth of each of said links includes means operative when a call is to be sent to an adjacent one of said nodes for establishing a communication path between said at least one of said nodes and said adjacent node using a channel obtained from said common pool of channels and sending said call over that channel.
In a telecommunications network comprising a plurality of switching nodes each connected to network transmission facilities, a method of establishing from at least one of said nodes to other ones of said nodes respective links for the transmission of telephone calls associated with respective classes of service, said method comprising the steps of
- accumulating during a preceding interval of time traffic statistics characterizing traffic demand and a grade of service constraint for calls of respective classes of services that said one node sends to said other nodes over respective ones of said links, and
- determining for a succeeding interval of time the bandwidth of each of said links that will be required during said succeeding interval for the sending of calls to said other nodes, in which the bandwidth of each of said links is determined as a function of said accumulated traffic statistics and the number of calls of the associated class of service that said at least one node expects to send over the respective one of said links during said succeeding interval of time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.