Method of reducing synchronization rearrangements in synchronous transmission systems

Abstract

The invention substantially reduces the occurrence of unnecessary synchronization rearrangements in nodes within synchronous transmission systems such as SONET networks. In one embodiment of the invention, the method disclosed for reducing synchronization rearrangements within interconnected nodes of a synchronous transmission system includes the steps of: detecting, at a node within the synchronous transmission system, a change in a synchronization status message received at the node; propagating the changed synchronization status message from the node to another node within the synchronous transmission system if the changed synchronization status message corresponds to an active timing reference; waiting a specified amount of time upon detection of the change in the synchronization status message; then determining whether a synchronization rearrangement is necessary at the node; and then performing a synchronization rearrangement at the node if necessary. In another embodiment of the invention, the method disclosed for reducing synchronization rearrangements within interconnected nodes of a ring transmission system, includes the steps of: updating a synchronization status message upon a change in synchronization signal quality at a first node of the ring transmission system; transmitting the updated synchronization status message from the first node to a plurality of other nodes within the ring transmission system; propagating the updated synchronization status message from each of the plurality of other nodes to another node of within the ring transmission system if the updated synchronization status message corresponds to an active timing reference; waiting a specified amount of time upon an arrival of the updated synchronization status message at each of the plurality of other nodes; determining for each of the plurality of other nodes whether a synchronization rearrangement is still necessary; and then performing a synchronization rearrangement if necessary.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.