Fast rerouting of traffic in a circuit switched mesh network
AssigneeECI Telecom Ltd.
InventorsNoam Goldberg, Eitan Yehuda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Technology for rerouting a data stream in a communication circuit switched mesh network comprising one or more cross-connecting nodes, the data stream comprises a plurality of data frames each associated with at least one overhead byte, and the rerouting is performed by using a path identifier while switching the data stream at one or more cross-connecting nodes; the path identifier is carried by at least one overhead byte associated with at least one of the data frames.
Claims19
In a communication circuit switched mesh network comprising two or more cross-connecting nodes, a method for rerouting a data stream comprising a plurality of data frames each associated with at least one overhead byte, wherein the rerouting comprising preliminary steps of:
- pre-provisioning, for said data stream, of a working path and at least one alternative path in the network via said two or more cross-connecting nodes;
- providing a predetermined path identifier for said data stream for identifying and switching the data stream at said two or more cross-connecting nodes to said one out of said at least one alternative path, said path identifier being carried by said at least one overhead byte associated with at least one of said plurality of data frames;
- said rerouting being initiated by receiving at a specific cross-connecting node out of said two or more cross-connecting nodes, at least one notification of a fault occurring in the working path of said data stream;
- said rerouting being performed by the following steps;
- distinguishing, at said two or more cross-connecting nodes, one or more predetermined values of the path identifier at each incoming data frame,
- at said specific cross-connecting node, identifying said data stream using the predetermined path identifier of said data stream, and, upon receiving said at least one notification of a fault, switching the data stream to one out of said at least one alternative path pre-provisioned for said data stream via said specific cross-connecting node;
- at least at one additional cross-connecting node out of said two or more cross-connecting nodes, located downstream from said specific node along one out of said at least one alternative path, switching an incoming stream to one out of said at least one alternative path pre-provisioned via said additional cross-connecting node for the data stream, in case of identifying the incoming stream as being said data stream carrying the predetermined path identifier,
- thereby performing the rerouting at data plane, without interaction with control/management plane.
A cross-connecting switch for rerouting a data stream in a node of a communication circuit switched mesh network, supporting incoming data streams comprising a plurality of data frames each associated with at least one overhead byte, the switch comprising internal switching means for establishing internal connections there-inside, said internal switching means being adapted to pre-provision, for at least one of the incoming data streams, carrying a predetermined path identifier in said at least one overhead byte of the data frames, switching to at least one alternative path;
- the switch being provided with means for distinguishing said predetermined path identifier being transmitted by the at least one overhead byte associated with the data frames of said incoming data stream, and for identifying said incoming data stream by its predetermined path identifier, and the configurable internal switching means being further configured to perform internal rerouting of one or more said incoming data streams, by utilizing said predetermined path identifier in order to select one out of said at least one alternative path for said incoming data stream identified by its predetermined path identifier;
- wherein said rerouting of a data stream carrying the predetermined path identifier being initiated by receiving at a specific cross-connecting node out of two or more cross-connecting nodes including said node with said cross-connecting switch, at least one notification of a fault occurring in a working path of said data stream,
- and wherein, while distinguishing, at said two or more cross-connecting nodes, one or more predetermined values of the path identifier at each incoming data frame, said rerouting of the data stream being performed at said two or more cross-connecting nodes by the following steps:
- at said specific cross-connecting node, identifying an incoming data stream as said data stream using the predetermined path identifier of said data stream, and, upon receiving said at least one notification of a fault, performing internal rerouting of the data stream to one out of said at least one alternative path pre-provisioned for said data stream via said specific cross-connecting node;
- at least at one additional cross-connecting node out of said two or more cross-connecting nodes, located downstream from said specific node along one out of said at least one alternative path, performing internal rerouting of an incoming stream of the additional cross-connecting node to one out of said at least one alternative path pre-provisioned via said additional cross-connecting node for the data stream, in case of identifying the incoming stream as being said data stream carrying the predetermined path identifier,
- so that the switch thereby does not require interaction with control/management plane for the internal rerouting.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.