US 7,606,262 B1Granted

Universal edge node

AssigneeNortel Networks Limited

InventorsMaged E. Beshai, Harold G. Edwards, Paul F. Daspit

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Abstract

A universal electronic switching node serves as an edge node in a high-capacity network with an optical core. The universal edge node may handle a variety of traffic classes and may control traffic admission, connection definition, connection routing and core node configuration. The provided capabilities significantly simplify network operation and control. The universal edge node includes input ports for receiving data streams, output ports for transmitting the data streams though the optical core, a switching fabric for communicating these data streams between input and output ports and a controller for controlling this communicating. In particular, the controller can select a route through the optical core, schedule the communication between input and output ports and adaptively allocate the bitrate of this communication.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of scheduling a transfer of data segments through a switching fabric from a plurality of input ports of said switching fabric to a plurality of output ports of said switching fabric wherein a scheduling frame having a predetermined number of time slots and an equal, predetermined duration is associated with each of said plurality of input ports, said method comprising:

dividing said duration of each said scheduling frame into a plurality of time windows by a switching fabric device;
dividing said plurality of input ports into input-port groups;
for each said scheduling frame, forming a plurality of non-intersecting scheduling domains, where each said scheduling domain associates one of said input-port groups with one of said plurality of time windows;
concurrently executing scheduling processes, one scheduling process for each of said non-intersecting scheduling domains, each said scheduling process determining a schedule that indicates, for a given scheduling domain, a timing for a transfer of data segments to selected ones of said plurality of output ports from said input ports associated with said time window in said given scheduling domain;
and
at least where said executing does not use all said time windows of a given scheduling frame, repeating said forming and said executing for pairs of said input-port groups and time windows.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.