Apparatus and method for measurement of propagation time of a data stream in a transport network
AssigneeMicrosemi Storage Solutions (U.S.), Inc.
InventorRichard Tse
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Abstract
A method and system are provided for measuring the propagation time, or one-way delay or latency, of an 8B/10B data stream, such as a CPRI stream, through a network using a transport network protocol, such as OTN. Embodiments of the present disclosure do not modify the CPRI client and are unlimited in the amount of delay that can be measured. At first and second network endpoints, information is gathered related to patterns associated with successive occurrences of a control character in the 8B/10B encoded data stream. This information is sent over a side channel separate from the 8B/10B encoded data stream. The one-way delay is determined based on a difference between the information related to the pattern identified at the first and second network endpoints.
Claims21
A method of measuring a one-way delay of an 8B/10B encoded data stream transported over a transport network, the method comprising:
- timestamping, at a network entry and at a network exit, successive occurrences of a control character in the 8B/10B encoded data stream;
- identifying, at the network entry and the network exit, a pattern associated with the successive occurrences of the control character;
- sending, over a side channel separate from the 8B/10B encoded data stream, information related to the patterns identified at the network entry and at the network exit;
- and
- determining the one-way delay based on a difference between the information related to the pattern identified at the network entry and the information related to the pattern identified at the network exit.
A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon statements and instructions for execution by a processor to perform a method of measuring a one-way delay of an 8B/10B encoded data stream transported over a transport network, the method comprising:
- timestamping, at a first network endpoint, successive occurrences of a control character in the 8B/10B encoded data stream;
- identifying, at the first network endpoint, a pattern associated with the successive occurrences of the control character;
- sending, over a side channel separate from the 8B/10B encoded data stream, information related to the pattern identified at the first network endpoint;
- and
- determining the one-way delay based on a difference between the information related to the pattern identified at the first network endpoint and information related to a pattern associated with successive occurrences of the control character at a second network endpoint.
A system for measuring a one-way delay of an 8B/10B encoded data stream transported over a transport network, the system comprising:
- first and second timestampers, provided at a network entry and at a network exit, respectively, configured to timestamp successive occurrences of a control character in the 8B/10B encoded data stream;
- first and second timestamp processors configured to identify, at the network entry and the network exit respectively, a pattern associated with the successive occurrences of the control character;
- and
- first and second transport network devices configured to send, over a side channel separate from the 8B/10B encoded data stream, information related to the patterns identified at the network entry and at the network exit;
- the first and second transport network devices cooperating to determine the one-way delay based on a difference between the information related to the pattern identified at the network entry and the information related to the pattern identified at the network exit.
A system for measuring a one-way delay of an 8B/10B encoded data stream transported over a transport network, the system comprising:
- first and second programmable logic devices, provided at a network entry and a network exit, respectively, configured to timestamp successive occurrences of a control character in the 8B/10B encoded data stream and to identify a pattern associated with the successive occurrences of the control character;
- first and second transport network devices, in communication with the first and second programmable logic devices, respectively, configured to send, over a side channel separate from the 8B/10B encoded data stream, information related to the patterns identified at the network entry and at the network exit;
- one or more processors;
- and
- one or more non-transitory machine readable memories storing statements and instructions for execution by the one or more processors to determine the one-way delay based on a difference between the information related to the pattern identified at the network entry and the information related to the pattern identified at the network exit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.