| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20090324222 | Link Diversity and Load Balancing Across Digital and Optical Express-Thru Nodes - The present invention provides a system, apparatus and method to compute a route through a network having both digital nodes and optical express-thru nodes. According to various embodiments of the invention, a network topology is generated in which both digital nodes, optical express-thru nodes, and optical nodes are identified, and both physical and virtual links between these nodes are mapped. The network connectivity is identified, at least in part, by broadcasting a local link state advertisement and optical carrier group binding information to neighboring nodes, which enables both physical and virtual neighboring nodes to be identified. Once a topology is generated, both physical and virtual link characteristics are analyzed to ensure link diversity for traffic through the network and load balancing functionality across the network. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20100208583 | PATH-LEVEL PROTECTION FOR DIGITALLY WRAPPED PAYLOADS - A node, of a group of nodes, may detect a failure on a first path; establish a connection associated with a second path when the failure on the first path is detected; store an identifier in a field in an overhead portion of a data frame when the failure on the first path is detected, the data frame including a payload portion that contains a client signal, the identifier instructing another one of the nodes to establish a connection associated with the second path; and transmit the data frame to the other one of the nodes via the second path. | 08-19-2010 |
| 20110004700 | PROVIDING ACCESS TO CLIENT OVERHEAD WHILE TRANSPARENTLY TRANSMITTING THE CLIENT SIGNAL - A method includes receiving client data; extracting overhead data from the client data; mapping the client data into one or more frames, where each of the one or more frames has a frame payload section and a frame overhead section, where the client data is mapped into the frame payload section of the one or more frames; inserting the overhead data into the frame overhead section of the one or more frames; transporting the one or more frames across a network; extracting the overhead data from the frame overhead section of the one or more frames; recovering the client data from the one or more frames; inserting the extracted overhead data into the recovered client data to create modified client data; and outputting the modified client data. | 01-06-2011 |
| 20110032938 | DISTRIBUTED RSVP-TE IN A MULTI-CHASSIS NODE ARCHITECTURE - A network device includes a multi-chassis system in which each chassis includes a RSVP-TE protocol stack that may provide RSVP-TE services for LSP tunnels associated with each chassis. The multi-chassis system may include an administrative chassis. The administrative chassis may forward RSVP messages to other chassis of the network device. The administrative chassis may encapsulate the RSVP messages with a chassis address. The other chassis may de-encapsulate the RSVP messages and process the RSVP messages according to the RSVP-TE protocol. The administrative chassis may obtain session information associated with other chassis based on RSVP messages received. The administrative chassis may manage adjacency mechanisms and failure and recovery mechanisms. The multi-chassis system including the distributed RSVP-TE protocol stacks may minimize scalability issues and improve performance when high-capacity routing and/or switching services are needed. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110075549 | FAST PROTECTION PATH ACTIVATION USING CONTROL PLANE MESSAGES - A method, performed in a network that includes a group of nodes, includes identifying a path through a set of the nodes, where each node, in the set of nodes, has a data plane and a control plane; establishing a control plane tunnel, associated with the path, within the control plane of the nodes in the set of nodes; establishing a data plane tunnel, associated with the path, within the data plane of the nodes in the set of nodes, where the data plane tunnel is associated with the control plane tunnel and established through the same set of nodes; and transmitting a control message through the control plane tunnel to change a state of the data plane tunnel. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110236018 | IN-BAND CONTROL PLANE AND MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONALITY IN OPTICAL LEVEL ONE VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS - A method performed by an optical node, operating as a first network edge device of an optical layer one virtual private network (L1VPN), includes generating, by a first module of the optical node, a first optical data frame, where the first optical data frame includes an L1VPN overhead, and where the L1VPN overhead includes a control plane communication field; generating, by a second module of the optical node, a first control plane message for a second network edge device of the optical L1VPN, where the second network edge device is connected to the first network edge device across a provider network via an optical L1VPN link; incorporating, by the first module, the first control plane message into the control plane communication field of the first optical data frame; and transmitting, by the first module, the first optical data frame to the second network edge device via the optical L1VPN link. | 09-29-2011 |
| 20110305136 | ACTIVATION SIGNALING IN TRANSPORT NETWORKS - A method comprising the steps of receiving a signal indicative of a failure of a working connection in a mesh network having a headend node, a tailend node and an intermediate node, and having a protecting connection, and transmitting an activation message via the protecting connection from at least one of the headend node and the tailend node to the intermediate node for activating the protecting connection. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20110305450 | Misconnection Avoidance on Networks - A switch node provided with a switch, an input interface and an output interface. The input interface is adapted to couple to a first communication link to receive a first TDM frame having a user payload field containing a first user data from the first communication link, and a frame overhead field containing a first identification. The input interface is configured to validate the first identification in the frame overhead field and reject the first TDM frame responsive to the first identification being invalid, and to forward the first user data to the switch responsive to the first identification being valid. The output interface is adapted to couple to a second communication link. The output interface is configured to receive the first user data from the switch, and to generate a second TDM frame having a second user payload field containing the first user data, and a second frame overhead field containing a second identification that is different from the first identification. The output interface is also configured to transmit the second TDM frame onto the second communication link. | 12-15-2011 |