Cable modem system management of passive optical networks (PONs)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11539436-B2
Application number	US-201816631578-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2018
Priority date	Aug 18, 2017
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

A network infrastructure combining data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) cable modem management and 10 Gb passive optical network XGPON networking technology. The DOCSIS equipment controls restrict the XGPON to physical layer (layer 1) while the DOCSIS equipment operate at a data link layer and above.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A network processor in a cable network communication device having a memory, a communication module and a network data interface coupled to the communication module, and adapted to connect to a node in a 10 Gb passive optical network (XGPON), the network processor configured to:
cause the network data interface to communicate with at least one other cable network communication device through said XGPON in accordance with an established cable network packet switched protocol; and
control one or more features of the XGPON via a first layer, wherein the cable network communication device is to operate via one or more other layers, wherein the network processor is configured to control one or more optical line terminal (OLT) functions including at least one of: ONU registration, ONU-ID assignment, ranging and management of XGPON physical layer.

2. The network processor of claim 1 wherein the packet switched protocol comprises an Internet Protocol version six (IPv6).

3. The network processor of claim 1 wherein the network data interface comprises a data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) medium access control (MAC) interface providing DOCSIS MAC data frames to said XGPON via an XGPON service data unit (SDU) interface.

4. The network processor of claim 1 wherein the cable network communication device comprises a cable modem (CM).

5. The network processor of claim 1 wherein the cable network communication device comprises a cable modem termination system (CMTS).

6. The network processor of claim 5 wherein said node in said XGPON comprises an optical line terminal (OLT).

7. The network processor of claim 6 wherein the cable network communication device comprises a data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) and wherein the one or more features controlled in said XGPON include: interfacing with the OLT's config/control interface and replacing the OLT with DOCSIS control of the XGPON: (1) medium access control (MAC) functions and assigning MAC addresses to each optical network unit (ONU); (2) upstream dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) to ONUs by disabling ONU DBA reporting to the OLT and accessing of an upstream bandwidth map; (3) security functions by disabling data path encryption in said XGPON; and (4) quality of service (QoS) by distributing MAC management messages in the XGPON by way of OLT and ONU service data unit (SDU) interfaces.

8. The network processor of 1 wherein the cable network communication device utilizes data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) protocols.

9. The network processor of claim 1 wherein said node in said XGPON comprises an optical network unit (ONU).

10. A 10 Gb passive optical network (XGPON) network processor having open system interconnection (OSI) layers above layer 1 (physical layer) disabled from the perspective of the XGPON network processor, the OSI layers above layer 1 being controlled by a data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) configuration which ignores optional features of XGPON protocols and uses XGPON service data units (SDUs) to pass DOCSIS data frames and medium access control (MAC) management messages (MMMs) between an optical line terminal (OLT) and a plurality of optical networking units (ONUs) in the XGPON network, wherein the XGPON SDUs are processed by the XGPON physical layer protocols including three transmission convergence (TC) sublayers and a physical media dependent (PMD) sublayer, the XGPON network processor residing at the OLT, wherein the XGPON processor is configured to control OLT functions not disabled, including at least one of: ONU registration, ONU-ID assignment, ranging and management of XGPON physical layer.

11. The XGPON network processor of claim 10 wherein said optional features ignored by the DOCSIS configuration includes upstream dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) reporting by ONUs, XGPON data path encryption and XGPON Quality of Service (QoS) abilities.

12. The XGPON network processor of claim 10 wherein the MMMs control Quality of Service (QoS) for the DOCSIS data frames in SDU service flows through the XGPON.

13. The XGPON network processor of claim 10 , wherein the DOCSIS configuration controlling XGPON functionality is a DOCSIS cable modem termination system (CMTS) interfaced with a config/control in the OLT and controlling access to an upstream bandwidth map in the OLT.

14. A data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS)-enabled communication device comprising:
a communications processor;
a memory coupled to the communications processor, the memory including a DOCSIS communications protocol stack without having access to a layer 1 (physical layer) protocol; and
a data interface including an external port configured to connect to a service data unit (SDU) interface of one of an optical line terminal (OLT) or an optical network unit (ONU) of a DOCSIS configured 10 Gb passive optical network (XGPON), the XGPON having access to the layer 1 and not to other layers in the DOCSIS communications protocol stack;
wherein the communication device is operative to communicate with one or more remote DOCSIS communication devices by exchanging layer 2 (data link layer) data frames over the XGPON,
wherein the XGPON is configured to control OLT functions not disabled, including at least one of: ONU registration, ONU-ID assignment, ranging and management of XGPON physical layer.

15. The communication device of claim 14 wherein the communication device comprises a DOCSIS cable modem termination system (CMTS).

16. The communication device of claim 14 wherein the communication device comprises a DOCSIS cable modem (CM).

17. The communication device of claim 14 wherein the layer 2 data frames comprise Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) packets.

18. The communication device of claim 14 wherein the XGPON is configured by DOCSIS to be limited to layer 1 native XGPON protocols and serves as a physical layer between the communication device and the one or more remote DOCSIS communication devices passing the DOCSIS layer 2 data frames as a service data unit (SDU) flow between an OLT SDU interface over an optical distribution network (ODN) and a plurality of ONUs SDU interfaces.

19. A method of altering protocols in a passive optical network (XGPON) to serve as a physical layer and medium for communications between nodes in a data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) cable network, the method comprising:
allowing an XGPON optical line terminal (OLT) to continue performing native tasks including: optical network unit (ONU) registration, ONU ID assignment, ranging and management of an XGPON physical layer;
accessing a config/control interface OLT; and
replacing the OLT control with DOCSIS control of the XGPON:
(1) medium access control (MAC) functions and assigning MAC addresses to each optical network unit (ONU);
(2) upstream dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) to ONUs by disabling ONU DBA reporting to the OLT and taking over access to an upstream bandwidth map;
(3) security functions by disabling data path encryption in said XGPON; and
(4) quality of service (QoS) by distributing MAC management messages in the XGPON by way of OLT and ONU service data unit (SDU) interfaces.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the MAC addresses are assigned based on ONU-IDs.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein altering protocols is performed by a cable network termination system (CNTS) connection with the OLT via an OLT control and configur

Assignees

• Intel Corp
• Maxlinear Inc

Inventors

• Krampl Gerfried
• Hermesh Barak
• Klimker Amos
• Shulman Shaul
• Schaefer Franz-Josef
• Ray Guy

Classifications

• H04B10/25 Primary

  Arrangements specific to fibre transmission · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0064

  Arbitration, scheduling or medium access control aspects · CPC title

• H04B10/40

  Transceivers · CPC title

• H04L63/0428

  wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload · CPC title

• H04Q11/0067 Primary

  Provisions for optical access or distribution networks, e.g. Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GE-PON), ATM-based Passive Optical Network (A-PON), PON-Ring · CPC title