OTN transport over a leaf/spine packet network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12068964-B2
Application number	US-202318190289-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2023
Priority date	Apr 3, 2019
Publication date	Aug 20, 2024
Grant date	Aug 20, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods include receiving an Optical Transport Network (OTN) signal; segmenting the OTN signal into one or more flows of packets; and transmitting the one or more flows of packets spread over one or more Ethernet links. The one or more flows can be transmitted over a Leaf/Spine network, and the one or more flows can be elephant and/or mice flows.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising steps of:
receiving an Optical Transport Network (OTN) signal;
segmenting the OTN signal into one or more flows of packets having one or more properties including addresses and sequence numbers, such that the OTN signal is encapsulated in the one or more flows of packets; and
transmitting the one or more flows of packets spread over one or more Ethernet links, based on using or adjusting the one or more properties to enable reassembly of the one or more flows of packets back to the OTN signal, wherein the one or more flows of packets are one or more of i) one or more elephant flows and ii) one or more mice flows with specific addresses in a given flow, and, for the one or mice flows, the sequence numbers are greater than 2-bits.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the steps further include
utilizing one of Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) for synchronization.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting is over a Leaf/Spine network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more flows of packets are the one or more elephant flows, and wherein the steps further include
creating gaps in a flow of the one or more elephant flows such that the flow is switchable to another Ethernet link of the one or more Ethernet links.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more flows of packets are the one or more mice flows, and wherein the steps further include
utilizing sequence numbers on a per flow basis of the one or more mice flows, where each packet in each flow is received in-order.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a packet size for packets in each of the one or more flows of packets is based on link speed of each of the one or more Ethernet links.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the steps further include
determining latency on the one or more Ethernet links.

8. An apparatus comprising circuitry configured to:
receive an Optical Transport Network (OTN) signal;
segment the OTN signal into one or more flows of packets having one or more properties including addresses and sequence numbers, such that the OTN signal is encapsulated in the one or more flows of packets; and
transmit the one or more flows of packets spread over one or more Ethernet links, based on using or adjusting the one or more properties to enable reassembly of the one or more flows of packets back to the OTN signal, wherein the one or more flows of packets are one or more of i) one or more elephant flows and ii) one or more mice flows wherein, for the one or more elephant flows, the addresses are used to provide all packets with specific addresses in a given flow, and, for the one or more mice flows, the sequence numbers are greater than 2-bits.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to
utilize one of Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) for synchronization.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the one or more flows are transmitted over a Leaf/Spine network.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the one or more flows of packets are the one or more elephant flows, and wherein the circuitry is further configured to
create gaps in a flow of the one or more elephant flows such that the flow is switchable to another Ethernet link of the one or more Ethernet links.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the one or more flows of packets are the one or more mice flows, and wherein the circuitry is further configured to
Utilize sequence numbers on a per flow basis of the one or more mice flows, where each packet in each flow is received in-order.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein a packet size for packets in each of the one or more flows of packets is based on link speed of each of the one or more Ethernet links.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to
determine latency on the one or more Ethernet links.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause circuitry to perform steps of:
receiving an Optical Transport Network (OTN) signal;
segmenting the OTN signal into one or more flows of packets having one or more properties including addresses and sequence numbers, such that the OTN signal is encapsulated in the one or more flows of packets; and
transmitting the one or more flows of packets spread over one or more Ethernet links, based on using or adjusting the one or more properties to enable reassembly of the one or more flows of packets back to the OTN signal, wherein the one or more flows of packets are one or more of i) one or more elephant flows and ii) one or more mice flows wherein, for the one or more elephant flows, the addresses are used to provide all packets with specific addresses in a given flow, and, for the one or more mice flows, the sequence numbers are greater than 2-bits.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the steps further include
utilizing one of Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) for synchronization.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the transmitting is over a Leaf/Spine network.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the one or more flows of packets are the one or more elephant flows, and wherein the steps further include
creating gaps in a flow of the one or more elephant flows such that the flow is switchable to another Ethernet link of the one or more Ethernet links.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the one or more flows of packets are the one or more mice flows, and wherein the steps further include
Utilizing sequence numbers on a per flow basis of the one or more mice flows, where each packet in each flow is received in-order.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the steps further include
determining latency on the one or more Ethernet links.

Assignees

• Ciena Corp

Inventors

• Rivaud Daniel
• Leclair Marc

Classifications

• H04L47/125 Primary

  by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering · CPC title

• H04L45/02 Primary

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• H04J3/1658

  carrying packets or ATM cells; (H04J3/1664 takes precedence for payloads with different packet types) · CPC title

• H04L47/34

  ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers · CPC title

• H04L45/70

  Routing based on monitoring results · CPC title