Network management system and method for synchronization of communication network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12413324-B2
Application number	US-201917780844-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2019
Priority date	Nov 29, 2019
Publication date	Sep 9, 2025
Grant date	Sep 9, 2025

Abstract

Provided are a method of synchronizing a communication network, the method comprising obtaining a quality parameter of at least two or more synchronization sources connected to communication nodes in a communication network and a capacity parameter of the communication nodes connected to the synchronization sources, selecting a synchronization source to be used for synchronization of the communication network from among the at least two or more synchronization sources, according to a priority based on the obtained quality parameter and capacity parameter and performing synchronization of the communication network using a synchronization signal provided from the selected synchronization source.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of synchronizing a communication network, the method comprising:
obtaining, by a network management system, a quality parameter of at least two or more synchronization sources connected to communication nodes in the communication network and a capacity parameter of the communication nodes connected to the synchronization sources;
selecting, by the network management system, a synchronization source to be used for synchronization of the communication network from among the at least two or more synchronization sources, according to a priority calculated based on the obtained quality parameter and capacity parameter; and
transmitting, by the network management system, a setting signal for setting the communication nodes in the communication network for synchronization of the communication network using a synchronization signal provided from the selected synchronization source.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality parameter and the capacity parameter are stored in a form of a table in the network management system that manages the communication network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the priority is flexibly determined based on the quality parameter and the capacity parameter.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality parameter is determined based on at least one of a holdover time of the synchronization source, temperature stability, an operating temperature range, a stratum level, a frequency quality, and a phase quality.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the capacity parameter is determined based on a number of slave nodes that can be accommodated when a communication node to which the synchronization source is connected operates as a master node.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving the capacity parameter from each of the communication nodes in the communication network.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the priority is determined by reflecting a weight in each of the quality parameter and the capacity parameter.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after selecting the synchronization source to be used for synchronization of the communication network, determining a synchronization mode of each of the communication nodes based on a selected synchronization source and characteristic information of each of the communication nodes in the communication network.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the characteristic information of each of the communication nodes comprises:
at least one of whether each of the communication nodes supports a specific synchronization mode, whether a communication node connected to a corresponding communication node may be tracked, a capacity of a slave node, a number of the communication nodes currently connected to a corresponding communication node, and a number of slave nodes corresponding to a communication node.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the number of the communication nodes currently connected to the corresponding communication node is obtained using a connection tracking function of an IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) protocol.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the synchronization mode is a transparent clock mode or a boundary clock mode of an IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) protocol.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication network comprises at least one of a headend device, an extension device, and a remote device, and
at least one of the synchronization sources is connected to the extension device or the remote device.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring whether the selected synchronization source has a failure; and
selecting another synchronization source to be used for synchronization of the communication network according to a priority recalculated based on the quality parameter and the capacity parameter when the selected synchronization source has a failure.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
when the failure of the selected synchronization source is resolved, determining whether to use the selected synchronization source that was selected before the failure to synchronize the communication network.

15. A network management system comprising:
a memory configured to obtain and store a quality parameter of at least two or more synchronization sources connected to communication nodes in a communication network and a capacity parameter of the communication nodes connected to the synchronization sources;
a processor configured to select a synchronization source to be used for synchronization of the communication network from among the at least two or more synchronization sources, according to a priority calculated based on the quality parameter and the capacity parameter; and
a communication interface configured to transmit a setting signal for setting the communication nodes in the communication network for synchronization of the communication network to the communication network by using a synchronization signal provided from the selected synchronization source.

Assignees

• Solid Inc

Inventors

• Kwon Donghee
• Hong Hoopyo

Classifications

• H04L47/70

  Admission control; Resource allocation · CPC title

• H04L41/00

  Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks · CPC title

• H04L7/04

  Speed or phase control by synchronisation signals {(H04L7/0075 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• H04J3/0667

  Bidirectional timestamps, e.g. NTP or PTP for compensation of clock drift and for compensation of propagation delays (arrangements for monitoring round trip delays in packet switching networks H04L43/0864) · CPC title

• H04W56/001

  Synchronization between nodes · CPC title