Signal quality information notification method and relay communication apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021126707-A1
Application number	US-201917252833-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 5, 2019
Priority date	Jun 21, 2018
Publication date	Apr 29, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A communication system transmits relay data through a communication path including a plurality of sections in which different communication schemes are used. A relay communication device is provided between a first section and a second section which are adjacent sections. The relay communication device includes a receiving unit receiving the relay data from the first section through a frame of a first communication scheme, and a relaying unit configuring, in a frame of a second communication scheme used to transmit the relay data to a relay destination, signal quality information representing signal quality calculated for a physical link in each of the sections through which the relay data is transmitted before arriving at the relay communication device, and outputting the frame of the second communication scheme to the second section.

First claim

1 . A signal quality information notification method in a communication system for transmitting relay data through a communication path including a plurality of sections in which different communication schemes are used, the signal quality information notification method comprising:
by a relay communication device provided between a first section corresponding to one of the plurality of sections and a second section corresponding to another of the plurality of sections located adjacent to the first section, receiving the relay data from the first section through a frame of a first communication scheme; and performing relaying including configuring, in a frame of a second communication scheme used to transmit the relay data to a relay destination, signal quality information representing signal quality calculated for a physical link in each of the sections through which the relay data is transmitted before arriving at the relay communication device, and outputting the frame of the second communication scheme to the second section.

2 . The signal quality information notification method according to claim 1 , wherein,
in the performing relaying, a correspondence between the physical link and the signal quality information calculated for the physical link is configured in the frame of the second communication scheme in a format in which the correspondence is uniquely identifiable.

3 . The signal quality information notification method according to claim 1 , wherein,
in a case where the second communication scheme is an Optical Transport Network (OTN), in the performing relaying, the signal quality information regarding the physical link is configured in a part of a Payload Structure Identifier (PSI) field of an Optical-channel Payload Unit (OPU).

4 . The signal quality information notification method according to claim 3 , wherein,
in a case where the first communication scheme is a Flex Ethernet (trade name, FlexE), in the performing relaying, the signal quality information regarding the physical link in the first section is configured in an unused bit region included in block count configuration regions corresponding to bit regions in the PSI field each assigned to the physical link and configured with the number of in-use transmission blocks in the physical link.

5 . The signal quality information notification method according to claim 4 , wherein
the information regarding the number of in-use transmission blocks that is configured in the block count configuration region is encoded to increase a Hamming distance.

6 . The signal quality information notification method according to claim 4 , wherein
the block count configuration region partially includes a bit region to ensure compatibility with a known scheme.

7 . The signal quality information notification method according to claim 4 , wherein
the block count configuration region partially includes a region in which parity computed for the block count configuration region is configured.

8 . A relay communication device in a communication system for transmitting relay data through a communication path including a plurality of sections in which different communication schemes are used, the relay communication device being provided between a first section corresponding to one of the plurality of sections and a second section corresponding to another of the plurality of sections located adjacent to the first section, the relay communication device comprising:
a processor; and a storage medium having computer program instructions stored thereon, when executed by the processor, perform to: receive the relay data from the first section through a frame of a first communication scheme; and configure, in a frame of a second communication scheme used to transmit the relay data to a relay destination, signal quality information representing signal quality calculated for a physical link in each of the sections through which the relay data is transmitted before arriving at the relay communication device, and output the frame of the second communication scheme to the second section.

Assignees

• Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

Inventors

• Tanaka Takafumi
• KOBAYASHI Shokei
• Kuwabara Seiki
• Yamada Yoshiaki

Classifications

• H04B10/0795 Primary

  Performance monitoring; Measurement of transmission parameters · CPC title

• H04B10/0793

  Network aspects, e.g. central monitoring of transmission parameters · CPC title

• H04J2203/0085

  Support of Ethernet · CPC title

• H04J2203/0057

  Operations, administration and maintenance [OAM] · CPC title

• H04J3/14

  Monitoring arrangements {(for SDH/SONET rings H04J3/085)} · CPC title