Protection switching based on exchange of protection information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022224410-A1
Application number	US-202117145862-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 11, 2021
Priority date	Jan 11, 2021
Publication date	Jul 14, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

In one example, a first Provider Edge (PE) node is configured to communicate with a second PE node through a packet-switched network and with a third PE node through the packet-switched network. The first PE node communicates with a fourth PE node via the second PE node. The fourth PE node is configured to communicate with the second PE node over a working path through a time-division multiplexing transport network. The first PE node exchanges, with the fourth PE node, protection information. Based on exchanging the protection information, the first PE node communicates with the fourth PE node via the third PE node. The fourth PE node is further configured to communicate with the third PE node over a protection path through the time-division multiplexing transport network.

First claim

1 . A method comprising:
at a first provider edge node configured to communicate with a second provider edge node through a packet-switched network and with a third provider edge node through the packet-switched network:
communicating with a fourth provider edge node via the second provider edge node, wherein the fourth provider edge node is configured to communicate with the second provider edge node over a working path through a time-division multiplexing transport network;
determining that a number of consecutive packets from the second provider edge node to the first provider edge node have been lost;
in response to determining that the number of consecutive packets have been lost, exchanging, with the fourth provider edge node, protection information; and
based on exchanging the protection information, communicating with the fourth provider edge node via the third provider edge node, wherein the fourth provider edge node is further configured to communicate with the third provider edge node over a protection path through the time-division multiplexing transport network.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein exchanging the protection information includes:
providing, to the fourth provider edge node, an indication of a loss of communication between the first provider edge node and the fourth provider edge node via the second provider edge node; and obtaining, from the fourth provider edge node, an acknowledgment of the loss of communication between the first provider edge node and the fourth provider edge node via the second provider edge node.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein exchanging the protection information includes:
exchanging protection information relating to a unidirectional loss of communication to the first provider edge node from the second provider edge node.

4 . (canceled)

5 . (canceled)

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein exchanging the protection information includes:
exchanging one or more in-band data packets including the protection information with the third provider edge node through the packet-switched network, wherein the third provider edge node is configured to convert between the one or more in-band data packets and a signal exchanged between the third provider edge node and the fourth provider edge node through the time-division multiplexing transport network.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein exchanging the one or more in-band data packets includes:
exchanging one or more payloads of the one or more in-band data packets, wherein the one or more payloads include the protection information.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein exchanging the protection information includes:
exchanging protection information relating to a bidirectional loss of communication between the first provider edge node and the fourth provider edge node via the second provider edge node.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein exchanging the protection information includes:
exchanging one or more bits or bytes indicative of the protection information.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
communicating with the fourth provider edge node via the second provider edge node includes communicating with the fourth provider edge node via the second provider edge node using private line emulation techniques; and communicating with the fourth provider edge node via the third provider edge node includes communicating with the fourth provider edge node via the third provider edge node using the private line emulation techniques.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein exchanging the protection information includes:
exchanging information relating to one or more of: a loss of communication, signal degradation, signal defects, forced switch, or manual switch.

12 . An apparatus comprising:
a network interface configured to communicate with a first provider edge node through a packet-switched network and with a second provider edge node through the packet-switched network; and one or more processors coupled to the network interface, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
communicate with a third provider edge node via the first provider edge node, wherein the third provider edge node is configured to communicate with the first provider edge node over a working path through a time-division multiplexing transport network;
determine that a number of consecutive packets from the first provider edge node to the apparatus have been lost;
in response to determining that the number of consecutive packets have been lost, exchange, with the third provider edge node, protection information; and
based on exchanging the protection information, communicate with the third provider edge node via the second provider edge node, wherein the third provider edge node is further configured to communicate with the second provider edge node over a protection path through the time-division multiplexing transport network.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
provide, to the third provider edge node, an indication of a loss of communication between the apparatus and the third provider edge node via the first provider edge node; and obtain, from the third provider edge node, an acknowledgment of the loss of communication between the apparatus and the third provider edge node via the first provider edge node.

14 . (canceled)

15 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
exchange one or more in-band data packets including the protection information with the second provider edge node through the packet-switched network, wherein the second provider edge node is configured to convert between the one or more in-band data packets and a signal exchanged between the second provider edge node and the third provider edge node through the time-division multiplexing transport network.

16 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
exchange protection information relating to a bidirectional loss of communication between the apparatus and the first provider edge node.

17 . One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first provider edge node configured to communicate with a second provider edge node through a packet-switched network and with a third provider edge node through the packet-switched network, cause the processor to:
communicate with a fourth provider edge node via the second provider edge node, wherein the fourth provider edge node is configured to communicate with the second provider edge node over a working path through a time-division multiplexing transport network; determine that a number of consecutive packets from the second provider edge node to the first provider edge node have been lost; in response to determining that the number of consecutive packets have been lost, exchange, with the fourth provider edge node, protection information; and based on exchanging the protection information, communicate with the fourth provider edge node via the third provider edge node, wherein the fourth provider edge node is further configured to communicate with the third provider edge node over a protection path through the time-division multiplexing transport network.

18 . The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 17 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
provide, to the fourth provider edge node, an indication of a loss of communication between the first

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Annavajjala Raghunandan
• Kayamkulangara Sudhir
• Schmutzer Christian
• Chiesa Luca Della
• Mohanty Rayen

Classifications

• H04J3/14

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

• H04B10/032 Primary

  using working and protection systems {(H04J14/0287 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• H04L45/22 Primary

  Alternate routing · CPC title

• H04Q11/0066

  Provisions for optical burst or packet networks · CPC title

• H04Q11/0005

  Switch and router aspects · CPC title