Resilient backhaul network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9338082-B2
Application number	US-201213728493-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2012
Priority date	Dec 27, 2012
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

A provider equipment having a backhaul resiliency module operable to determine multiple, alternative communication paths in a backhaul portion of a telecommunication network and then compare the different, alternative communication paths, based on their respective backhaul component reuse, to identify one or more resilient communication paths as options for a particular backhaul communication. The provider equipment can then select a preferred resilient communication path for either an uplink or a downlink of the backhaul network. Each of the alternative communication paths can correspond to a unique combination of Carrier Ethernet nodes and links that connect pairs of provider equipment devices located on opposing sides of a Carrier Ethernet, such as on a RAN side, an MSO side, or another Network side of the telecommunication network).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A network device comprising:
one or more network interfaces;
one or more processors; and
a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing a backhaul resiliency module,
wherein the backhaul resiliency module is configured to be operated by the one or more processors to:
determine a plurality of alternative communication paths of a backhaul portion of a telecommunication network, each of the plurality of alternative communication paths comprising a unique combination of backhaul components that is different from that of a remainder of the plurality of alternative communication paths, each unique combination of backhaul components corresponding to a unique combination of Carrier Ethernet nodes and communication links that connect pairs of Carrier Ethernet nodes;
determine a level of backhaul component reuse for each of the plurality of alternative communication paths by assigning path penalty weights to corresponding backhaul components for each of the plurality of alternative communication paths;
compare the plurality of alternative communication paths to identify at least one communication path of the plurality of alternative communication paths based on the level of backhaul component reuse among multiple alternative communication paths; and
select the at least one identified communication path for an uplink communication emanating from a user device or for a downlink communication emanating from a service provider,
wherein the path penalty weights are assigned to every Carrier Ethernet node and communication link of a corresponding alternative communication path, such that the level of backhaul component reuse for each of the plurality of alternative communication paths is indicated by summing the path penalty weights assigned to the Carrier Ethernet nodes and communication links of the corresponding alternative communication path.

2. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the determination of the plurality of alternative communication paths further comprises the network device communicating with a remote network device via the backhaul portion of the telecommunication network to detect all currently available communication paths for a backhaul communication.

3. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the backhaul resiliency module is further configured to be operated by the one or more processors to compare the plurality of alternative communication paths based on one or more of: path throughput, path availability, path reliability, path congestion, quality of service (QoS), class of service (CoS) assignment, and historical network traffic.

4. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one identified communication path corresponds to a communication path of the plurality of alternative communication paths having a minimum number of backhaul components in common with a remainder of the plurality of alternative communication paths.

5. A method comprising:
determining a plurality of alternative paths of a Carrier Ethernet network, wherein each of the plurality of alternative paths corresponds to a unique combination of backhaul components that is different from that of a remainder of the plurality of alternative communication paths, each unique combination of backhaul components corresponding to a unique combination of Carrier Ethernet nodes and communication links that connect pairs of Carrier Ethernet nodes;
determining a level of backhaul component reuse for each of the plurality of alternative communication paths by assigning path penalty weights to corresponding backhaul components for each of the plurality of alternative communication paths;
comparing the plurality of alternative paths based on their respective levels of backhaul component reuse;
identifying at least one path of the plurality of alternative paths based on the comparing; and
determining the at least one identified path to correspond to a predetermined quality of service (QoS) level,
wherein the path penalty weights are assigned to every Carrier Ethernet node and communication link of a corresponding alternative communication path, such that the level of backhaul component reuse for each of the plurality of alternative communication paths is indicated by summing the path penalty weights assigned to the Carrier Ethernet nodes and communication links of the corresponding alternative communication path.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising selecting the at least one identified path for an uplink communication or a downlink communication of the Carrier Ethernet network.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the act of determining the plurality of alternative paths of a Carrier Ethernet network further comprises:
receiving a communication from a remote device via the Carrier Ethernet network; and
detecting all currently available paths for a communication of the Carrier Ethernet network based on the received communication.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising comparing the plurality of alternative paths based on one or more of: path throughput, path availability, path reliability, path congestion, quality of service (QoS), class of service (CoS) assignment, and historical network traffic.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one identified path corresponds to a path of the plurality of alternative paths having a minimum number of Carrier Ethernet components in common with a remainder of the plurality of alternative paths.

10. A computer storage device with a stored computer-executable program, which when executed by one or more processors, performs a method, comprising:
determining a plurality of alternative paths of a Carrier Ethernet network, wherein each of the plurality of alternative paths corresponds to a unique combination of backhaul components that is different from that of a remainder of the plurality of alternative communication paths, each unique combination of backhaul components corresponding to a unique combination of Carrier Ethernet nodes and communication links that connect pairs of Carrier Ethernet nodes;
determining a level of backhaul component reuse for each of the plurality of alternative communication paths by assigning path penalty weights to corresponding backhaul components for each of the plurality of alternative communication paths;
comparing the plurality of alternative paths based on their respective levels of backhaul component reuse;
identifying at least one path of the plurality of alternative paths based on the comparing; and
determining the at least one identified path to correspond to a predetermined quality of service (QoS) level,
wherein the path penalty weights are assigned to every Carrier Ethernet node and communication link of a corresponding alternative communication path, such that the level of backhaul component reuse for each of the plurality of alternative communication paths is indicated by summing the path penalty weights assigned to the Carrier Ethernet nodes and communication links of the corresponding alternative communication path.

11. The computer storage device of claim 10 , the method further comprising selecting the at least one identified path for an uplink communication or a downlink communication of the Carrier Ethernet network.

12. The computer storage device of claim 10 , wherein the act of determining the plurality of alternative paths of a Carrier Ethernet network further comprises:
receiving a communication from a remote device via the Carrier Ethernet network; and
detecting all currently available paths for a communication of the Carrier Ethernet network based on the received communication.

13. The computer storage device of claim 10 ,

Assignees

• T Mobile Usa Inc

Inventors

• Liu Chunming
• Fleming Bryan

Classifications

• H04L45/125 Primary

  based on throughput or bandwidth · CPC title

• H04L45/66

  Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's · CPC title

• H04L45/302

  Route determination based on requested QoS · CPC title