Devices and methods for flow control of messages in a passive optical network (PON) and methods therein

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9602196-B2
Application number	US-201214409354-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 20, 2012
Priority date	Jun 20, 2012
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

A method in an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) device for transmitting a flow control message to an Optical Network Unit/Terminal (ONU/T) device in a Passive Optical Network (PON) access network is provided. The OLT device is configured to receive alarm and/or Attribute Value Change (AVC) messages from the ONU/T device. The OLT device is also configured to temporarily store the alarm and/or AVC messages in a message queue. The OLT device generates a flow control message indicating that the ONU/T device is to stop transmitting alarm and/or AVC messages to the OLT device, when the number of alarm and/or AVC messages in the message queue exceeds a first threshold. Then, the OLT device transmits the flow control message to the ONU/T device(s). An OLT device for transmitting a flow control message to an ONU/T device, and an ONU/T device and related method for receiving a flow control message are also provided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method in an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) device for transmitting a flow control message to one or more Optical Network Unit/Terminal (ONU/T) devices in a Passive Optical Network (PON) access network, wherein the OLT device is configured to receive alarm and/or Attribute Value Change (AVC) messages from the one or more ONU/T devices and to temporarily store the alarm and/or AVC messages in a message queue, the method comprising:
detecting from which ONU/T device(s) the alarm and/or AVC messages in the message queue originated;
generating the flow control message indicating to stop transmitting the alarm and/or AVC messages to the OLT device, when a number of alarm and/or AVC messages in the message queue exceeds a first threshold, wherein the flow control message indicates at least one of a lower limit of a period of time, an upper limit of the period of time, and both the lower and the upper limit of the period of time for which the ONU/T device(s), from which the alarm and/or AVC messages originated, is to stop transmitting the alarm and/or AVC messages to the OLT device; and
transmitting the flow control message only to the ONU/T device(s) from which the alarm and/or AVC messages originated.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the generating further comprises and indicating in the flow control message, the ONU/T device(s) from which the alarm and/or AVC messages originated.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the ONU/T device(s) are indicated using an identity of each ONU/T device, wherein the identity of an ONU/T device is an ONU-ID bitmap.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising repeating the transmission of the flow control message until the number of alarm and/or AVC messages from the ONU/T device(s) in the message queue exceeds a second threshold.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitting further comprises broadcasting the flow control message to all ONU/T devices connected to the OLT device.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the flow control message is a Physical Layer Operations, Administration and Maintenance (PLOAM) message.

7. An Optical Line Terminal (OLT) device for transmitting a flow control message to one or more Optical Network Unit/Terminal (ONU/T) devices in a Passive Optical Network (PON) access network, wherein the OLT device is configured to receive alarm and/or Attribute Value Change (AVC) messages from the one or more ONU/T devices and to temporarily store the alarm and/or AVC messages in a message queue, the OLT device comprising:
a processing circuitry configured to:
detect from which ONU/T device(s) the alarm and/or AVC messages in the message queue originated;
generate the flow control message indicating that the one or more ONU/T devices are to stop transmitting alarm and/or AVC messages to the OLT device, when a number of alarm and/or AVC messages in the message queue exceeds a first threshold, and
transmit the flow control message only to the ONU/T device(s) from which the alarm and/or AVC messages originated.

8. The OLT device according to claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to indicate in the flow control message, the detected ONU/T device(s) from which the alarm and/or AVC messages originated.

9. The OLT device according to claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to indicate in the flow control message, a lower limit of the period of time, an upper limit of the period of time, or both a lower and an upper limit of the period of time, and wherein the period of time is a time for which the ONU/T device(s) from which the alarm and/or AVC messages originated, is to stop transmitting the alarm and/or AVC messages to the OLT device.

10. The OLT device according to claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to transmit the flow control message until the number of alarm and/or AVC messages from the ONU/T device(s) in the message queue exceeds a second threshold.

11. The OLT device according to claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to broadcast the flow control message to all or some of the one or more ONU/T devices connected to the OLT device.

12. A method in an Optical Network Unit/Terminal (ONU/T) device for receiving a flow control message from an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) device in a Passive Optical Network (PON) access network, wherein the ONU/T device is configured to transmit alarm and/or Attribute Value Change (AVC) messages to the OLT device in response to an alarm event and/or a change in an attribute value, respectively, the method comprising:
receiving, by a processing circuitry, the flow control message from the OLT device indicating that the ONU/T device is to stop transmitting the alarm and/or AVC messages to the OLT device, wherein the flow control message indicates at least one of a lower limit of a period of time, an upper limit of the period of time, and both the lower and the upper limit of the period of time for which the ONU/T device is to stop transmitting the alarm and/or AVC messages to the OLT device; and
stopping, by the processing circuitry, the transmission of the alarm and/or AVC messages to the OLT device in response to an alarm event and/or change in an attribute value, respectively, for the period of time.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising
resuming, by the processing circuitry, upon expiry of the period of time, the transmission of the alarm and/or AVC messages to the OLT device in response to alarm events and/or changes in an attribute value, respectively.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the stopping the transmission further comprises generating a first random period of time to be used as the period of time.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein, when the flow control message comprises the lower limit of the period of time, the stopping the transmission further comprises generating a second random period of time to be used as the period of time, and wherein the second random period of time is between the lower limit of the period of time and the upper limit of the period of time configured in the ONU/T device.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein, when the flow control message comprises the upper limit of the period of time, the stopping the transmission further comprises generating a third random period of time to be used as the period of time, and wherein the third random period of time is between 0 and the upper limit of the period of time comprised in the flow control message.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein, when the flow control message comprises both the lower limit of the period of time and the upper limit of the period of time, the stopping the transmission further comprises generating a fourth random period of time to be used as the period of time, and wherein the fourth random period of time is between the lower limit of the period of time and the upper limit of the period of time comprised in the flow control message.

18. An Optical Network Unit/Terminal (ONU/T) device for receiving a flow control message from an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) device in a Passive Optical Network (PON) access network, the ONU/T device being configured to transmit alarm and/or Attribute Value Change (AVC) messages to the OLT device in response to an alarm event and/or a change in an attribute value, respectively, the ONU/T device comprising:
a processing circuitry configured to:
receive the flow control message from the OLT device indicating

Assignees

• Chen Ling
• Said Laith
• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Chen Ling
• Said Laith

Classifications

• H04L47/266

  Stopping or restarting the source, e.g. X-on or X-off · CPC title

• H04L41/06

  Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0088

  Signalling aspects · CPC title

• H04L41/0604

  using filtering, e.g. reduction of information by using priority, element types, position or time · CPC title

• H04Q11/0067

  Provisions for optical access or distribution networks, e.g. Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GE-PON), ATM-based Passive Optical Network (A-PON), PON-Ring · CPC title