Claims
- 1. An edge switch for use in a data network utilizing optical transport, comprising:
a packet engine connected to a packet switched data network; and an optical engine connected to an optical transport network, where the packet engine and the optical engine are under common hardware or software control, and where the optical engine continually communicates the topology of the optical transport network to the packet engine substantially in real time.
- 2. The edge switch of claim 1, where the packet engine further comprises routing means.
- 3. The edge switch of claim 2, where said routing means implements a routing algorithm, and
where said routing algorithm operates on at least the data traffic in the network and the said optical transport network topology.
- 4. The edge switch of claim 3, where said routing means updates the operands of the routing algorithm:
periodically under normal operation; and immediately in the event of a failure of a communications link of said optical transport network.
- 5. An edge switch for use in a data network utilizing optical transport, comprising:
a packet engine comprising a router connected to a packet switched data network; and an optical engine connected to an optical transport network, where the packet engine and the optical engine are under common hardware or software control, and where said router updates the operands of a routing algorithm: periodically under normal operation; and immediately in the event of a failure of a communications link of said optical transport network.
- 6. A data network comprising a plurality of interconnected nodes, wherein each node comprises an edge switch as provided in any of claims 1-5.
- 7. A method of routing data packets in a data network comprising:
updating a routing algorithm with network traffic data and transport network topology: periodically under normal operation; and immediately in response to the failure of a communications link.
- 8. The method of claim 7, where said routing algorithm has as operands at least the data traffic in the network, and the transport network topology.
- 9. The method of claim 8, where said data network comprises a data layer and an optical transport network.
- 10. The method of claim 9, where said optical transport network's topology is continually communicated to the data layer in substantially real time.
- 11. A data network comprising a plurality of interconnected nodes, where each node comprises routing means operative to implement the methods of any of claims 7-10.
- 12. A method of recovering from a failed communications link in a data network, comprising the steps of:
detecting the failure of said communications link, and immediately communicating the revised network topology to a router for rerouting.
CROSS REFERENCE TO OTHER APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/234,122, filed on Sep. 21, 2000, and also claims the benefit of the U.S. Provisional Application filed on Nov. 30, 2000, entitled “Optical Flow Networking”, naming Kai Y. Eng as Inventor. Additionally, this application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/565,727, filed on May 5, 2000, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference in its entirety.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60234122 |
Sep 2000 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09565727 |
May 2000 |
US |
Child |
09734364 |
Mar 2001 |
US |