Alcatel

Alcatel Lucent

Emmanuel Dotaro

Nicolas Le Sauze

Laurent Ciavaglia

Martin Vigoureux

Ludovic Noirie

Dominique Chiaroni

Denis Penninckx

Thierry Zami

Olivier Audouin

Amaury Jourdan

An Ge

Ljubisa Tancevski

Daniel Popa

Claude Artigue

Dimitri Papadimitriou

Prasad N Golla

Pierre Peloso

Richard Douville

Jürgen Wolde

Caroline Blaizot

A system is dedicated to processing data frames for a communications network that supports one or more communications protocols. The system includes, firstly, a detection module adapted, on receipt of a data frame, to determine, from a plurality of sets of predefined values corresponding to respective different forms of protocol processing, the set containing a value taken by a selected frame field contained in the received frame and used by the protocol, and, secondly, a processing module adapted to determine a specific form of protocol processing corresponding to the set determined by the detection module and to be applied to the received frame.

System and a method for processing field frames for multiprotocol use in a communications network

A communication device (B) for a communication network with an IP control plane, comprises communication resources to transfer data in said network, a signaling controller capable of receiving an open connection message comprising a first traffic descriptor () for a down data flow to be transmitted by an initiator node (A) to a terminator node (C) and a second traffic descriptor () for an up data flow to be transmitted by the terminator node from the initiator node, and an admission controller capable of evaluating communication resources of the communication device available for said down flow and said up flow as a function of the first and second traffic descriptors, said signaling controller being capable of producing an updated open connection message as a function of said received open connection message and said available communication resources.

Method for setting up a two-directional connection

A router includes a first processing module () adapted to route primary resources as a function of instructions received, inputs () adapted to feed the first processing module () with primary resources, outputs () adapted to collect primary resources switched by said first processing module (), a second processing module () adapted to process secondary resources to be added or dropped, and coupling means () including a drop bus () and/or an add bus () and adapted, on the instructions of the control means (), to drop either the whole of a primary resource arriving at one of said inputs () and/or outputs () or a portion thereof to feed said second processing module (), and/or to add a secondary resource processed by said second processing module to a primary resource received at one of said inputs () and/or outputs () and in transit to a common destination.

Router with resource add-drop functionality

An optical connection path surveillance device for a transparent optical network includes analysis means () adapted to detect node signatures carried by an optical signal in transit at a point of said network, each node signature including information uniquely associated with a switching node of the network. The analysis means include calculation means () adapted to determine a number of hops from said detected node signatures and error detection means () adapted to compare said number of hops to a predetermined threshold in order to detect a routing error in relation to said optical signal if said threshold is exceeded. In one embodiment, a surveillance device detects looped paths on the basis of the detected node signatures.

Method and device for surveillance of optical connection paths for a transparent optical network

In order to determine a spectral route for a given connection in an optical telecommunications network (T) between a starting node (ON) and a destination node (ON) of the network, the method consists in: using a conventional routing method to determine one or more candidate spatial routes (Route i, Route) connecting the starting node (ON) to the destination node (ON), each candidate spatial route comprising a sequence of route segments, each segment connecting two nodes of the network directly and being adapted to support a plurality of spectral routes.

Method of determining a spectral route for a given connection in an optical telecommunications network

A method for operating a packet based data network (), the data network () comprising a multitude of nodes (A, B, C, D) and a shared data bus (), wherein at least some of the nodes (A, B, C, D) add traffic to the data bus (), and wherein the upstream nodes (A, B, C, D) reserve data transfer capacity of the data bus () for downstream nodes (A, B, C, D) by means of a fairness mechanism, is characterized in that at least some of the nodes (A, B, C, D) drop traffic from the data bus (), and that said fairness mechanism takes into account the drop traffic at downstream nodes (A, B, C, D). The inventive method allows a better bandwidth utilization and uses available resources more efficiently.

Method for operating a packet based data network

A packet-switched communications network (PSN) includes a multiplicity of nodes (Ni) adapted to switch streams of packets benefiting from circuit emulation services, known as CES packets. The network uses a particular method of resynchronizing the CES streams. According to that method, for a CES stream intended to take an associated path (CE) from an ingress node (N) passing through a set of nodes including a subset of nodes adapted to resynchronize CES streams selectively, effective resynchronization of said stream by a node selected from said subset is conditioned by a value representative of the cumulative jitter suffered by said stream as far as that node.

Method of resynchronizing streams benefiting from circuit emulation services, for use in a packet-switched communications network

A communications station (-) for a WDM ring network is adapted to insert into an optical fiber () packets of optical signals carried by at least one wavelength and having a propagation direction in common with at least one other communications station. The station (-) comprises, firstly, optical detection means () adapted to observe the traffic in said optical fiber () associated with said common wavelength and to deliver detection signals representative of the absence of packets in the optical fiber () at the detected wavelength for a duration exceeding a duration threshold and ii) control means () adapted, in the event of reception of a detection signal associated with the detected wavelength to determine the remaining time before the end of the current session, and then to instruct the insertion into the optical fiber () of a packet awaiting transmission, at the detected wavelength, if the remaining time before the end of the current session is greater than the time necessary for inserting the packet awaiting transmission into the fiber.

Optical network with a void filling protocol independent of bit rate

The network comprises an optical interconnection tree linking sending points of stations to a receiving point of a concentrator via access links (F-F), a coupling system (C) and a common optical link (OL). The stations can send optical signals (&#x3bb;u, &#x3bb;u, &#x3bb;u) each carried by the same 'uplink' wavelength (&#x3bb;u). Each station includes a carrier detection system able to detect the presence at its sending point (Ki) of an optical wave at said uplink wavelength (&#x3bb;u) that was not sent by the same station. The detection system cooperates with sending control means to inactivate sending if such presence is detected. The network further includes: an emulator (LDa, Ca, G-G) adapted to send auxiliary waves (&#x3bb;a, &#x3bb;a, &#x3bb;a) at said uplink wavelength (&#x3bb;u) and to couple them into the access links (F-F) so that they propagate in the downlink propagation direction; and a control system () of the emulator for selectively activating the sending of the auxiliary waves. The invention is particularly applicable to optical access or metropolitan networks.

Tree optical transmission network

A control device (D) for a node (LCR) in an Ethernet communications network having a GMPLS control plan and through which node a connection for setting up is to pass, includes control means (MC) arranged, in the event of said node (LCR) receiving a connection setup message containing at least one first value representative of the sum since the beginning of the connection for setting up of the local values of an additive parameter as introduced in each of the preceding nodes (LCR) in the connection, to determine a second value that is a function of the first value and of the local value as introduced by the node (LCR), and then to compare the second value with a selected threshold so as to determine whether the connection can accept a maximum value for the additive parameter at the node, and to replace the first value in the received message with the second value as determined, at least when the connection can accept the maximum value.

Device for locally controlling one or more parameters of a connection to be set up, for an element of an ethernet communications network with a GMPLS control plan

The invention relates to an optical ring network comprising stations () which are connected to at least one optical fiber by means of optical couplers, the two ends of the optical fiber being connected to a point of presence or an optical network access node. The point of presence comprises (k) at least an optical emitter (-) which emits a falling optical signal having at lest one first wavelength () in the direction of one end of the optical fibers () and (ii) at least one optical receiver (-) which receives a rising optical signal having at least one second wavelength which is different form the first wavelength. The aforementioned optical network access node comprises means such as a hub () which can be used for the communication between the optical receiver (-) and the optical emitter (-). The wavelengths of the rising signals and the wavelengths of the falling signals are shared by several stations.

Ring network made using a dual optical data bus

An optical packet node for receiving and transmitting optical packets is disclosed. A multiwavelength band splitting device splits received optical packets transmitted via multiwavelength bands into at least three groups, each group including one multiwavelength band. A multiwavelength band combining device combine the three groups of multiwavelength bands. At least two optical packet add drop multiplexers are placed between the multiwavelength band splitting device and the multiwavelength band combining device. Each optical packet add drop multiplexer adds and drops at least one individual wavelength to a respective multiwavelength band group. A load balancing stage is connected to the optical packet add drop multiplexers to provide an interconnection between at least two wavelength bands.

Optical packet node and optical packet add drop multiplexer

A photonic switching device for switching without contention data in the form of optical packets includes a space switching matrix with a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports. A unit external to the space switching matrix includes a buffer memory common to all the output ports of the matrix. Each of the output ports provides access to the buffer memory via a space switching stage consisting of switches having a 1-to-2 switching function.

Photonic switching device

A switch for an optical transmission network using wavelength division multiplexing has pinput ports receiving pwavelengths and first switching means for switching the pwavelengths to poutput ports, qinput ports receiving qbands of wavelengths and second switching means for switching the qbands to qoutput ports, rinput ports receiving rgroups of bands and third switching means for switching the rgroups of bonds to routput ports. The three switching means consist of a single switching matrix adapted to couple any of the p+q+rinput ports to any of the p+q+routput ports. This single-matrix architecture can switch all the granularities at the same time, which facilitates reconfiguration as a function of evolution of the traffic to be switched.

Growing community of inventors

Verrieres le Buisson, France

Emmanuel Dotaro