Abstract: Provider Link State Bridging (PLSB) expands static configuration of Ethernet MAC forwarding tables by the control plane and utilizes direct manipulation of Ethernet forwarding by a link state routing system. At least one media-access-control (MAC) address for unicast forwarding to the bridge and at least one MAC address for multicast forwarding from the bridge are assigned. Bridges exchange state information by a link state bridging protocol so that a synchronized configured view of the network is shared between nodes. Each node can calculate shortest path connective between peer bridging nodes and populated the appropriate forwarding tables. A reverse path forwarding check is performed on incoming packets to provide loop suppression. During times of network instability the loop suppression can be disabled for unicast packets as identified by the destination MAC address to buffer packets and minimize the impact on traffic flow.

Abstract: Provided is a method for transmitting a burst in an optical burst switching system, in which when a burst is generated at an originating node, a burst control packet is transmitted to a destination node by way of a plurality of nodes and then a data burst is transmitted after a pre-allocated offset time. The method includes the steps of obtaining an arrival time of data bursts that survive competition to occupy an output channel among data bursts transmitted to the next node by way of the current node using offset time information in burst control packets for the survived data bursts, checking whether an empty void is present between the survived data bursts by using the obtained arrival time of the survived data bursts, and generating a new data burst originating from the current node, inserting the newly generated data burst into the checked empty void, and transmitting to the next node. This method can improve channel utilization and maximize performance of the optical burst switching system.

Abstract: A method and system for designing a bi-connected ring-based network is provided, which designs from scratch or converts an existing network to a dual-homed ring-based network. The network covers the locations capable of being bi-connected with one or more cycles/rings. The traffic demand is then routed via the cycles, in such a way so as to minimize the amount of network traffic management equipment required.

Abstract: A data transport system for transporting data between a server (21) and a client receiver (27) over a network (23) includes a receiving proxy cache (25) coupled to a client receiver (27) via a reliable connection (29), such as a cable connection. The majority of data is transported from the server (21) to the receiving proxy cache (25) over an efficient data transmission channel (41). The receiving proxy cache (25) verifies the status of the data transmitted over the efficient channel (41). If there is an error in the data transmission, a portion of the data associated with the error is retransmitted from the server (21) to the receiving proxy cache (25) over a reliable data transmission channel (43). The complete data at the receiving proxy cache (25) is delivered to a client receiver (27) over a reliable connection (29).

Abstract: The invention enables an LSP or embedded LSPs to be mapped directly to an SPVC and carried over the ATM network. A unidirectional SPVC is established by associating it to a particular ingress LSP at the SPVC source endpoint on a multi-service switch, and to an egress LSP on the SPVC destination endpoint on another multi-service switch. The information necessary to establish the SPVC is appended in the SPVC setup message and includes LSP specific information such as the far end router ID and LSP label information, be it transport label or the full label stack. The information in the modified setup message is then used by the destination endpoint to find and connect the SPVC to the correct LSP. Incoming traffic from the LSP is switched to the SPVC at the source endpoint. The SPVC carries this traffic through the ATM network, and then the traffic is switched to the egress LSP when it emerges from the ATM network at the destination endpoint.

Abstract: A fast reroute (FRR) technique is implemented at the edge of a network. In accordance with the technique, if an edge device detects a node or link failure that prevents it from communicating with a neighboring routing domain, the edge device reroutes at least some data packets addressed to that domain to a backup edge device which, in turn, forwards the packets to the neighboring domain. The rerouted packets are designated as being “protected” (i.e., rerouted) data packets before they are forwarded to the backup edge device. To differentiate which data packets are protected and which are not, the backup edge device employs different sets of VPN label values for protected and non-protected network traffic. That is, the backup edge device may allocate two different VPN label values for at least some destination address prefixes that are reachable through the neighboring domain: a first VPN label value for FRR protected traffic and a second VPN label value for non-protected traffic.

Abstract: A multi-node system for making the data transfer between nodes via each internodal crossbar switch comprises a plurality of internodal crossbar switches having a switch for transmitting the transfer data from a plurality of nodes to the node of transfer destination. If a fault occurs in the switch, the system is configured to make the data transfer between the nodes via any other internodal crossbar switch than the internodal crossbar switch having the switch where the fault occurs.

Abstract: A method and system enables and improves performance of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) operations on channels between stations of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) wireless communication network. There, the number of parallel HARQ channels is increased adaptively, and one connection identifier is used to unambiguously identify a set of MAC protocol data units (MPDUs) communicated over parallel HARQ channels. A sequence number is used to avoid out-of-order MPDU delivery when MPDUs are transmitted over parallel HARQ channels. The MPDUs can be concatenated or encapsulated. The maximum number of the parallel HARQ channels can be increased to 256, and can be negotiated when a station enters or re-enters the network.

Abstract: Various embodiments are described to address the need for an apparatus and method that improves upon known handoff techniques, such as Mobile IP and Fast Mobile IP, to improve the mobility experience of an end user. OSI layer 2-originated indications of a handoff being imminent (301, 501, 502), a link down for handoff (307, 509, 510), and a new link up after handoff (309, 511, 512) are introduced. These indications can be used by applications (such as real-time/streaming applications on the mobile (101)) to take suitable proactive measures prior to an actual handoff. Examples of such measures include the buffering of data to be used during the handoff interval in a way that improves the seamless mobility experience of the end user.

Abstract: Provided is a method for selecting a broadcast routing path using a genetic algorithm in an Ad-hoc network. In the method, a plurality of nodes of the Ad-hoc network is defined as one chromosome, and the chromosome is represented with pairs of {order, power} in each node. Child nodes are created by performing an order based crossover and a power based crossover with respect to parent nodes neighboring to a source node. A mutation operation is performed with respect to the parent nodes and the child nodes. Relay nodes are determined by converting order and power information of each node of the chromosome into routing tree information. Power of the relay nodes is determined. A broadcast routing path is selected using the number and power of the relay nodes.

Abstract: A network management apparatus interconnects a plurality of computers through physical lines having a predetermined line speed to manage a switch apparatus constructing a parallel computer system. The switch apparatus comprises a plurality of physical port units to enable or disable the same through individual power supply ON/OFF control for the physical port units, thereby changing and controlling the line transmission speed according to the enable number. A logical port constructing unit in the network management apparatus bundles the physical lines by a plurality of physical port units in the switch apparatus to construct logical lines. A port control unit changes the number of operations of a plurality of physical port units assigned to the logical port units through the power supply ON/OFF control according to a necessary data transmission speed for the logical port units, thereby dynamically changing the line transmission speed.

Abstract: The present disclosure is generally directed to a method of communicating data between two or more semiconductor devices. Serial interfaces using the method have a reduction in latency compared to conventional serial interfaces. The method enables features needed for a serial interface, such as limited run lengths and recognizable data boundaries to establish alignment. In addition, a method for synchronizing two or more semiconductor devices through serial interfaces has been presented. This is done by passing a marker data pattern through the system.

Abstract: In a method for enabling facilitation of re-convergence, designation information for a first port of each one of a plurality of bridges in a multi-bridge ring is received and designation information for a second port of each one of a plurality of bridges in a multi-bridge ring is received. The first port of each one of a plurality of bridges is a first direction Ring Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RRSTP) port and the second port of each one of a plurality of bridges is a second direction RRSTP port. The first direction around the ring (e.g., a forward direction) is opposite the second direction around said ring (e.g., a backward direction). A first reserved MAC address is associated with the first direction port of each one of the bridges and a second reserved MAC address is associated with the second direction port of each one of the bridges.

Abstract: Principles of the invention are described for providing multicast virtual private networks (MVPNS) across a public network that are capable of carrying high-bandwidth multicast traffic with increased scalability. In particular, the MVPNs may transport layer three (L3) multicast traffic, such as Internet Protocol (IP) packets, between remote sites via the public network. The principles described herein may reduce the overhead of protocol independent multicast (PIM) neighbor adjacencies and customer control information maintained for MVPNs. The principles may also reduce the state and the overhead of maintaining the state in the network by removing the need to maintain at least one dedicated multicast tree per each MVPN.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for communicating streaming data, such as audio and video streams, isochronously over a network. The invention may be utilized with power-line communication (PLC) networks or other IP-based networks. Hardware is configured for packetizing the streaming data, such as MPEG streaming data, which is communicated at the IP physical layer within a contention-free period within each communication cycle. A reservation mechanism utilizes back-offs to allow a single transmitter to reserve a slot for isochronous communication of a given stream of data. A processing element handles packetizing only for asynchronous communication of data within the remaining portion of each communication cycle which is referred to as a contention period, as a number of transmitters may vie for communication during that interval. Addressing for the isochronous communication is performed with MAC addressing instead of IP addressing. Existing IP stack and protocols can be reused for upper layer control mechanisms.

Abstract: Methods and systems provide a geographical network alarm viewer (GNAV) application that receives, tracks, aggregates, reports, and maps data associated with cable telephony services outages occurring in a cable services network. The GNAV application integrates network map data and identification information associated with customer locations, equipment, and associated network alarm data from a network operations center. All customer location addresses associated with individual network alarms are located and mapped on a geographical network map. Because the alarms are received, tracked, aggregated, reported, and mapped in real-time, service personnel may respond to network outages in a more efficient manner, and service technicians and service vehicles may be directed to repair service outages based on more accurate location and service outage timing data.

Abstract: A software-implemented switching path includes separate control and data planes with the data plane having a graph of feature nodes with each node implementing a feature to be applied to a packet being switched. Each feature node includes private data and code which are utilized to apply the feature to the packet. The packet is switched to a next node based on packet-specific context data.

Abstract: A sequence identification number is added to a header in each Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) frame. The byte sequence identification number identifies frames, preventing duplication or loss of exchanges, sequences, and frames. When this feature is enabled, a remote wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) node automatically checks the header to ensure that no duplication or loss occurs. The remote WDM node does not need to buffer data, instead the remote WDM node only needs to keep track of the sequence identification number information. A session identification number is also added to the header information, which allows the WDM node to keep track of which session was under way in the event that all connections between nodes across the WDM network are lost.

Abstract: A data mapping device, a method, and an article of manufacture for adjusting a transmission rate of ISC words are provided. The GFP data mapping device has a FIFO buffer and a transceiver operably coupled to the FIFO buffer. The method includes reading first and second ISC words from the FIFO buffer that were received from a transmitting device. The method further includes determining whether a first number of ISC words stored in the FIFO buffer are greater than a second predetermined number indicating an over-running condition. The method further includes determining whether the first and second ISC words indicate either an ISC continuous sequence of words or an ISC idle sequence of words, if the first number is greater than the second predetermined number. The method further includes deleting the first and second ISC words if the first and second ISC words indicate either the ISC continuous sequence of words or the ISC idle sequence of words.

Abstract: A controller shareable by a plurality of operating system domains (OSDs) for communication on a network is disclosed. The controller includes a port for coupling to the network. The port transceives packets with the network for each of the plurality of OSDs. The controller also includes a plurality of replicated programming interfaces that each receive from a respective one of the plurality of OSDs a request to obtain a port ID for the port from the network. The controller obtains from the network a distinct port ID for each of the plurality of OSDs in response to the respective request. The request comprises one or more load-store transactions. In one embodiment, the controller is a shared Fiber Channel controller.