Abstract: A procedure for operating a communication network including a network device that is in communication in the network with at least one user communication terminal and at least one server that server that provides content. The procedure includes receiving a message from one of the user communication terminal and the server, inserting at least one of an identifier of the user communication terminal and an identifier of the server in the message, and forwarding the message, including the at least one identifier inserted in the inserting, towards another of the user communication terminal and the server. A computer program, apparatus, and communication network also operate in accordance with the procedure.

Abstract: In a telecommunications/data network, it is common to have multiple recovery domains each employing its own technique for recovering a fault that may be different from a technique employed by another domain. Permitting multiple recovery domains to recover a fault without coordination among the domains can result in adverse interactions, such as rapid and repeated changes in the actions taken or “flapping,” and repeated hits to traffic. A method and corresponding apparatus for coordinating fault recovery in a network, according to an embodiment of the present invention, notifies a first recovery domain that a second recovery domain is or is not taking action to recover a fault in the network. Coordinating the recovery efforts of the first and second recovery domains reduces fault recovery time and allows concurrent actions to be taken.

Abstract: A network node or corresponding method of performing link aggregation reduces a number of Content Addressable Memory (CAM) entries required to make a forwarding decision for a given ingress flow, reducing cost, size, and power consumption of the CAM and accompanying static RAM. In one embodiment, an ingress flow is mapped to an egress flow identifier. Subsequently, the egress flow identifier is mapped to a member of an aggregated group associated with an egress interface based on information available in a given ingress flow. Finally, the given ingress flow is forwarded to the member of the aggregated group associated with the egress interface. A hashing technique or two lookups may be used alone or in combination in mapping the ingress flow to the egress flow identifier to reduce CAM memory usage.

Abstract: A method and/or network system is able to perform an in-service software upgrade (“ISSU”) using virtualization technology while ongoing network service is maintained. After receipt of an upgrade signal such as a command of software upgrade, a new or second virtual machine (“VM”) is created in response to the upgrade signal. After downloading the new version of program to the second VM while maintaining the first version of program running on the first VM, the process for providing network management begins to migrate from the first version of program to the new version of program. The process simultaneously facilitates ISSU for a data-path module such as a line card to convert from the previous version of software to the new version of the software.

Abstract: A procedure for evaluating a network, and a system, apparatus, and computer program that operate in accordance with the procedure. The procedure includes aggregating packet information from one or more sources in a network, and executing a correlation algorithm to determine traffic flow information based on the packet information. The aggregating includes obtaining information from a header of a packet being communicated in the network, in one example embodiment. In another example, the executing includes tracing a traffic flow from a source node to a destination node, and the tracing includes determining, based on the packet information, each link by which the traffic flow is communicated from the source node to the destination node.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for enhancing data integrity during router recovery using dual-homed host configuration are disclosed. A process of routing resumption, in one embodiment, is able to recover or reset a network element (“NE”) such as a primary router from system failure. A first link configured to transmit data packets between the NE and a network device is reestablished. Upon reestablishing a second link configured to transmit data packets between the NE and other NEs, a network discovery process utilizing network reachability protocol is initiated to identify routing paths associated with the NE. A routing table in the NE is updated in accordance with the routing paths. A ready message is issued from the NE to the network device when the routing table is at least partially completed.

Abstract: Recovery time upon the failure of a link or switching system in an asynchronous data network can be minimized if downstream data switches provide upstream messages indicating to upstream switching system that the downstream traffic arrived in tact and was properly handled. Upon this loss or failure of the upstream status message to an upstream switching system, an upstream switching system can reroute data traffic around a failed link or failed switch with a minimal amount of lost data. The upstream status message is conveyed from a downstream switching system to an upstream switching system via a reverse notification tree data pathway. The reverse notification pathway is established by using a messaging protocol between network switches by which the working and protection paths, among other things, are established.

Abstract: Optical networks are increasingly employing optical network nodes having multiple interfaces to allow a node to direct optical signals received at any interface to any other interface connected to the node. Constructing a larger wavelength selective switching (WSS) module used in such a node can be complex and expensive. A method an apparatus for constructing a large WSS using parallelism is provided. In example embodiments, a larger WSS may include multiple parallel non-cascaded smaller WSSs and an optical coupler configured to optically couple the multiple parallel, non-cascaded smaller WSSs. This technique may be used to construct both N×1 and 1×N WSSs. Because the technique employs multiple parallel, non-cascaded WSSs, all inputs of a larger N×1 WSS and all outputs of a larger 1×N WSS are available receive or transmit external signals rather than being rather than being unavailable due to, for example, cascading smaller WSS devices together.

Abstract: A multi-mode transmission unit processes data to form an error correction code in accordance with one of a plurality of selectable processes. The data, correction code and a process identifier can be transmitted to a receiving unit which can carry out error correction of the data in accordance with the identified process.

Abstract: The present invention provides for a method for reserving spare bandwidth for a link in a communication network including a plurality of links. The method provides for monitoring the volume of traffic routed through each link of the communication network. A single link failure for each link is then simulated and the volume of traffic which would be rerouted through each link for maintaining communication and the volume of traffic removed from each link are determined for each simulated single link failure. The difference between the volume of traffic which would need to be rerouted through each link and the corresponding volume of traffic removed from each link is then computed, and a maximum difference value is determined for each link for all simulated single link failures. An amount of spare bandwidth equivalent to the determined maximum difference is then reserved for each link.

Abstract: An electrical circuit and a procedure for tracking at least one input pulse width applied to the electrical circuit. The electrical circuit includes a threshold component (e.g., a comparator) arranged to provide an output pulse width based on whether an input to the threshold component exceeds a threshold. The circuit also includes a controller arranged to control the threshold of the threshold component, based on the at least one input pulse width applied to the electrical circuit, such that the output pulse width of the threshold component tracks the at least one input pulse width applied to the electrical circuit. The controller includes at least a switch, and the output pulse width tracks the at least one input pulse width by following or anticipating the pulse width. In one example embodiment the tracking is performed for a series of pulses of varied widths.

Abstract: A method to provision routes in a network having a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links connecting various nodes. The method includes determining a route between a designated source node and a designated destination node based on a preselected routing algorithm and one of (i) a designated node of interest and (ii) a designated link of interest, and outputting information indicating the determined route.

Abstract: A communication network system includes a solid-state meter, an optical line terminal (“OLT”) based device, and a meter network management device. In one embodiment, the solid-state meter, which can be an electricity meter or a gas meter, provides a measurement, and has a serial communication interface. The OLT based device transfers the information between network devices via a communication network. The meter network management device, which may be an optical network terminal (“ONT”), is capable of communicating with the solid-state meter using the serial communication interface via an RS-232 port.

Abstract: Signals propagating in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical networks suffer from loss, which decreases optical signal-to-noise ratios (OSNRs) and degrades a quality of received transmissions. Present methods of boosting OSNRs involve regeneration using transponders, which scale in complexity with the number of WDM channels. Optical amplifiers may boost signal strength, but amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise often reduces OSNR despite increases in signal strength, although changing the amplifier operating settings may reduce emitted ASE noise power. A method or corresponding apparatus in an example embodiment of the present invention provides a planning tool for deploying optical amplifiers in an optical network in a manner that reduces the need for optical regeneration, reducing cost and complexity of the deployed network.

Abstract: Currently, network utilization and performance are diminished due to capacity issues, which may be resolved by adding hardware/software to spread traffic uniformly according to network element usage information. Disclosed is a method of and corresponding apparatus for resolving network element capacity issues in a wireless network by inspecting data traffic content for information about wireless network elements and data traffic content, collecting said information, and managing (e.g., shaping and steering) the incoming traffic based on the information. Examples of said information include radio bearer resource information for network elements and traffic associated with a wireless access portion of the wireless network and radio access bearer information for network elements and traffic associated with a backhaul portion of the wireless network.

Abstract: A cost of a path may not be the only factor in searching for a path solution in a network. For example, some applications are delay sensitive and require finding a path that does not exceed a latency constraint for the entire path. Accordingly, a method and corresponding apparatus for searching for a path solution in a network is provided that identifies combinations of partial paths that satisfy an end-to-end path constraint, compares attributes of the combinations of partial paths, prunes the combinations of partial paths based on results of the comparing to identify candidate combinations of partial paths, and selects a candidate combination of partial paths as the path solution. By pruning combinations of partial paths, considerable is saved compared to exhaustive comparing of every possible combination of partial paths and scalability is achieved.

Abstract: A procedure for operating a communication network including a network device that is in communication in the network with at least one user communication terminal and at least one server that server that provides content. The procedure includes receiving a message from one of the user communication terminal and the server, inserting at least one of an identifier of the user communication terminal and an identifier of the server in the message, and forwarding the message, including the at least one identifier inserted in the inserting, towards another of the user communication terminal and the server. A computer program, apparatus, and communication network also operate in accordance with the procedure.

Abstract: A communication network system includes a solid-state meter, an optical line terminal (“OLT”) based device, and a meter network management device. In one embodiment, the solid-state meter, which can be an electricity meter or a gas meter, provides a measurement, and has a serial communication interface. The OLT based device transfers the information between network devices via a communication network. The meter network management device, which may be an optical network terminal (“ONT”), is capable of communicating with the solid-state meter using the serial communication interface via an RS-232 port.

Abstract: A procedure for designing a virtual private network, and a system, apparatus, and computer program that operate in accordance with the procedure. The procedure includes receiving at least one of network information, a bandwidth objective and a protection objective. A mesh algorithm is executed based on the at least one of the network information, the bandwidth objective and the protection objective, to generate one or more mesh algorithm results.

Abstract: A network layout between network elements and routers using network redundancy to improve reliability of network communication is disclosed. Upon detecting a link failure associated with a primary link between an access switch and a primary router by the access switch via a connectivity verification protocol, the access switch sends a message to the primary router indicating connection defect via the connectivity verification protocol such as IEEE 802.1 ag standard. After enabling protection switching mechanism to activate a secondary link between the access switch and a backup router for network communication, routing data streams are routed between the access switch and the router via the secondary link. In one aspect, the protection switching mechanism is operated in accordance with G.8031 under International Telecommunication Union (“ITU”) standard.