Abstract: A method, architecture and service of providing a multiple tiered pricing structure for providing a first service level to priority traffic where the priority traffic is protected via a 1:1 protection system, and a second service level for non-priority or extra traffic, wherein the extra traffic is normally propagated via the protection path, and is protected using a mesh restoration technique in the event of failure of the protection path or use of the protection path by the priority traffic.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling each of at least one optical signal sources within a WDM system by using beat frequencies derived by combining portions of the optical signals provided by the optical signal sources and a reference optical signal.

Abstract: A switching algorithm, a signaling protocol, and a switching decision method having improved optical network switching features is described. In one embodiment, a local node, during a switch from the service channel to the protection channel, propagates a switching signal to a remote node before the local node has finished switching from the service channel to the protection channel. The remote node, in response to the received switching signal, begins switching from the service channel to the protection channel and transmits a signal back to the local node before the remote node has finished switching from the service channel to the protection channel.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling each of at least one optical signal sources within a WDM system by using beat frequencies derived by combining portions of the optical signals provided by the optical signal sources and a reference optical signal.

Abstract: A method, architecture and service of providing a multiple tiered pricing structure for providing a first service level to priority traffic where the priority traffic is protected via a 1:1 protection system, and a second service level for non-priority or extra traffic, wherein the extra traffic is normally propagated via the protection path, and is protected using a mesh restoration technique in the event of failure of the protection path or use of the protection path by the priority traffic.

Abstract: Congestion in a high speed connection oriented packet network carrying bursty data and real time service is avoided by a novel in-call negotiation scheme for reserving bandwidth for real time calls and reserving buffer capacity for bursty calls.For a real time call, a centralized call controller in each switch in the network determines which of its outgoing trunks has available to it the peak bandwidth needed to accommodate the call. Once one of these trunks is found, the call routing is set up so that the call is directed through that trunk and the peak bandwidth requirement of the call is allocated on that output trunk for the duration of the call.The network contains one or more switches, each of which has a centralized call controller and a plurality of trunk controllers. The call controller routes calls from a plurality of input trunks to a plurality of output trunks, identifies kinds of calls, and allocates bandwidth on the output trunks.

Abstract: This invention is a method of and apparatus for implementing a service scheduling discipline to enable data devices efficient access to data resources. According to the invention, information identifying one or more data packets of each data batch is sorted into one or more of a plurality (N) of epoch queues, such that for each data batch, no information identifying more than a predetermined number (P) of data packets from a particular channel is inputted into each epoch queue. Each epoch queue is then cyclically served exhaustively by outputting the identified data packets to the facility. Data that cannot be placed in the epoch queues is temporarily placed in an overflow queue. The overflow queue data is subsequently sorted into the epoch queues and transmitted.