Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates forwarding of packets in an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON), which includes a central node and at least one remote node. During operation, the system assigns a logical link identifier (LLID) to a remote node, wherein an LLID corresponds to a logical link between the central node and a remote node. The system also associates an LLID with a port of a switch within the central node, wherein the switch has a number of ports; wherein a port may be a physical port or a virtual port; and wherein the number of ports on the switch are divided into network-side ports and user-side ports. Upon receiving a downstream packet from a network-side port, the system searches a mapping table to determine whether one or more field values of the downstream packet correspond to any LLIDs or ports.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates transmission control in an Ethernet passive optical network, which includes a central node and at least one remote node, and wherein a remote node implements a data-link layer and a physical layer. During operation, the system starts by receiving, at the physical layer of a remote node, a word which is communicated from the data-link layer of the remote node, wherein the word may be a data word or an idle word. The system then delays the word for a pre-determined amount of time before allowing the word to be transmitted by a transmitter, thereby providing time for turning the transmitter on or off. The system also turns the transmitter on or off based on the content of the received words.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates registration of remote nodes in an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON). The system includes a central node and at least one remote node, wherein a number of virtual remote nodes are coupled to a common physical remote node and transmit upstream data through a common transmitter within the common physical remote node. During an initial discovery cycle, the system receives a solicitation message from the central node at a remote node, wherein the solicitation message assigns a discovery slot in which an unregistered remote node may transmit a response message to the central node for registration. The system then transmits a response message from an unregistered remote node to register within the assigned discovery slot.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that reduces data burst overhead in an Ethernet passive optical network which includes a central node and at least one remote node, wherein downstream data from the central node is broadcast to the remote nodes, and wherein upstream data from a remote node is transmitted to the central node in a unicast manner. During operation, the central node transmits grant messages to a number of remote nodes, wherein a grant message for a specified remote node assigns a start time and a duration of a transmission timeslot in which the specified remote node may transmit an upstream data burst. In response to the grant messages, the central node then receives a number of upstream data bursts, wherein the time gap between two consecutive upstream data bursts is less than the summation of a default laser turn-on time, a default laser turn-off time, an AGC period, and a CDR period.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates discovery of remote nodes in EPONs. The system includes a central node and at least one remote node. During operation, the system first receives a solicitation message from the central node, wherein the solicitation message includes a time stamp indicating the solicitation message's transmission time and assigns a starting time and size for a discovery slot in which the remote node is allowed to transmit a response message to the central node for registration. The system then sets a local time at the remote node according to the received time stamp. After a random delay starting from the beginning of the assigned discovery slot, the system transmits the response message to the central node during the discovery slot with a response transmission probability that is less than or equal to one.

Abstract: An optical access network and method for transmitting optical data in the network utilizes an interleaved polling scheme to efficiently use the available bandwidth of the network. The use of the interleaved polling scheme allows a central terminal of the network to dynamically allocate upstream bandwidth from remote terminals of the network to the central terminal in response to the amount of data that is waiting at the remote terminals to be transmitted to the OLT. In one embodiment, the optical access network is based on Passive Optical Network (PON) technology. In another embodiment, the optical access network utilizes Ethernet protocol to encapsulate data in Ethernet frames for transmission. Thus, in these embodiments, the optical access network includes all of the advantages associated with the PON technology and/or the Ethernet protocol. In addition, since the allocation of upstream bandwidth is on an as needed basis, loss of bandwidth due to unfilled time slots is substantially eliminated.