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EP-4436074-B1 - METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR LOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN ROUTERS AND OPTICAL NODES WITHIN A WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (WDM) SYSTEM

EP4436074B1EP 4436074 B1EP4436074 B1EP 4436074B1EP-4436074-B1

Inventors

  • JAIN, PUNEET
  • SHUKLA, AMIT

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20160628

Claims (15)

  1. An apparatus (100), comprising: a memory (124), and a processor (122) operatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to be operatively coupled to an optical multiplexer (121), the processor configured to assign a first set of ports from a plurality of ports associated with the optical multiplexer to a first router identifier, the first router identifier representing a first router (101), the processor configured to assign a second set of ports from the plurality of ports associated with the optical multiplexer to a second router identifier, the second router identifier representing a second router (102), the processor configured to send, to the first router, identifiers associated with each port from the first set of ports causing the first router to be operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the first set of ports and not the second set of ports when the optical multiplexer is operatively coupled to the first router, the processor configured to send, to the second router, identifiers associated with each port from the second set of ports causing the second router to be operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the second set of ports and not the first set of ports when the optical multiplexer is operatively coupled to the second router.
  2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to receive, from the first router (101), a request including a number of ports of the first router to be operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer (121).
  3. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first router (101) includes a plurality of optical transponders, each optical transponder from the plurality of optical transponders is operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer (121) via a unique port from the first set of ports.
  4. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein: the optical multiplexer (121) is a first optical multiplexer (321), the first router (101) including a first set of optical transponders and a second set of optical transponders, each optical transponder from the first set of optical transponders is operatively coupled to the first optical multiplexer (121) via a unique port from the first set of ports, each optical transponder from the second set of optical transponders is operatively coupled to a second optical multiplexer (322) and not the first optical multiplexer (321).
  5. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein: the optical multiplexer is a Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer, ROADM; and the plurality of ports is a plurality of Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing, DWDM, ports.
  6. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein: the processor (122) is configured to receive a first request from the first router, the first request indicating a number of ports from the plurality of ports associated with the optical multiplexer (121), the optical multiplexer (121) configured to be operatively coupled to the first router: the processor is configured to receive a second request from the second router, the second request indicating a number of ports from the plurality of ports within the optical multiplexer (121), the optical multiplexer (121) configured to be operatively coupled to the second router: the processor (122) is configured to assign the first set of ports to the first router identifier representing the first router based on the number of ports in the first request; the processor (122) is configured to assign the second set of ports to the second router identifier representing the second router based on the number of ports in the second request; the processor (122) is configured to send a first signal to the first router to cause the first router to send a first plurality of optical signals to the optical multiplexer (121) via the first set of ports; and the processor (122) is configured to send a second signal to the second router to cause the second router to send a second plurality of optical signals to the optical multiplexer (121) via the second set of ports.
  7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein: the optical multiplexer (121) is configured to wavelength-division multiplex the first plurality of optical signals and the second plurality of optical signals to produce a multiplexed optical signal, the optical multiplexer (121) is configured to send the multiplexed optical signal via an optical fiber
  8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein: the optical multiplexer (121) is configured to send information via an optical fiber to a remote optical multiplexer, the information including the assignment of the first set of ports to the first router and the assignment of the second set of ports to the second router.
  9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the remote optical multiplexer is configured to partition plurality of ports associated with remote optical multiplexer based on the information.
  10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first request is received via an out-of-band communication.
  11. A method, comprising: assigning a first set of ports from a plurality of ports associated with an optical multiplexer to a first router identifier, the first router identifier representing a first router (406); assigning a second set of ports from the plurality of ports associated with the optical multiplexer to a second router identifier, the second router identifier representing a second router (408); router; sending, to the first router, identifiers associated with each port from the first set of ports causing the first router to be operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the first set of ports and not the second set of ports when the optical multiplexer is operatively coupled to the first router (412); and sending, to the second router, identifiers associated with each port from the second set of ports causing the second router to be operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the second set of ports and not the first set of ports when the optical multiplexer is operatively coupled to the second router (414).
  12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving, from the first router, a request including a number of ports of the first router to be operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer (402).
  13. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the first router includes a plurality of optical transponders, each optical transponder from the plurality of optical transponders is operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via a unique port from the first set of ports.
  14. The method of any of claims 11-13, wherein: the optical multiplexer is a first optical multiplexer, the first router including a first set of optical transponders and a second set of optical transponders, each optical transponder from the first set of optical transponders is operatively coupled to the first optical multiplexer via a unique port from the first set of ports, each optical transponder from the second set of optical transponders is operatively coupled to a second optical multiplexer and not the first optical multiplexer.
  15. A computer-readable medium (124) comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer (122), cause the computer to: assign a first set of ports from a plurality of ports associated with an optical multiplexer to a first router identifier, the first router identifier representing a first router (406); assign a second set of ports from the plurality of ports associated with the optical multiplexer to a second router identifier, the second router identifier representing a second router (408); send, to the first router, identifiers associated with each port from the first set of ports causing the first router to be operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the first set of ports and not the second set of ports when the optical multiplexer is operatively coupled to the first router (412); and send, to the second router, identifiers associated with each port from the second set of ports causing the second router to be operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the second set of ports and not the first set of ports when the optical multiplexer is operatively coupled to the second router (414).

Description

Background Some embodiments described herein relate generally to methods and apparatus for a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system. In particular, but not by way of limitation, some embodiments described herein relate to methods and apparatus for logically associating routers and optical nodes in a WDM system. In current optical communication systems, management of routers and optical transceivers (also referred to herein as "optical nodes") are typically performed independently by different management systems. Each of the optical nodes is connected to multiple routers. Each of the routers forwards optical signals into multiple directions via multiple optical nodes. Therefore, a many-to-many relationship exists between the routers and the optical nodes. The routers, however, do not have the information as to how many optical nodes they are connected. Similarly, the optical nodes do not have the information as to how many routers they handle. The information of the associations between the routers and the optical nodes is desirable to the users of the routers so that the users can better control the interaction between the optical nodes and the routers. Various background information may be found in US2012/328239, JP 2001 251253, US2002/114036 and Myslinski, P., et.al., "Optical Transport Use Cases", 5 Dec 2013, Open Networking Foundation. Summary Particular aspects and embodiments are set out in the appended claims. Accordingly, viewed from some perspectives, the present teachings can provide methods and apparatus to logically associate the ports of the routers with the optical nodes in an optical communication system. In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a memory and a processor operatively coupled to the memory. The processor is configured to be operatively coupled to an optical multiplexer having a set of ports. The processor is configured to partition the set of ports into a set of port groups including a first port group and a second port group. The first port group includes a first set of ports from the set of ports and the second port group includes a second set of ports from the set of ports. The second set of ports is mutually exclusive from the first set of ports. The processor is configured to associate the first port group with a first router and associate the second port group with a second router. When the optical multiplexer is operatively coupled to the first router and the second router, the first router is operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the first set of ports and not the second set of ports, and the second router is operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the second set of ports and not the first set of ports. Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a portion of an optical communication system, according to an embodiment.FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating partition of ports within an optical multiplexer and an optical demultiplexer, according to an embodiment.FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating logical associations between optical multiplexers and routers, according to an embodiment.FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method of logical associations between optical multiplexers and routers, according to an embodiment. Detailed Description In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a memory and a processor operatively coupled to the memory. The processor is configured to be operatively coupled to an optical multiplexer having a set of ports. The processor is configured to partition the set of ports into a set of port groups including a first port group and a second port group. The first port group includes a first set of ports from the set of ports and the second port group includes a second set of ports from the set of ports. The second set of ports is mutually exclusive from the first set of ports. The processor is configured to associate the first port group with a first router and associate the second port group with a second router. When the optical multiplexer is operatively coupled to the first router and the second router, the first router is operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the first set of ports and not the second set of ports, and the second router is operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the second set of ports and not the first set of ports. In some embodiments, a set of ports within an optical multiplexer can be virtualized and partitioned into a set of port groups. Based on a request received from a router, the optical multiplexer can associate a port group from the set of port groups with the router such that the router can communicate optical signals from/to the optical multiplexer via ports of the port group. An optical multiplexer can be associated with multiple routers and a router can be associated with multiple optical multiplexers. Such embodiments allow both the router and the optical multiplexer to have better control and management of data communic