Granted Patent B2

US 8,548,327 · App. 12/967,755 · Granted Oct 1, 2013

Abstract

Claims (46)

1. A system in an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) to dynamically manage polling rates in a passive optical network, comprising:

a Media Access Control (MAC) unit configured to receive a first message from an Optical Network Unit (ONU), wherein the first message includes a status of an upstream queue of the ONU; and

a traffic monitor unit coupled to the MAC unit and configured to receive the first message from the MAC unit and place the upstream queue of the ONU in an inactive mode if the status of the upstream queue indicates that the upstream queue is empty.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first message is a REPORT message of the Multi-Point Control Protocol (MPCP) or Operations, Administration and Management (OAM) protocol.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the MAC unit is configured to suspend polling of the upstream queue if the upstream queue is placed in an inactive mode.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the MAC unit is configured to suspend sending of a GATE message corresponding to a logical link identifier (LLID) associated with an inactive upstream queue until a wake up request message is received from the ONU that the upstream queue has data for transmission.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the traffic monitor unit is further configured to command the MAC unit to re-start polling the upstream queue upon receiving a second message from the ONU that indicates that the upstream queue has data for transmission.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the second message is received during a discovery process of the Multi-Point Control Protocol (MPCP).

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the second message is a piggyback message requesting the traffic monitor to actively poll the upstream queue, wherein the piggyback message is sent in conjunction with a REPORT message for another upstream queue.

8. A method to manage upstream queues in an Optical Network Unit (ONU) of a passive optical network, comprising:

transmitting a first message to an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) indicating a status of an upstream queue;

receiving a second message, that grants upstream bandwidth, from the OLT if the upstream queue has data for transmission; and

suspending, using a processor, transmission of further messages, that correspond to the upstream queue, to the OLT if a second message granting upstream bandwidth is not received from the OLT and if the status of the queue indicates that the queue is empty.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first message is a REPORT message and the second message is a GATE message of the Multi-Point Control Protocol (MPCP).

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving a discovery message from the OLT;

transmitting a wake_up_request message to the OLT corresponding to the upstream queue if the upstream queue has data for transmission, wherein the wake_up_request message includes a Media Access Control (MAC) address of a logical link identifier (LLID) associated with the queue and a status of the queue that indicates the queue depth; and

receiving a wake_up message from the OLT, wherein the wake_up message allocates bandwidth to the ONU based on the status of the queue in the wake_up_request message.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

piggybacking a wake_up_request message with a REPORT message of another upstream queue to the OLT, wherein the wake_up_request message includes a logical link identifier (LLID) associated with the upstream queue and a status of the upstream queue that indicates the queue depth; and

receiving a wake_up message from the OLT, wherein the wake_up message allocates bandwidth based on the status of the queue in the wake_up_request message.

12. An Optical Network Unit (ONU) configured to manage upstream queues, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to, based on instructions stored in the memory:

transmit a first message to an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) to indicate a status of an upstream queue;

receive a second message, that grants upstream bandwidth, from the OLT if the upstream queue has data for transmission; and

suspend transmission of further messages, that correspond to the upstream queue, to the OLT if a second message granting upstream bandwidth is not received from the OLT and if the status of the queue indicates that the queue is empty.

13. A method to manage polling of upstream queues in an Optical Network Unit (ONU) of a passive optical network, comprising:

transmitting a first message to an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) indicating the status of an upstream queue;

receiving the first message by a Media Access Control (MAC) unit of the OLT;

determining whether the upstream queue has data for transmission based on the status of the upstream queue;

transmitting a second message to the ONU allocating bandwidth for upstream transmission if the status of the upstream queue indicates that the upstream queue has data for transmission; and

placing the upstream queue in an inactive mode if the status of the upstream queue indicates that the upstream queue does not have data for transmission;

wherein the OLT does not poll the upstream queue in the inactive mode until the upstream queue indicates that it has data for transmission.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first message is a REPORT message of the Multi-Point Control Protocol (MPCP) or Operations, Administration and Management (OAM) protocol.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising suspending polling of the upstream queue if the upstream queue is placed in an inactive mode.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising suspending sending of a GATE message corresponding to a logical link identifier (LLID) associated with an inactive upstream queue until a wake up request message is received from the ONU that the upstream queue has data for transmission.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising re-starting polling of the upstream queue upon receiving a second message from the ONU that indicates that the upstream queue has data for transmission.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising receiving the second message during a discovery process of the Multi-Point Control Protocol (MPCP).

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the second message is a piggyback message requesting the traffic monitor to actively poll the upstream queue, wherein the piggyback message is sent to the OLT in conjunction with a REPORT message for another upstream queue.

20. A method to dynamically manage polling rates in a passive optical network, comprising:

polling, using a processor, a queue in an Optical Network Unit (ONU) at an initial polling rate;

determining whether the queue has data for transmission;

decreasing the initial polling rate to a decreased polling rate if the queue does not have data for transmission;

polling the queue at the decreased polling rate until the queue has data for transmission; and

increasing the decreased polling rate upon determining that the queue has data for transmission.

Assignments (6)