Patent ID: 9722723
Date: 2017-08-01
CPC Classifications: H04J

Claim:
1. A method of hitless ODUflex connection resizing in an optical transport network (OTN), the method comprising: incrementing the ODUflex connection between nodes of the OTN, according to an indication command, by identifying at least one time-slot, through link connecting resizing (LCR) protocol message exchanges, wherein identifying the at least one time slot comprises: receiving an indication command to increment a bandwidth at a first node, identifying the first node as a source node; generating, by the source node to a second node, a first protocol command message (PCM) demanding a first time-slot, wherein the second node is a next intermediate downstream node in the OTN, receiving, from the second node, a first acknowledgement message comprising a response to the first PCM; determining, from the received acknowledgement message, whether the demanded first time slot is available with the second node, sending, in response to determining that the first time slot is not available with the second node, a second PCM to the second node demanding a second time-slot, receiving, from the second node, a second acknowledgement message comprising the response to the second PCM; determining, from the second acknowledgement message, whether the demanded second time slot is available with the second node, and identifying, in response to determining that the second time slot is available with the second node, the second time slot as the at least one time slot; performing, based on the identified time slot, ingress and egress LCR between the first node and the second node, determining whether the second nod is a destination node in the OTN, identifying, in response to determining that the second node is not the destination node, a third node, wherein the third node is the next downstream node to the second node in the OTN; and identifying by the second node, the at least one time slot through link connecting the second node and the third node.