Patent ID: 8107476
Filing Date: 2012-01-31
Classification: H04Q

Abstract:
1. A network element, comprising: a plurality of mappers for mapping packet traffic to electrical streams, the plurality of mappers including a first mapper and a second mapper; a network interface for receiving packets from a packet-switched network, the network interface including a packet switch that directs a first stream of packets as electrical signals to the first mapper based on a destination of the packets in the first packet stream and directs a second stream of packets as electrical signals to the second mapper based on a destination of the packets in the second packet stream, the first mapper producing a first stream of electrical signals from the first packet stream, the second mapper producing a second stream of electrical signals from the second packet stream; an optical interface operating at a bandwidth for transmitting optical signals onto an optical transport network, each of the first and second streams of electrical signals being allocated a portion of the bandwidth of the optical interface, the optical interface producing an optical signal that includes information from each of the first and second streams of electrical signals in accordance with the bandwidth allocated to each of the first and second streams of electrical signals; and each mapper including at least one of Link Capacity Adjustment Schemes (LCAS) and Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) technologies for dynamically controlling the bandwidth allocated by the optical interface.