Patent ID: 8406246
Filing Date: 2013-03-26
Classification: H04L,H04Q,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of burst switching in a network that includes a plurality of core nodes and a plurality of edge nodes, said plurality of core nodes arranged in a composite-star configuration, with each core node comprising parallel optical switches, the method comprising: receiving, by a controller of a first core node selected from among said plurality of core nodes, bitrate allocation requests from each edge node among said plurality of edge nodes, each said bitrate allocation request specifying a respective destination edge node; generating, by said first core node, burst-transfer permits specific to said each edge node, each burst-transfer permit specifying a permissible burst size and an inter-burst interval for said respective destination edge node, the permissible burst size constrained by a lower bound based at least in part on a guard time requirement between successive configurations of the first core node, the time requirement being adaptively adjusted based on a switching rate of an optical switch of said first core node; sending, by said first core node, said burst-transfer permits to said each edge node; receiving, by said first core node from said each edge node, data bursts corresponding to said each burst-transfer permit, each said data burst formed according to said permissible burst size, said inter-burst interval, and said respective destination edge node; and switching, at said first core node, said data bursts to said respective destination edge node.