Patent ID: 6205121
Filing Date: 2001-03-20
Classification: H04J,H04Q

Abstract:
A method of establishing a virtual connection in a Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) communications network comprising a plurality of at least partly interconnected network elements designed for the transmission of data packets, each structured in accordance with the Internet Protocol (IP) and containing a destination address, said virtual connection being established by use of SDH virtual containers, said method comprising the steps of:in at least one of said network elements, monitoring the destination addresses of the data packets to be transmitted;determining respective current traffic volumes among pairs of individual network elements with the aid of the destination addresses;determining an optimized configuration of virtual connections to be established, based on the traffic volume and existing virtual connections, said optimized configuration comprising at least one of: new virtual connections which are not yet established, virtual connections of different capacity as compared to existing ones, and any existing virtual connections which are no longer required; andupdating the virtual connections in the Synchronous Digital Hierarchy communications network to the optimized configuration by switching virtual containers of the SDH transmission system through the network, said virtual containers being representative of the virtual connections to be established.