Abstract:
The disclosure is generally directed to a system and method of measuring transport utilization of data that is to be multiplexed and transmitted over a digital transport facility. In a particular embodiment, the system includes a traffic management reporting device to provide a report including performance information. The performance information is determined based on a count of stuff bits included in a user data frame having a fixed size payload.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application claims priority from and is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/630,051, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,355,414, filed on Dec. 3, 2009 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF MEASURING DATA TRANSPORT UTILIZATION,” which is a divisional of and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/708,416, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,649,849, filed on Feb. 20, 2007 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING TRANSPORT UTILIZATION,” which is a continuation of and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/319,216, filed on Dec. 13, 2002, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,221,685 and entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM RELATING TO BANDWIDTH UTILIZATION,” which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure relates generally to bandwidth utilization measurement. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Management and operation of a large scale distributed communication network has a high degree of complexity. To address the complexity of managing such distributed communication networks, many computer tools and other automated methods have been developed. As part of the network management process, various network management and equipment usage reports have been developed and routinely produced. For certain optical network high speed data communication equipment, measurement of traffic utilization on specific transport facilities is desirable. Conventional methods to determine such traffic utilization have involved intrusive techniques such as inserting probes or nonuser test data into the communication network to sample the optical or electrical facility capacity usage. It would be desirable to provide a useful network traffic utilization report without the disadvantages involved with such intrusive techniques. 
     Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method for determining data transport utilization. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present disclosure is generally directed to a system and method of measuring transport utilization of data that is to be multiplexed and transmitted over a digital transport facility. In a particular embodiment, the system includes a traffic management reporting device to provide a report including performance information. The performance information is determined based at least in part on a count of stuff bits included in a user data frame having a fixed size payload. 
     In another embodiment, a user data frame is disclosed. The user data frame includes a traffic portion that is used to handle communication of user data and an unused portion including a set of stuff bits arranged in a detectible pattern. A count of the stuff bits is associated with a measure of transport utilization of a data communication channel over which the user data frame is transported. 
     In another embodiment, a communication system is disclosed. The communication system includes a data multiplexing device that includes a first input data channel and a multiplexed output. The first input data channel is associated with a first user data frame that has a fixed size data payload. The first user data frame includes a first traffic portion including first user data and a first unused portion that includes a first set of stuff bits. The communication system also includes an element manager coupled to the data multiplexing device. The element manager is configured to provide a measurement report that includes an indication of a utilization associated with the first input data channel. The indication is based at least in part on a count of the first set of stuff bits. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of a system that includes a multiplexer with bit stuffing and measurement logic. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart that illustrates a method of determining traffic utilization of elements within a communication system. 
         FIG. 3  is a general diagram that illustrates a portion of a data frame. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a data communication system  100  is disclosed. The communication system  100  includes a data multiplexer  102 , a digital facility  104 , and a demultiplexer  106 . The multiplexer  102  includes a plurality of input channels  108 ,  120 ,  122 , and  124 . The multiplexer  102  also includes digital bit-stuffing and measurement logic  110 . The data multiplexer  102  has a multiplexer output  112  that is coupled to the digital communication transport facility  114 . The communication system  100  also includes an element manager  104  that is coupled to the multiplexer  102 . The element manager  104  provides an output performance report  116  that includes traffic utilization information  118 . The element manager  104  may be implemented as a software module within a personal computer device. The performance report  116  may be a printed report or may be provided at a display device coupled to the element manger  104 . The system  100  also includes a remote demultiplexer  106  coupled to a far end of the digital facility  114 . The demultiplexer has a multiplexed input  128  and a plurality of demultiplexed output channels  126 . 
     During operation, user data frames are received by the data multiplexer  102  from the input communication channels, such as a first input channel  108 . The user data frames from the plurality of input channels are multiplexed to produce a multiplexed datastream at the multiplexer output  112 . Where the input channels have unused data bandwidth, padding bits are stuffed into the available data frames so that the multiplexer output  112  has the appropriate fixed data payload size. The multiplexed output  112  carries a higher bandwidth, higher data speed communication signal than any of the individual input channels. The multiplexed data output signal is communicated over the digital facility  114  to the remote demuliplexer device  106 . The demultiplexer  106  receives the multiplexed signal, demultiplexer the multiplex signal, to produce individual user data frames  126 . 
     The element manager  104  receives communication measurement utilization information from the multiplexer  102 . This information is derived from and determined by the number of unused padding bits that are stuffed into each of the user data frames to create the fixed payload multiplexed output signal. The element manager  104  receives the bit-stuffing and measurement information and produces an integrated traffic performance report  116  that includes the measured traffic utilization information disclosed as traffic utilization element  118 . The traffic utilization information is conveniently provided to a network operator and includes capacity availability of each of the individual communication channels carried by the digital facility  114 . In this manner, a user of the network may advantageously determine data communication capacity without the inconvenience of dedicated probe tests or other intrusive testing methods. An example of the digital facility  114  that is supported includes facilities such as DS1, DS3, VT1.5, STS-1, STS-3, and OC-3 facilities. 
     With the disclosed system  100 , traffic utilization is measured using real-time calculation of bandwidth based on time division multiplex (TDM) frame stuff-bit information determined during the framing and multiplexing stage. 
     The disclosed system  100  takes advantage of the scenario where the user does not issue sufficient traffic to fill the allocated data payload of a particular frame. In this scenario, the data frame is padded with stuff bits so that the payload bytes are comprised of both user traffic and/or the stuff bits. By counting the stuff bits and subtracting the number of stuff bits from the fixed payload, the amount of traffic information can be discerned for each data frame. The stuff bits are arranged in a detectible binary pattern to facilitate detection and counting within the measurement logic  110 . By aggregating the traffic over time intervals, whether for a single frame or for many frames over several minutes, the traffic utilization may be measured and reported. By reporting the traffic utilization, for example for each provisioned electrical or optical facility, the multiplexer  102  delivers to a network operator a useful measurement report  116  regarding traffic utilization. The disclosed system  100  may be used to monitor TDM and SONET interoffice facility (IOF) loop bandwidth usage on a real-time basis, both on the IOF loop and customer drops. 
     The bandwidth usage data that is reported may be used to assist network planners, marketing and sales personnel to better understand bandwidth and network bottlenecks and usage patterns to improve planning for future capacity needs. In addition, reported traffic statistics may be used to improve the network owner&#39;s ability to market communication services to customers that may be better informed of capacity exhaustive conditions. Additional information regarding traffic usage can also be provided to customers as an enhanced service so that customers may make appropriate decisions regarding their own bandwidth capacity and usage patterns. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a method of measuring transport utilization of data to be multiplexed and transmitted over a digital transport facility is disclosed. The method includes a step of receiving a user data frame at the multiplexer, at  202 . Padding stuff bits are then inserted into the unused portion of the user frame prior to multiplexing, at  204 . A traffic utilization measurement is then determined based on the number of stuff bits and based on the size on the fixed payload, at  206 . The traffic utilization measurement is then reported at  208 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a further detailed portion of a representative user frame, such as frame  108  is disclosed. The portion of the user frame includes a user data portion  302  and a stuff bit portion  304 . The data frame  108  has a fixed size payload  310 . In addition, for determining traffic measurement utilization, the user data frame has a used portion  306  and an unused portion  308 . By comparing the number of stuff bits  304  in the unused portion  308  with respect to the size of the fixed payload  310 , a determination may be made regarding utilization of the data frame. The portion of user data may be determined by subtracting the number of stuff bits  304  from the known fixed size of the payload  310 . 
     The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments which fall within the scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.