Patent ID: 7477845

Claim:
A method for reducing data burst overhead in an Ethernet passive optical network which includes a central node and at least one remote node, wherein downstream data from the central node is broadcast to the remote nodes, and wherein upstream data from each remote node is transmitted to the central node in a unicast manner, the method comprising: transmitting grant messages to a number of remote nodes, wherein a grant message for a specified remote node assigns a start time and a duration of a transmission timeslot in which the specified remote node may transmit a upstream data burst; and receiving a number of upstream data bursts, wherein the time gap between two consecutive upstream data bursts is less than the summation of a default laser turn-on time, a default laser turn-off time, an automatic gain control (AGC) period, and a clock and data recovery (CDR) period; wherein a preceding upstream data burst's laser turn-off period overlaps with a subsequent data burst's laser turn-on period; wherein the non-overlapping portion of the preceding data burst's laser turn-off period is equal to or greater than twice the allowed maximum jitter of the round-trip time between the central node and a remote node; and wherein the non-overlapping portion of the subsequent data burst's laser turn-on period is equal to or greater than twice the allowed maximum jitter of the round-trip time between the central node and a remote node.