Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for transporting gigabit ethernet and fiber channel signals in wavelength-division multiplexed systems

US6430201B1 · kind B1 · utility

59Cited by
3References
21Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 21, 1999
Grant dateAug 6, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 21, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY02D30/00
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Multiple gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and Fiber Channel (FC) signals are multiplexed and transported on a wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) communications link using synchronous optical network (SONET) signaling. A transmitter decodes the 8b/10b encoded GbE/FC signals to reduce their respective signaling rates to no greater than the payload data rate of an OC-48 signal used on the link. The decoded signal are packetized into fixed-size packets in order to append a stream identifier used for de-multiplexing at the receive end. The packetized streams are multiplexed together and formatted into the OC-48 signal, which is transmitted over the communications link. A receiver de-multiplexes the received signal to obtain the packet streams, converts the packet streams to the corresponding decoded signals, and re-encodes each signal to re-create the original GbE/FC signals. A pair of interfaces can be arranged to provide independent adding or dropping of the GbE/FC signals that share the same wavelength.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.