Flexe port negotiation method and apparatus

Abstract

Provided are a FlexE port negotiation method and apparatus, relating to the technical field of communications. The method is applied in a first network device, the first network device is communicatively connected to a second network device by means of a FlexE port, and the first network device comprises at least one PHY. The method comprises: determining an energy saving capability of the first network device, wherein the energy saving capability is used to indicate an energy saving function of the network device, and the energy saving function is used to support performing an energy saving operation on a PHY; obtaining an energy saving capability of the second network device; and determining a negotiation result on the basis of the energy saving capability of the first network device and the energy saving capability of the second network device, wherein the negotiation result is used to indicate an energy saving capability commonly supported by the two network devices or an energy saving policy of the two network devices. In this way, capabilities of different network devices for adjusting an idle PHY are coordinated, and the first network device can execute, on the basis of the negotiation result, an energy saving operation that can be implemented by the energy saving functions of both the first network device and the second network device.

Description

FlexE Port Negotiation Method and Apparatus

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese patent application filed on January 26, 2025, with application number 202510125449.9, entitled "FlexE Port Negotiation Method and Apparatus", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a FlexE port negotiation method and apparatus. Background Technology

[0003] Flexible Ethernet (FlexE) is a general-purpose technology that supports multiple media access control (MAC) layer rates. FlexE achieves hard isolation of transmission pipeline bandwidth by binding multiple physical link interfaces (PHYs) and dividing each PHY into multiple time slots with specified granularity in the time domain. A service data stream can be allocated to one or more time slots, thus matching various service rates.

[0004] A FlexE group can contain one or more PHYs. Data on each PHY in a FlexE group is positioned within the PHY and aligned between different PHYs by periodically inserting FlexE overhead (OH) code blocks, so as to achieve time-slot transmission of service data streams.

[0005] A FlexE group typically contains one or more PHYs that are idle. These idle PHYs or time slots are active even during data transmission, resulting in high overall power consumption for the network device. To adjust the idle PHYs within a FlexE group to reduce overall power consumption, the ability of different network devices connected via FlexE ports to adjust idle PHYs needs to be coordinated. Therefore, how different network devices negotiate the capabilities of their FlexE ports is a problem that urgently needs to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application provides a FlexE port negotiation method and apparatus to enable different network devices to negotiate the capabilities of FlexE ports, thereby enabling different network devices to coordinate their ability to adjust idle PHYs or time slots.

[0007] In a first aspect, a FlexE port negotiation method is provided, executed by a first network device, wherein a first FlexE group of the first network device is communicatively connected to a second FlexE group of a second network device, and the first FlexE group includes at least one physical port PHY. The method includes: determining the energy-saving capability of the first network device; the energy-saving capability of the first network device is used to indicate energy-saving functions possessed by the first network device, the energy-saving functions possessed by the first network device being used to support energy-saving operations on the at least one PHY; obtaining the energy-saving capability of the second network device; determining a negotiation result based on the energy-saving capability of the first network device and the energy-saving capability of the second network device; the negotiation result is used to indicate energy-saving capabilities jointly supported by the first network device and the second network device, or energy-saving strategies of the first network device and the second network device.

[0008] Based on the aforementioned FlexE port negotiation method, the first network device determines its energy-saving capabilities and then acquires the energy-saving capabilities of the second network device to complete the negotiation between the energy-saving capabilities of the first and second network devices. This determines the energy-saving capabilities or strategies jointly supported by the first and second network devices. In this way, the ability of different network devices to adjust at least one PHY is achieved collaboratively. The first network device can execute PHY adjustment methods that are feasible for both the first and second network devices based on the negotiation results, thereby obtaining a consistent idle PHY. This allows the first network device to perform energy-saving operations on the idle PHY to reduce the overall power consumption of the device.

[0009] As one possible implementation, the energy-saving capability includes lossless PHY isolation, which is used to ensure that the flow between the at least one PHY does not interfere with each other.

[0010] Based on the above implementation method, the first network device has the function of lossless PHY isolation, which can perform energy-saving operation on any PHY in subsequent energy-saving operation without affecting the data transmission of other PHYs, thereby ensuring communication stability.

[0011] As one possible implementation, the energy-saving capability also includes time slot migration, which is used to migrate any data stream from the time slot of a first PHY to the time slot of another PHY, wherein the at least one PHY includes the first PHY and the other PHYs.

[0012] Based on the above implementation, the first network device has the function of time slot migration, which can adjust the time slots of at least one PHY in the first FlexE group, and can migrate all the used time slots of a PHY to other PHYs to obtain idle PHYs, thus ensuring the flexibility of time slot adjustment.

[0013] As one possible implementation, the energy-saving capability also includes time slot compression, which is used to reduce the number of time slots in any of the at least one PHYs that carry any data stream.

[0014] Based on the above implementation, the first network device has the functions of time slot migration and time slot compression. Before performing time slot migration, more idle PHYs are obtained through time slot compression, so that time slot migration can obtain more idle PHYs, thereby increasing the number of PHYs that can perform energy-saving operations in the future.

[0015] As one possible implementation, the energy-saving capability also includes granularity splitting. The first network device includes a first Flexible Ethernet SHIM chip and a first optical module. The first FlexE SHIM chip and the first optical module are connected through at least one pair of deserializers (serdes). The granularity splitting supported by the first network device is determined by the PHY rate configuration provided by the first FlexE SHIM chip, the number of the at least one pair of deserializers, and the number of optical device channels.

[0016] Based on the above implementation, depending on the different splitting granularities of the first network device, the first network device can split any PHY in at least one PHY of the first FlxeE group to obtain a split PHY, the bandwidth of the split PHY being less than that of the original PHY. Thus, subsequent energy-saving operations can target the split PHY with finer granularity, improving the flexibility of time slot migration and time slot compression, and facilitating the acquisition of more idle PHYs.

[0017] As one possible implementation, obtaining the energy-saving capability of the second network device includes: receiving a first message; the first message is used to carry capability information of the second network device, and the capability information of the second network device is used to indicate the energy-saving capability of the second network device.

[0018] Based on the above implementation, the first network device obtains the energy-saving capability of the second network device according to the capability information of the second network device carried in the first message sent by the second network device. In this way, any two network devices can announce energy-saving capabilities through the sending and receiving of messages carrying the capability information of the second network device, improving the flexibility of energy-saving capability negotiation.

[0019] Optionally, the first message conforms to the Optical Internetworking Forum Network Device (OIF-ND) protocol or the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) vendor proprietary protocol, and the first message includes a first LLDP data unit (DU), which is used to carry capability information of the second network device.

[0020] Optionally, the first message includes an operation administration and maintenance (OAM) code block, which carries capability information of the second network device.

[0021] Thus, the first message can carry network device capability information using the OIF-ND protocol, the LLDPDU of the LLDP vendor's proprietary protocol, or the OAM code block. This increases the ways in which the first message carries network device capability information, thereby expanding the applicable scenarios for the FlexE port negotiation method.

[0022] Taking the first message including the first LLDPDU as an example, the first LLDPDU includes a first optional type-length-value (TLV), the first optional TLV includes a sub-TLV field and an information field, and the information field is used to carry the capability information of the second network device.

[0023] As a first possible implementation, the subtype field is a first subtype value, and the information field is used to indicate whether the second network device supports one or more power-saving functions using bits. The one or more power-saving functions include one or more of PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, and split granularity.

[0024] As a second possible implementation, the subtype value of the subtype field corresponds to an energy-saving function, and the information field is used to indicate whether the second network device supports the energy-saving function corresponding to the subtype value. The subtype value and the energy-saving function are in one-to-one correspondence. The energy-saving function includes PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, or split granularity.

[0025] Thus, the first message can use capability information carried by an LLDPDU to indicate one or more power-saving functions that the network device has, providing different ways to carry capability information in the first message.

[0026] As one possible implementation, the method further includes: performing time slot compression and / or time slot migration on the at least one PHY based on the energy-saving capabilities jointly supported by the first network device and the second network device, to obtain at least one idle PHY.

[0027] Based on the above implementation method, by adjusting the time slots of at least one PHY in the first FlexE group through time slot migration, all the used time slots of a PHY can be migrated to other PHYs to obtain idle PHYs, thus ensuring the flexibility of time slot adjustment.

[0028] As one possible implementation, the at least one idle PHY includes: a PHY in which the number of time slots used before time slot adjustment is performed; and / or a PHY in which the number of time slots used after time slot adjustment is performed.

[0029] Based on the above implementation, by adjusting the time slots to increase the number of idle PHYs in the first FlexE group, more PHYs can be powered up, thereby further improving the telecommunications energy efficiency ratio (TEER) of the first network device and reducing the overall power consumption of the first network device.

[0030] As one possible implementation, the at least one idle PHY includes at least one pre-split PHY and / or at least one post-split PHY, wherein any post-split PHY is obtained by splitting any PHY with a first bandwidth into at least two PHYs with a second bandwidth, wherein the first bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth.

[0031] As one possible implementation, the method further includes: determining an energy-saving strategy based on the negotiation result; the energy-saving strategy is used to instruct the first network device to perform time slot adjustment operations and / or energy-saving operations on the at least one PHY.

[0032] As one possible implementation, the method further includes: obtaining a capacity expansion threshold and / or a capacity reduction threshold; the capacity reduction threshold and / or the capacity reduction threshold are fixed thresholds or predicted based on the traffic of the corresponding data stream; when the current traffic of any data stream carried by the at least one PHY is less than the capacity reduction threshold, the first network device performs time slot compression; when the current traffic of any data stream in at least one data stream carried by the at least one PHY is greater than or equal to the capacity expansion threshold, time slot recovery or PHY wake-up is performed.

[0033] Based on the above implementation, the available time slots (or bandwidth) of at least one PHY in the first FlexE group are flexibly scaled according to the shrinking threshold and the expanding threshold, making the FlexE port negotiation method provided in this application embodiment more suitable for actual scenarios under different traffic conditions and improving the practicality of the FlexE port negotiation method.

[0034] As one possible implementation, obtaining the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold includes: receiving a second message; the second message is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold.

[0035] Based on the above implementation, the first network device obtains the energy-saving capability of the second network device according to the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold carried in the second message sent by the second network device. In this way, any two network devices can communicate the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold by sending and receiving messages carrying the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold, improving the flexibility of energy-saving capability negotiation.

[0036] Optionally, the second message conforms to the OIF-ND protocol or the LLDP vendor's proprietary protocol, and the second message includes a second LLDPDU, which is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold.

[0037] Optionally, the second message includes an OAM code block, which is used to carry an expansion threshold and / or a reduction threshold.

[0038] Thus, the second message can carry the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold using the OIF-ND protocol, the LLDPDU of the LLDP vendor's proprietary protocol, or the OAM code block, thereby increasing the ways in which the second message carries the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold, and thus increasing the applicable scenarios of the FlexE port negotiation method.

[0039] Taking a second message including a second LLDPDU as an example, the second LLDPDU includes a second optional TLV, which includes a subtype field and an information field. The information field is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold. For example, the information field includes an expansion threshold field and / or a reduction threshold field, where the expansion threshold field carries the expansion threshold and the reduction threshold field carries the reduction threshold.

[0040] Taking the second message including an OAM code block as an example, the OAM code block of the second message is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold.

[0041] Thus, the second message can carry the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold using the OIF-ND protocol, the LLDPDU of the LLDP vendor's proprietary protocol, or the OAM code block. This increases the ways in which the second message carries the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold, thereby expanding the applicable scenarios for the FlexE port negotiation method.

[0042] Secondly, a FlexE port negotiation apparatus is provided. This FlexE port negotiation apparatus includes a transceiver module and a processing module. The processing module is used to determine the energy-saving capability of a first network device; the energy-saving capability of the first network device is used to indicate the energy-saving functions possessed by the first network device, and the energy-saving functions possessed by the first network device are used to support energy-saving operations on at least one PHY. The transceiver module is used to: acquire the energy-saving capability of a second network device. The processing module is further used to: determine a negotiation result based on the energy-saving capability of the first network device and the energy-saving capability of the second network device; the negotiation result is used to indicate the energy-saving capability jointly supported by the first network device and the second network device, or the energy-saving strategy of the first network device and the second network device.

[0043] As one possible implementation, the energy-saving capability includes lossless PHY isolation, which is used to ensure that the flow between the at least one PHY does not interfere with each other.

[0044] As one possible implementation, the energy-saving capability also includes time slot migration, which is used to migrate any data stream from the time slot of the first PHY to the time slot of other PHYs, wherein the at least one PHY includes the first PHY and the other PHYs.

[0045] As one possible implementation, the energy-saving capability also includes time slot compression, which is used to reduce the number of time slots in any of the at least one PHYs that carry any data stream.

[0046] As one possible implementation, the energy-saving capability also includes granularity splitting. The first network device includes a first FlexE SHIM chip and a first optical module. The first FlexE SHIM chip and the first optical module are connected through at least one pair of deserializers. The granularity splitting supported by the first network device is determined by the PHY rate configuration provided by the first FlexE SHIM chip, the number of the at least one pair of deserializers, and the number of optical device channels.

[0047] As one possible implementation, the transceiver module is specifically used to: receive a first message; the first message is used to carry capability information of the second network device, and the capability information of the second network device is used to indicate the energy-saving capability of the second network device.

[0048] As one possible implementation, the first message conforms to the OIF-ND protocol or the LLDP vendor's proprietary protocol, and the first message includes a first LLDP DU, which is used to carry capability information of the second network device.

[0049] As one possible implementation, the first LLDPDU includes a first optional TLV, which includes a subtype field and an information field, the information field being used to carry capability information of the second network device.

[0050] As one possible implementation, the subtype field is a first subtype value, and the information field is used to indicate, using bits, whether the second network device supports one or more power-saving functions, including one or more of PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, and split granularity.

[0051] As one possible implementation, the subtype value of the subtype field corresponds to an energy-saving function, and the information field is used to indicate whether the second network device supports the energy-saving function corresponding to the subtype value. The subtype value and the energy-saving function are in one-to-one correspondence. The energy-saving function includes PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, or split granularity.

[0052] As one possible implementation, the first message includes an OAM code block, which carries capability information of the second network device.

[0053] As one possible implementation, the processing module is further configured to: perform time slot compression and / or time slot migration on the at least one PHY based on the energy-saving capabilities jointly supported by the first network device and the second network device, to obtain the at least one idle PHY.

[0054] As one possible implementation, the at least one idle PHY includes: a PHY in which the number of time slots used before time slot adjustment is performed; and / or a PHY in which the number of time slots used after time slot adjustment is performed.

[0055] As one possible implementation, the at least one idle PHY includes at least one pre-split PHY and / or at least one post-split PHY, wherein any post-split PHY is obtained by splitting any PHY with a first bandwidth into at least two PHYs with a second bandwidth, wherein the first bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth.

[0056] As one possible implementation, the processing module is further configured to: determine an energy-saving strategy based on the negotiation result; the energy-saving strategy is used to instruct the first network device to perform time slot adjustment operations and / or energy-saving operations on the at least one PHY.

[0057] As one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: obtain a capacity expansion threshold and / or a capacity reduction threshold; the capacity reduction threshold and / or the capacity reduction threshold are fixed thresholds or predicted based on the traffic of the corresponding data stream. When the current traffic of any data stream carried by the at least one PHY is less than the capacity reduction threshold, the first network device performs time slot compression; when the current traffic of any data stream in at least one data stream carried by the at least one PHY is greater than or equal to the capacity expansion threshold, time slot recovery or PHY wake-up is performed.

[0058] As one possible implementation, the transceiver module is specifically used to: receive a second message; the second message is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold.

[0059] As one possible implementation, the second message includes a second LLDPDU, which carries the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold.

[0060] As one possible implementation, the second LLDPDU includes a second optional TLV, which includes a subtype field and an information field. The information field of the second optional TLV is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold.

[0061] As one possible implementation, the subtype field of the second optional TLV is a second subtype value, and the information field of the second optional TLV includes an expansion threshold field and / or a shrinking threshold field, wherein the expansion threshold field is used to carry the expansion threshold and the shrinking threshold field is used to carry the shrinking threshold.

[0062] As one possible implementation, the second message includes an OAM code block, which is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold.

[0063] The beneficial effects of the FlexE port negotiation device provided in the second aspect above can be referred to the description in the FlexE port negotiation method provided in the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0064] Thirdly, a communication device is provided, the communication device including a processor and a memory, the processor being configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the FlexE port negotiation method described in any possible implementation of the first aspect above.

[0065] Fourthly, a computer program (product) is provided, the computer program (product) comprising: computer program code, which, when executed by a computer or communication device, causes the computer or communication device to perform the FlexE port negotiation method described in any possible implementation of the first aspect above.

[0066] Fifthly, a chip is provided, including a processor for retrieving and executing instructions stored in a memory, such that a communication device on which the chip is mounted performs the FlexE port negotiation method described in any possible implementation of the first aspect above.

[0067] In a sixth aspect, another chip is provided, comprising: an input interface, an output interface, a processor, and a memory, wherein the input interface, the output interface, the processor, and the memory are connected via an internal connection path, and the processor is used to execute code in the memory, wherein when the code is executed, the processor is used to execute the FlexE port negotiation method described in any possible implementation of the first aspect above.

[0068] In a seventh aspect, a network system is provided, including at least one network device, wherein the at least one network device includes a communication device as provided in the third aspect above.

[0069] Eighthly, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, the storage medium storing at least one instruction, the instruction being loaded and executed by a processor to implement the FlexE port negotiation method as described in any possible implementation of the first aspect above. Attached Figure Description

[0070] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a FlexE architecture provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0071] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a network system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0072] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating a FlexE port negotiation method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0073] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a 100G FlexE PHY that supports 25G / 50G split granularity according to an embodiment of this application;

[0074] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a 100G FlexE PHY that supports 50G splitting granularity, as provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0075] Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining the granularity of PHY splitting according to an embodiment of this application;

[0076] Figure 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining energy-saving granularity strategies according to an embodiment of this application;

[0077] Figure 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining energy-saving depth strategy according to an embodiment of this application;

[0078] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of an energy-saving decision-making process provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0079] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of a method for issuing reduction / expansion thresholds according to an embodiment of this application;

[0080] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of a transmission method for expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0081] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a FlexE group initialization process provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0082] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of an energy-saving negotiation channel provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0083] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of a FlexE port negotiation device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0084] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0085] The technical solutions of this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more than one" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0086] It should be noted that, in this application, the terms "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate that something is being described as an example, illustration, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design solutions. Specifically, the use of terms such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0087] The FlexE port negotiation method provided in this application can be applied in the fields of communication or communication technology. The following is a brief introduction to the technologies that may be involved in this application.

[0088] Network slicing is an on-demand networking method that separates multiple virtual network slices on a unified network infrastructure. Each network slice is logically isolated from the data sender to the receiver to accommodate various types of data transmission. If network slicing technology is applied to Layer 2 and 3 data forwarding, multiple dedicated, virtualized, and isolated logical networks can be built on top of a general Layer 2 and 3 network to meet the differentiated network capability requirements of different data packets in Layer 2 and 3 data forwarding.

[0089] FlexE achieves physical layer slicing and strict isolation through strict time-division multiplexing channelization technology. Specifically, FlexE technology is based on high-speed Ethernet interfaces and achieves flexible control of interface rates by decoupling Ethernet media access control (MAC) rates and PHY rates to adapt to different network transmission requirements.

[0090] Time slot negotiation is a key feature of FlexE technology, primarily used to dynamically negotiate the allocation of bandwidth resources among multiple communicating parties. Its core objective is to allocate time slots through negotiation, enabling network nodes to efficiently share bandwidth resources, avoiding bandwidth conflicts, and ensuring the rational scheduling and distribution of network traffic. Specifically, the time slot number received by downstream devices automatically follows the time slot number sent by upstream devices, ensuring lossless data transmission during the opening of new data streams or time slot adjustments for existing data streams.

[0091] Please refer to Figure 1 next. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a FlexE architecture provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 1, network element (NE)-X includes network processor (NP)-X, and a FlexE group xx is created on NE-X. NE-Y includes NP-Y, and a FlexE group yy is created on NE-Y. NE-X and NE-Y are connected through a FlexE physical interface.

[0092] On NE-X, 100G FlexE 0 / X / 1 to 100G FlexE 0 / X / n are bound to FlexE group xx via FlexE binding commands. Correspondingly, on NE-Y, 100G FlexE 0 / Y / 1 to 100G FlexE 0 / Y / n are bound to FlexE group yy via FlexE binding commands. In terms of physical networking, the 100G FlexE 0 / X / 1 to 100G FlexE 0 / X / n ports on NE-X and NE-Y are connected one-to-one via fiber optic cables. Data streams corresponding to clients on NP-X (e.g., clientx1 to clientx5) are transmitted to FlexE group xx, and data streams corresponding to clients on NP-Y (e.g., clienty1 to clienty5) are transmitted to FlexE group yy.

[0093] According to the protocol, NE-X and NE-Y are configured with docking parameters such as group number, PHY number, and client identifier, as well as business data streams. NE-X and NE-Y achieve docking based on the above docking parameters and business data streams.

[0094] The overall power consumption of the communication system composed of NE-X and NE-Y is as follows: P total =P total-x +P total-y

[0095] Among them, P total P represents the total power consumption of the system. total-x For the power consumption of NE-X, P total-y For the power consumption of NE-Y, P base-x For the base power consumption of NE-X, P base-y This is the base power consumption of NE-Y. This indicates the port-level power consumption of NE-X. The power consumption of NE-Y is represented by Pphyx(i), where Pphyx(i) is the power consumption of the i-th PHY in NE-X, and Pphyy(i) is the power consumption of the i-th PHY in NE-Y. Port-level power consumption includes the power consumption of the deserializer within the corresponding port, the clock and data recovery (CDR) device, the media access control (MAC) layer device, and the interface optical device. Under normal conditions (no human intervention or network failure), this power consumption value is relatively stable and does not dynamically change with network load.

[0096] Dynamic energy consumption is an important energy consumption indicator for evaluating network equipment. For transmission equipment, the Telecommunications Energy Efficiency Ratio (TEER) is an indicator that measures the energy efficiency of a communication system. Based on the current FlexE technology implementation scheme, the overall energy consumption of a FlexE group is not necessarily related to the number of clients configured in the group or the real-time traffic carried by the clients. That is, the FlexE group always operates in maximum power consumption mode, resulting in a higher overall TEER and higher overall power consumption of the equipment.

[0097] To adjust the idle PHY or idle time slot of a FlexE group to perform energy-saving operations on the idle PHY (including the idle PHY before and / or after the idle time slot adjustment) and reduce the overall power consumption of the network device, the ability of different network devices connected through the FlexE port to adjust the idle PHY or time slot and perform energy-saving operations must be coordinated.

[0098] This application provides a FlexE port negotiation method. After determining the energy-saving capability of a first network device, the method acquires the energy-saving capability of a second network device connected to the first network device via a FlexE port, and determines a negotiation result based on the energy-saving capabilities of the first and second network devices. The energy-saving capability of the first network device indicates its energy-saving functions, which support energy-saving operations on at least one PHY. The negotiation result indicates either a shared energy-saving capability or an energy-saving strategy supported by both the first and second network devices. Thus, the energy-saving capabilities of different network devices in adjusting at least one PHY are coordinated. The first network device can, based on the negotiation result, execute a PHY adjustment method that both the energy-saving functions of the first and second network devices can achieve, to obtain a consistent idle PHY, or execute an energy-saving strategy supported by both the energy-saving functions of the first and second network devices, enabling the first network device to perform energy-saving operations on at least one PHY to reduce overall device power consumption.

[0099] The embodiments of this application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0100] Based on the FlexE architecture shown in Figure 1, this application provides a network system. Please refer to Figure 2, which is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a network system provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0101] Network system 100 includes network device 110 and network device 120. The first FlexE group of network device 110 is communicatively connected to the second FlexE group of network device 120. The specific forms of the first FlexE group and the second FlexE group are shown in Figure 1, which is not shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows the physical port connection relationship between network device 110 and network device 120.

[0102] This application uses network device 110 as an example to describe the specific structure of network device 110 and network device 120. The specific structure of network device 120 is the same as that of network device 110 in principle, and will not be described again in this application.

[0103] Network device 110 includes device hardware and device software.

[0104] In terms of hardware, network device 110 can be a switch, router, gateway, or other type of network device, also known as a network element. Network device 110 includes an NP, a MAC device, a FlexE SHIM chip, and a PHY connected in sequence. The PHY of network device 110 is connected to the PHY of network device 120 via optical fiber.

[0105] In network device 110, the NP is primarily responsible for managing, scheduling, processing, and forwarding data traffic, ensuring the various flexibility and efficiency features of the FlexE architecture. For example, the NP's functions in FlexE include flexible network traffic scheduling, bandwidth allocation, time slot management, quality of service, fault recovery, and protocol adaptation.

[0106] The MAC device is responsible for ensuring the correct transmission of data between the physical layer and the data link layer. The MAC layer mainly handles data frame encapsulation, address resolution, error detection, and flow control. For example, the functions of the MAC device in FlexE include data frame encapsulation, time slot management, and flow control, ensuring that FlexE can flexibly and efficiently transmit data in high-bandwidth networks, and supporting multi-tenant isolation and virtualization requirements, thus guaranteeing network performance and reliability.

[0107] The FlexE SHIM chip is an intermediate layer in the FlexE protocol stack, responsible for providing adaptation and support between FlexE and the underlying physical interface. The role of the FlexE SHIM chip is to support the flexibility of FlexE, particularly in bandwidth allocation, management, and network layer transparency. For example, the functions of the FlexE SHIM chip in FlexE include bandwidth and time slot allocation management, data frame encapsulation and decapsulation, and compatibility between the FlexE protocol and the physical layer. Through these functions, the SHIM layer can provide network flexibility, improve bandwidth utilization, and support requirements such as on-demand bandwidth allocation, virtualization, and traffic isolation, thereby greatly enhancing the scalability and transparency of the FlexE network.

[0108] The PHY layer is primarily responsible for connecting data transmission over the network to the physical medium (such as optical fiber or cable), enabling the physical sending and receiving of data. In FlexE, the PHY layer is responsible for the actual physical layer transmission, including bandwidth provision, time slot allocation, data encapsulation and decapsulation, error detection and correction, etc. It supports flexible physical link management, can adapt to various transmission media, and provides high-speed, reliable bandwidth. Through these functions, the PHY layer enables FlexE to achieve flexible bandwidth allocation and efficient data transmission, meeting the needs of different applications.

[0109] In terms of software, network device 110 may include data acquisition and energy-saving negotiation.

[0110] Data acquisition is used to collect business performance data in real time, such as the actual traffic of the data stream corresponding to each client on the physical port (e.g., PHY).

[0111] Energy-saving negotiation is used to negotiate the energy-saving capabilities and strategies of network devices, such as the first network device and the second network device. Specifically, the energy-saving capabilities of the local end are pushed to the other end, and the energy-saving capabilities of the other end are received as input for energy-saving decisions.

[0112] In a possible implementation of this embodiment, the network device 110 may further include one or more functions such as artificial intelligence (AI) tidal load prediction, energy-saving decision-making, and energy-saving execution. Any of the above functions can be implemented in software within the network device 110, and the aforementioned data acquisition, AI tidal load prediction, energy-saving negotiation, energy-saving decision-making, and energy-saving execution can also be referred to as modules or software modules.

[0113] AI-powered tidal load forecasting is used to statistically analyze the data flow of different clients and predict expansion and / or reduction thresholds based on this data. AI-powered tidal load forecasting can be deployed on network device 110, or on network controllers, analyzers, etc., connected to network device 110.

[0114] Energy-saving decision-making is used to determine energy-saving strategies based on the negotiation results of energy-saving negotiations, local hardware configuration, and user configuration, and to execute energy-saving operations corresponding to the energy-saving strategies based on the energy-saving strategies and actual business configuration.

[0115] Energy-saving execution is used to send port energy-saving operations to the hardware to trigger energy-saving operations such as PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot rearrangement, laser channel shutdown, deserializer power-down, and PHY module power-down.

[0116] It should be understood that Figure 2 is a simplified schematic diagram for ease of understanding only, and the network system 100 may also include other network devices and / or other terminal devices, which are not shown in Figure 2.

[0117] Next, referring to Figure 3, the FlexE port negotiation method provided in this application embodiment will be described in detail. In this embodiment, the FlexE port negotiation method is described using a first network device and a second network device as examples. For example, the first network device is network device 110 in network system 100, and the second network device is network device 120 in network system 100.

[0118] Please refer to Figure 3, which is a flowchart illustrating a FlexE port negotiation method provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 3, the FlexE port negotiation method may include the following steps S301-S303.

[0119] S301, The first network device determines the energy-saving capability of the first network device.

[0120] The first network device determines its energy-saving capabilities, i.e., the energy-saving functions it possesses. These energy-saving functions support energy-saving operations on at least one PHY. For example, the energy-saving functions include any hardware or software features that support the network device in adjusting time slots to obtain idle PHYs or isolating different PHYs.

[0121] As one possible implementation, the energy-saving functions of the first network device may include one or more of the following: lossless PHY isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, client traffic statistics and prediction, and splitting granularity.

[0122] Specifically, lossless PHY isolation ensures that traffic between at least one PHY in the first FlexE group does not interfere with each other. Time slot migration moves any data stream from the time slot of the first PHY in at least one PHY in the first FlexE group to the time slot of another PHY, where the other PHYs are one or more PHYs other than the first PHY in the first FlexE group. Time slot compression reduces the number of time slots carried by any PHY for any data stream. Client traffic statistics and prediction calculate the traffic of the data stream corresponding to the client and predict a scaling-down threshold; time slot compression is triggered when the current traffic of the data stream corresponding to the client is less than the scaling-down threshold. Splitting granularity refers to the granularity at which at least one PHY in the first FlexE group can be split. The number of PHYs before splitting the first FlexE group is less than the number of PHYs after splitting, and the bandwidth (or granularity) of the PHY before splitting is greater than the bandwidth of the PHY after splitting. The granularity of the split is determined based on the hardware or software of the first network device (such as the PHY rate configuration provided by the FlexE SHIM chip, the number of deserializers between the FlexE SHIM chip and the optical module, the number of optical device channels, etc.).

[0123] In possible embodiments of this application, the method by which the first network device determines the energy-saving function of the first network device is not limited.

[0124] For example, the first network device determines the energy-saving function it has based on a preset configuration.

[0125] The preset configuration can be pre-configured by the user and stored in the first network device. The preset configuration can be any format that indicates the energy-saving function of the first network device. For example, the preset configuration can be in key-value pair (KV) format, where the key indicates the energy-saving function, and the value indicates whether the first network device has the corresponding energy-saving function.

[0126] For example, the first network device detects hardware or software modules to determine its energy-saving functions. Taking partitioning granularity as an example, the hardware configuration of the first network device for different partitioning granularities and different PHY rate specifications is shown in Table 1.

[0127] Table 1

[0128] The number of lanes in Table 1 above can be the number of deserializers between the FlexE SHIM chip and the optical module.

[0129] For example, please refer to Figure 4, which is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a 100G FlexE PHY that supports 25G / 50G split granularity provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0130] As shown in Figure 4, the first network device includes a FlexE SHIM chip, a CDR, and an optical module. The FlexE group created in the FlexE SHIM chip is connected to the 100G PHY. The optical module includes four lasers, such as L1-L4, which are connected to the time division multiplex device (TDMD) in the optical module via w1-w4 respectively. The optical module can be a Gigabit Ethernet (100GE) optical module, such as a 100GE LR4 (100 Gigabit Ethernet Long Range 4).

[0131] The FlexE SHIM chip is connected to the CDR via four deserializer links, and the CDR is connected to the optical module via four deserializer links. The four deserializer links between the FlexE SHIM chip and the CDR, and between the CDR and the optical module, can all be represented as serdes1-serdes4. The serdes1-serdes4 links connecting the CDR to the 100G PHY and the serdes1-serdes4 links connecting the CDR to the optical module use different deserializers.

[0132] Since the FlexE SHIM chip has four deserializer links between itself and the CDR, and between the CDR and the optical module, and the optical module includes four channelization devices, i.e., four lasers, the 100G PHY of the first network device shown in Figure 4 can be split into two 50G PHYs or four 25G PHYs. Thus, the splitting granularity of the first network device shown in Figure 4 is 25G or 50G.

[0133] For example, please refer to Figure 5, which is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a 100G FlexE PHY that supports 50G splitting granularity according to an embodiment of this application.

[0134] As shown in Figure 5, the first network device includes a FlexE SHIM chip, a GearBox chip, and an optical module. The FlexE group created in the FlexE SHIM chip is connected to the 100G PHY. The optical module includes four lasers, such as L1-L4, which are connected to the time division multiplex device (TDMD) in the optical module via w1-w4 respectively. The optical module can be a Gigabit Ethernet optical module, such as a 100GE LR4.

[0135] The FlexE SHIM chip and the GearBox chip are connected via two deserializer links, and the GearBox chip and the optical module are connected via four deserializer links. The two deserializer links between the FlexE SHIM chip and the GearBox chip can be represented as serdes1-serdes2, and the four deserializer links between the FlexE SHIM chip / GearBox chip and the optical module can be represented as serdes1-serdes4. The serdes1-serdes2 links connecting the GearBox chip to the 100G PHY and the serdes1-serdes4 links connecting the GearBox chip to the optical module use different deserializers.

[0136] Because there are two deserializer links between the FlexE SHIM chip and the GearBox chip, and four deserializer links between the GearBox chip and the optical module, and the optical module includes four channelized devices, i.e., four lasers, the 100G PHY of the first network device shown in Figure 5 can be split into two 50G PHYs. Thus, the splitting granularity of the first network device shown in Figure 5 is 50G.

[0137] S302, The first network device obtains the energy-saving capability of the second network device.

[0138] The first network device obtains the energy-saving capability of the second network device based on a preset configuration or through energy-saving capability negotiation.

[0139] As one possible implementation, the first network device obtains a preset configuration and determines the energy-saving function of the second network device indicated by the preset configuration.

[0140] Optionally, the preset configuration can be pre-configured by the user and stored in the first network device.

[0141] The preset configuration can be any format that indicates the energy-saving function of the second network device. For example, the preset configuration has the same format as the preset configuration in S301 above.

[0142] For example, the first network device reads a preset configuration, which includes key-value pairs with the key "migration" and the value "0". "migration" indicates the function of time slot migration, and "0" indicates that the second network device has this function. Thus, the first network device determines that the second network device has the function of time slot migration.

[0143] In one possible implementation, the first network device receives a first message and obtains the energy-saving capability of the second network device based on the first message. The first message carries capability information of the second network device, which indicates the energy-saving capability of the second network device, i.e., the energy-saving function possessed by the second network device.

[0144] In this embodiment, the first message can be any format capable of carrying capability information of the second network device, such as the OIF-ND protocol, LLDP vendor proprietary protocol, OAM code block, etc.

[0145] Optionally, the first message conforms to the OIF-ND protocol. The OIF-ND protocol is a network discovery protocol developed by the OIF, which aims to provide a standardized framework for interoperability and information exchange between various network devices (such as fiber optic network devices, switches, routers, etc.).

[0146] If the first message conforms to the OIF-ND protocol, the first message includes a first LLDPDU, which carries the capability information of the second network device.

[0147] The first LLDPDU includes a first optional TLV, which includes a subtype field and an information field. The subtype field is used to indicate power-saving functions, and the information field is used to indicate the capability information of the second network device, i.e., whether the second network device has the power-saving function indicated by the subtype field.

[0148] In addition to the first LLDPDU mentioned above, the first message may also include fields specified by the OIF-ND protocol, such as the destination address (DA) field, source address (SA) field, and Ethernet type field. Besides the first optional TLV mentioned above, the first LLDPDU may also include one or more other TLVs specified by the OIF-ND protocol whose TLV type field value is not equal to 127. Besides the subtype fields and information fields mentioned above, the first optional TLV may also include fields specified by the OIF-ND protocol, such as the TLV type field, TLV information string length field, and identifier field.

[0149] Based on the OIF-ND protocol, the Ethernet type field is the specified value of LLDP 88CC, the TLV type field of the first optional TLV is 127, and the identifier field is the OIF Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) with a value of 00-0F-40.

[0150] This application does not limit the specific way in which the first optional TLV carries the capability information of the second network device. Two possible implementations are listed below.

[0151] Implementation Method 1: The first optional TLV uses different subtype field values ​​to indicate different power-saving functions, and the different bit values ​​contained in the information field indicate whether the second network device has the power-saving function.

[0152] For example, as shown in Table 2, the value of the subtype field of the first optional TLV is 'a', where 'a' represents the energy-saving function of PHY lossless isolation. The information field includes one or more bits, and the value of the information field is "0", where "0" indicates that the second network device has the PHY lossless isolation function. As shown in Table 3, the value of the subtype field of the first optional TLV is 'b', where 'b' represents the energy-saving function of time slot migration. The information field includes one or more bits, and the value of the information field is "1", where "1" indicates that the second network device does not have the PHY lossless isolation function.

[0153] Table 2

[0154] Table 3

[0155] In possible embodiments of this application, the first LLDPDU may include one or more optional TLVs, each optional TLV indicating whether the second network device has a power-saving function. The first LLDPDU may include only optional TLVs indicating that the second network device does not have a power-saving function, or only optional TLVs indicating that the second network device has a power-saving function, or it may include both optional TLVs indicating that the second network device has a power-saving function and optional TLVs indicating that the second network device does not have a power-saving function. Thus, the first network device can determine the power-saving function possessed by the second network device based on the first LLDPDU.

[0156] Implementation Method 2: When the value of the subtype field of the first optional TLV is a specified value, the information field is used to indicate whether the second network device has one or more energy-saving functions. The information field includes multiple bits, and each bit indicates whether the second network device has the energy-saving function corresponding to that bit.

[0157] For example, as shown in Table 4, the value of the subtype field of the first optional TLV is c, where c represents the energy-saving function as the split granularity. The information field includes multiple bits, and each specified bit in the multiple bits indicates whether the second network device supports the split granularity corresponding to that specified bit.

[0158] Table 4

[0159] The number of specified bits among the aforementioned multiple bits can be the same as the number of types of split granularity. As shown in the example in Table 5, the information field includes 16 bits, such as bits 0 to 15. Bit 0 indicates a 25G split granularity, bit 1 indicates a 50G split granularity, bit 2 indicates a 100G split granularity, and the value of each bit indicates whether the second network device supports the split granularity corresponding to that bit. For example, a bit value of "0" indicates support for the split granularity corresponding to that bit, and "1" indicates no support. In a possible implementation of this embodiment, a bit can also use any two different values ​​to represent support for and no support for the split granularity corresponding to that bit; for example, a bit value of "1" indicates support for the split granularity corresponding to that bit, and "0" indicates no support.

[0160] Table 5

[0161] For example, as shown in Table 6, the value of the subtype field of the first optional TLV is d, where d represents energy-saving functions including PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, and client traffic statistics prediction. The information field includes multiple bits, and each specified bit indicates whether the second network device supports one or more energy-saving functions corresponding to the specified bit. In this embodiment, the one-to-one correspondence between specified bits and energy-saving functions is used as an example for explanation.

[0162] Table 6

[0163] The number of specified bits in the aforementioned plurality of bits can be the same as the number of energy-saving function types. As shown in Table 7, the information field includes 16 bits, such as bits 0 to 15. Bit 0 is used to indicate PHY lossless isolation, bit 1 is used to indicate time slot migration, bit 2 is used to indicate time slot compression, and bit 3 is used to indicate client traffic statistics prediction. The value of each bit is used to indicate whether the second network device supports the energy-saving function corresponding to that bit. For example, a bit value of "0" indicates that the energy-saving function corresponding to that bit is supported, and "1" indicates that the energy-saving function corresponding to that bit is not supported. In a possible implementation of this embodiment, the bit can also use any two different values ​​to represent supporting the energy-saving function corresponding to that bit and not supporting the energy-saving function corresponding to that bit. For example, a bit value of "1" indicates that the energy-saving function corresponding to that bit is supported, and "0" indicates that the energy-saving function corresponding to that bit is not supported.

[0164] Table 7

[0165] Optionally, the first message conforms to LLDP vendor-specific protocols. These LLDP vendor-specific protocols refer to extensions or features defined by equipment manufacturers or network hardware manufacturers within the standard framework of the LLDP protocol. These extensions are typically used to transmit vendor-specific information, exceeding the scope defined by the current LLDP standard. For example, vendors can utilize proprietary TLV types in the LLDP protocol to transmit vendor-specific device information or other extended content. These proprietary protocols or proprietary TLVs are not defined in the LLDP standard but are specified by the equipment manufacturers themselves.

[0166] If the first message conforms to the LLDP vendor's proprietary protocol, the first message includes a first LLDPDU, which carries the capability information of the second network device.

[0167] The first LLDPDU includes the first optional TLV. For the relevant fields and definitions of the first optional TLV, please refer to the relevant fields and definitions of the first optional TLV under the OIF-ND protocol above. They will not be repeated here.

[0168] As one possible implementation, in addition to obtaining the capability information of the second network device by receiving the first message, similar to the second network device sending the first message to the first network device, the first network device can also send a message to the second network device to inform it of the energy-saving functions included in the energy-saving capabilities currently used by the first network device. The specific message sending method is similar to the first message, except that the values ​​of the subtype fields of the optional TLV are different, which will not be elaborated here.

[0169] S303. The first network device determines the negotiation result based on the energy-saving capabilities of the first network device and the energy-saving capabilities of the second network device.

[0170] Based on the energy-saving capabilities of the first network device and the second network device, the first network device determines the energy-saving functions that are jointly supported by the first network device and the second network device, and determines the negotiation result based on the jointly supported energy-saving functions.

[0171] As one possible implementation, the negotiation result may include energy-saving functions jointly supported by the first network device and the second network device. The first network device may determine how to identify at least one idle PHY from at least one PHY based on the energy-saving functions jointly supported by the first network device and the second network device.

[0172] As one possible implementation, the negotiation result may include energy-saving strategies for the first network device and the second network device. For example, after the first network device determines the energy-saving functions that it and the second network device jointly support, it determines the energy-saving strategy to be executed based on the jointly supported energy-saving functions.

[0173] The power-saving strategy is used to instruct the first network device to perform time slot adjustment on at least one PHY to obtain an idle PHY. The power-saving strategy can also be used to instruct the first network device to perform power-saving operations on the idle PHY, such as turning off the electrical layer and / or optical layer devices corresponding to the idle PHY.

[0174] For example, the energy-saving strategy includes an energy-saving granularity strategy and an energy-saving depth strategy. The energy-saving granularity strategy refers to whether to split at least one PHY, and the granularity of the split. The energy-saving depth strategy refers to whether to perform operations such as time slot migration or time slot compression on at least one PHY to obtain an idle PHY.

[0175] The energy-saving granularity strategy is jointly determined by the partitioning granularity of the first network device and the partitioning granularity of the second network device. That is, the partitioning granularity of each PHY of the first and second network devices is determined first, and then the energy-saving granularity strategy is determined based on the partitioning granularity of each PHY.

[0176] Please refer to Figure 6, which is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining the granularity of PHY splitting according to an embodiment of this application. The specific method for determining the granularity of PHY splitting will be described below with reference to Figure 6. As shown in Figure 6, this method for determining the granularity of PHY splitting may include the following steps 1-9.

[0177] Step 1: Set PHYi_SPLIT to the original bandwidth of the corresponding physical port PHYi.

[0178] The PHYi_SPLIT variable indicates the PHY splitting granularity of the i-th PHY. For example, if the PHY splitting granularity of the i-th PHY is 25G, then the bit in PHYi_SPLIT corresponding to the 25G splitting granularity is a value indicating support for the 25G splitting granularity, such as "1". Similarly, if the PHY splitting granularity of the i-th PHY is 25G or 50G, then the bits in PHYi_SPLIT corresponding to the 25G and 50G splitting granularities are values ​​indicating support for that splitting granularity.

[0179] PHYi_SPLIT equals the original bandwidth of the corresponding physical port PHYi. The value of the bit in PHYi_SPLIT corresponding to the original bandwidth is used to indicate the splitting granularity that supports the original bandwidth.

[0180] Step 2: Determine if the user has enabled PHY splitting. If yes, proceed to Step 3; otherwise, proceed to Step 9.

[0181] As one possible implementation, step 2 can determine whether the user has enabled port power saving in addition to whether the user has enabled PHY splitting. If the user has enabled port power saving and PHY splitting, proceed to step 3. If the user has not enabled port power saving or PHY splitting, proceed to step 9.

[0182] Step 3: Determine whether both the first and second network devices support 25G splitting granularity. If yes, proceed to step 4; otherwise, proceed to step 5.

[0183] Step 4: Set PHYi_SPLIT| = 25G.

[0184] The symbol |= is used to perform an OR operation between the variables or constants on the left and right sides of the symbol, and the result is assigned to the variable on the left side of the symbol. For example, PHYi_SPLIT|=25G means that the bit in PHYi_SPLIT corresponding to the 25G split granularity is assigned a value indicating support for the 25G split granularity.

[0185] Step 5: Determine whether both the first and second network devices support 50G splitting granularity. If yes, proceed to step 6; otherwise, proceed to step 7.

[0186] Step 6: Set PHYi_SPLIT| = 50G.

[0187] Step 7: Determine whether both the first and second network devices support 100G splitting granularity. If yes, proceed to step 8; otherwise, proceed to step 9.

[0188] Step 8: Set PHYi_SPLIT| = 100G.

[0189] Step 9: Set the PHY splitting granularity to the value of PHYi_SPLIT.

[0190] Thus, the first network device can determine whether each PHY supports a specific split granularity based on the PHY splitting granularity determination method shown in steps 1-9 above, for each PHY of the first and second network devices, thereby obtaining all the split granularities commonly supported by the first and second network devices for each PHY.

[0191] In possible embodiments of this application, PHY splitting may not be lossless at present, resulting in momentary traffic loss. The duration of this traffic loss is affected by the reinitialization of device ports and the time difference in coordination between the two ends. For example, if a FlexE group carrying client service data has dynamically enabled energy saving and the PHYs within the FlexE group have the capability for fine-grained splitting, then the PHYs within the FlexE group need to be reinitialized according to fine-grained PHYs, resulting in loss of all service traffic within the FlexE group. Therefore, users can configure the granularity of PHY splitting based on the service traffic loss situation and energy saving requirements. For example, if a user determines that the service traffic carried by a certain PHY has high requirements for transmission latency and cannot tolerate the service traffic loss caused by PHY splitting, then the user can configure the PHY splitting granularity to the original bandwidth of the physical port PHYi, i.e., not to perform PHY splitting.

[0192] Steps 1-9 above are merely examples of one method for determining the PHY splitting granularity provided in this application embodiment. In other possible implementations of this application embodiment, any calculation method capable of determining the PHY splitting granularity may also be used to determine the PHY splitting granularity.

[0193] Please refer to Figure 7, which is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining energy-saving granularity strategies according to an embodiment of this application. The specific method for determining the energy-saving granularity strategy will be described below with reference to Figure 7. As shown in Figure 7, this method for determining the energy-saving granularity strategy may include the following steps 1-7.

[0194] Step 1: Set GRP_SPLIT to the original bandwidth of the corresponding FlexE port.

[0195] GRP_SPLIT is used to indicate the energy-saving granularity of the FlexE group, also known as the energy-saving granularity intersection, which is the splitting granularity supported by all physical port PHYi.

[0196] GRP_SPLIT equals the raw bandwidth of the corresponding FlexE port. This means that the value of the bit in GRP_SPLIT corresponding to the raw bandwidth is a value used to indicate the splitting granularity that supports the raw bandwidth, such as "1".

[0197] Step 2: Set GRP_SPLIT|=25G|50G|100G.

[0198] The "|" operator is used for bitwise OR operations, comparing two integers bit by bit. If at least one corresponding bit is 1, the result bit is 1; otherwise, it is 0. In this embodiment, GRP_SPLIT|=25G|50G|100G refers to the bits in PHYi_SPLIT corresponding to the 25G, 50G, and 100G splitting granularities, which are assigned values ​​indicating the supported splitting granularity.

[0199] The 25G, 50G, and 100G mentioned above are merely examples of PHY rates specified in the FlexE related protocols and do not limit the granularity of the split. For example, the granularity of the split can also include any value such as 10G, 200G, or 400G.

[0200] Step 3: Let i = 1.

[0201] Step 4: Let GRP_SPLIT&=PHYi_SPLIT.

[0202] The "&=" algorithm is used for bitwise AND and then assignment, which performs an AND operation between the value of the operand and its own binary representation, and stores the result back into the original operand.

[0203] Step 5. i=i+1.

[0204] Step 6: Determine if i is less than or equal to N. If yes, proceed to step 4; otherwise, proceed to step 7.

[0205] Where N is the total number of at least one PHY included in the first network device.

[0206] Step 7: Determine the energy-saving granularity strategy as the smallest splitting granularity supported by GRP_SPLIT.

[0207] Thus, the first network device can determine the splitting granularity supported by each PHY in the FlexE group based on the energy-saving granularity strategy determination method shown in steps 1-7 above, and traverse the splitting granularity supported by all PHYs included in the FlexE group to obtain the intersection of the splitting granularity supported by all PHYs, thereby obtaining all the splitting granularities commonly supported by all PHYs.

[0208] For FlexE groups operating in fine-grained energy-saving mode, dynamically adding or removing FlexE PHYs of different granularities in the configuration plane may cause changes in the PHY splitting granularity of the FlexE group, triggering a re-initialization and resulting in temporary service traffic impairment. Therefore, users can configure the energy-saving granularity strategy based on the service traffic impairment situation and energy-saving requirements. For example, if a user determines that the service traffic carried by the FlexE group has high requirements for transmission latency and cannot tolerate the service traffic impairment caused by PHY splitting, the user can configure not to perform PHY splitting.

[0209] Steps 1-7 above are merely examples of one method for determining the energy-saving granularity strategy provided in this application embodiment. In other possible implementations of this application embodiment, any calculation method capable of determining the energy-saving granularity strategy can also be used to determine the energy-saving granularity strategy.

[0210] The energy-saving depth strategy is jointly determined by the granularity of the first network device and the energy-saving functions of the second network device. That is, first determine the energy-saving functions that the first and second network devices jointly support, and then determine the energy-saving depth strategy based on the jointly supported energy-saving functions.

[0211] Energy-saving functions related to the energy-saving depth strategy may include the aforementioned PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, and client traffic statistics and prediction.

[0212] Please refer to Figure 8, which is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining energy-saving depth strategy according to an embodiment of this application. The specific method for determining the energy-saving depth strategy will be described below with reference to Figure 8. As shown in Figure 8, this method for determining the energy-saving depth strategy may include the following steps 1-9.

[0213] Step 1: Set GRP_DEEP = 0.

[0214] GRP_DEEP=0 indicates that the energy-saving depth strategy is empty, meaning that the energy-saving depth strategy is not executed.

[0215] Step 2: Determine if the user has enabled port power saving. If yes, proceed to step 3; otherwise, proceed to step 9.

[0216] Step 3: Determine whether both the first and second network devices support lossless PHY isolation. If yes, proceed to step 4; otherwise, proceed to step 5.

[0217] Step 4: Set GRP_DEEP = Energy Saving Depth Strategy 1.

[0218] Step 5: Determine whether both the first and second network devices support time slot migration. If yes, proceed to step 6; otherwise, proceed to step 7.

[0219] Step 6: Set GRP_DEEP = Energy Saving Depth Strategy 2.

[0220] Step 7: Determine whether both the first network device and the second network device support time slot compression. If yes, proceed to step 8; otherwise, proceed to step 9.

[0221] Step 8: Set GRP_DEEP = Energy Saving Depth Strategy 3.

[0222] Step 9: Determine the energy-saving depth strategy as the GRP_DEEP highest energy efficiency strategy.

[0223] Among them, the energy efficiency of Energy Saving Depth Strategy 1 to Energy Saving Depth Strategy 3 increases sequentially, meaning that the priority of Energy Saving Depth Strategy 3 to Energy Saving Depth Strategy 1 decreases sequentially in the selection of energy saving depth strategies. For details on Energy Saving Depth Strategy 1 to Energy Saving Depth Strategy 3, please refer to the detailed description below; it will not be repeated here.

[0224] Thus, the first network device can determine one or more energy-saving deep strategies that can be executed by the first network device and the second network device based on the energy-saving functions jointly supported by the first network device and the second network device, and select the highest energy-efficiency strategy from all energy-saving deep strategies that the first network device can execute according to the priority of the energy-saving deep strategies.

[0225] Based on the architecture of network device 110 in Figure 2, please refer to Figure 9, which is a schematic diagram of an energy-saving decision-making process provided in an embodiment of this application. The first network device adopts an energy-saving decision-making function, inputting the energy-saving capabilities of the first network device (e.g., splitting granularity, PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, etc.) and the negotiated energy-saving capabilities of the second network device (e.g., splitting granularity, PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, etc.) into the energy-saving decision-making process. The energy-saving decision-making strategy decision-making module performs the calculation process shown in Figures 6-8 above based on the input data to obtain the energy-saving granularity strategy and the energy-saving depth strategy. The energy-saving decision-making output module outputs the energy-saving strategy based on the energy-saving granularity strategy, the energy-saving depth strategy, and the service configuration and service status.

[0226] Among them, business configuration refers to the time slot allocation status of the data stream corresponding to each client, and business status refers to the current traffic and expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold of the data stream corresponding to each client.

[0227] Based on the aforementioned FlexE port negotiation method, the first network device determines its energy-saving capability and then acquires the energy-saving capability of the second network device to complete the negotiation between the energy-saving capabilities of the first and second network devices, thereby determining the energy-saving functions shared by the first and second network devices. In this way, the energy-saving capabilities of different network devices in adjusting at least one PHY are coordinated. The first network device can, based on the negotiation result, execute a PHY adjustment method that both the energy-saving functions of the first and second network devices can achieve, to obtain a consistent idle PHY, or execute an energy-saving strategy supported by both the energy-saving functions of the first and second network devices, enabling the first network device to perform energy-saving operations on at least one PHY to reduce the overall power consumption of the device.

[0228] The following describes the energy-saving depth strategies one to three in the above embodiments by way of example. The energy-saving depth strategies one to three can be executed by the first network device.

[0229] The prerequisite for the first energy-saving deep strategy is that both network devices at both ends support PHY lossless isolation.

[0230] This energy-saving deep strategy does not change any time slot arrangement in the current data plane, but performs energy-saving operations on existing idle PHYs.

[0231] The energy-saving deep strategy can be applied to scenarios where FlexE is configured in static mode and time slot rearrangement is detrimental to business data, as well as scenarios where FlexE is configured in dynamic mode.

[0232] Among them, the energy-saving deep strategy one targets PHYs that have used zero time slots before time slot adjustment. Taking at least one PHY of the first network device as an example, the existing idle PHYs include at least one idle PHY that has used zero time slots before time slot adjustment.

[0233] The prerequisite for the second energy-saving deep strategy is that both network devices at both ends support PHY lossless isolation and time slot migration.

[0234] The second energy-saving strategy performs time slot migration on the PHY based on the actual time slot status of the time slots used within the FlexE group. This migrates the data stream carried by the used time slots in the PHY to the unused time slots in other PHYs, and performs energy-saving operations on the idle PHYs after the time slot migration.

[0235] The second energy-saving deep strategy can be applied to scenarios where FlexE is configured in dynamic mode and supports time slot negotiation.

[0236] Specifically, the second energy-saving deep strategy targets PHYs that have zero used time slots before time slot adjustment, and / or PHYs that have zero used time slots after time slot adjustment. Taking at least one PHY of the first network device as an example, the idle PHY after time slot migration refers to all idle PHYs in at least one PHY of the first network device after time slot migration.

[0237] The prerequisite for the third energy-saving deep strategy is that both network devices at both ends support PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, and time slot compression.

[0238] The third energy-saving strategy compresses the time slots occupied by data streams carried by other PHYs, allowing data streams carried by the first PHY's used time slots to be migrated to unused time slots of other PHYs. Then, the data streams carried by the first PHY's used time slots are migrated to unused time slots in other PHYs. The first network device designates at least one idle PHY as one of the following: a PHY with zero used time slots before time slot adjustment (including time slot compression and time slot migration), and a PHY with zero used time slots after time slot adjustment (including time slot compression and time slot migration). Then, energy-saving operations are performed on all idle PHYs in at least one PHY of the first network device after time slot compression and time slot migration.

[0239] Optionally, the time slot compression of the energy-saving depth strategy three can be performed when the client's data flow is less than or equal to the shrinkage threshold. This shrinkage threshold can be obtained by the first network device using the client traffic statistics and prediction function to count the traffic of the data flow corresponding to different clients and predicting it based on the historical traffic obtained from the statistics, or it can be obtained by other devices such as controllers connected to the first network device based on the historical traffic obtained from the statistics of the first network device and then sent to the first network device.

[0240] The third energy-saving strategy can be applied to scenarios where FlexE is configured in dynamic mode and the client's data flow exhibits a tidal effect.

[0241] Among them, the PHY targeted by the energy-saving deep strategy 2 includes PHYs with zero used time slots before time slot adjustment, and / or PHYs with zero used time slots after time slot adjustment.

[0242] The idle PHY in the above-mentioned energy-saving depth strategy one to energy-saving depth strategy three may include at least one pre-split PHY and / or at least one post-split PHY. Any post-split PHY is obtained by splitting any PHY with a first bandwidth into at least two PHYs with a second bandwidth, where the first bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth.

[0243] When the first network device performs energy-saving operations based on the energy-saving depth strategy three, the first network device can determine whether to perform time slot compression or time slot restoration based on the shrinking threshold / expansion threshold.

[0244] The process of time slot restoration is the inverse operation of time slot compression, which will not be elaborated here. The scaling-down threshold / scaling-up threshold can be obtained by using AI tidal load prediction to statistically analyze the traffic of data streams corresponding to different clients using the first network device or other devices such as controllers connected to the first network device, and predicting based on the historical traffic obtained from the statistics.

[0245] The shrinkage / expansion threshold can also be used to indicate whether to perform time slot compression or time slot recovery. For example, if the current traffic of any data stream carried by at least one PHY is less than the shrinkage threshold, the first network device performs time slot compression and time slot migration on at least one PHY according to the energy-saving depth strategy three. If the current traffic of any data stream in at least one data stream carried by at least one PHY is greater than or equal to the expansion threshold, time slot recovery is performed on the PHY that has undergone time slot compression. If the available time slots of the PHY after time slot recovery still cannot meet the traffic demand of the client, one or more PHYs in at least one idle PHY are activated, and the time slots of the activated one or more PHYs are in an available state.

[0246] As one possible implementation, if the first network device determines whether to perform time slot compression or time slot recovery based on the shrinking / expanding threshold, the second network device can perform the coordinated operation of time slot compression or time slot recovery based on time slot negotiation with the first network device.

[0247] As one possible implementation, if the first network device determines whether to perform time slot compression or time slot recovery based on a shrinking / expanding threshold, the second network device can determine the same threshold as the first network device. This further reduces the latency of the first and second network devices performing time slot compression or recovery operations, improving operational consistency between the two network devices.

[0248] Taking the PHY wake-up scenario after time slot recovery as an example, the network device's traffic (throughput) is based on port downlink traffic data statistics. When energy-saving decisions determine that the network device needs to perform a wake-up action to wake up idle PHYs that have already undergone energy-saving operations, and the number of available time slots for the currently activated PHYs in the FlexE group does not meet the time slot requirements for client expansion, the PHY wake-up operation is immediately executed. The PHY wake-up operation relies on the collaboration of upstream and downstream network devices. Therefore, the aforementioned scaling-down threshold and scaling-up threshold can be transmitted to downstream network devices, such as the second network device. The upstream network device, such as the first network device, collects client port downlink performance statistics, scaling-down threshold, and scaling-up threshold to execute energy-saving strategies. The downstream network device can collect client port uplink performance statistics and the scaling-down threshold and scaling-up threshold pushed to it by the upstream network device to execute energy-saving strategies, thereby ensuring the consistency of energy-saving operations and wake-up operations.

[0249] Please refer to Figure 10, which is a schematic diagram of a method for issuing scaling-down / scaling-up thresholds according to an embodiment of this application. Based on the architecture of the network device 110 in Figure 2, the network device software acquires service performance data (such as current bandwidth) through data collection, then uses AI tidal load prediction deployed locally on the network device to determine the scaling-up threshold and / or scaling-down threshold, and then issues the scaling-up threshold and / or scaling-down threshold to itself to trigger the hardware to perform energy-saving operation or wake-up operation, and announces the scaling-up threshold and / or scaling-down threshold to downstream network devices.

[0250] Please refer to Figure 11, which is a schematic diagram of a transmission method for expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 11, taking the example that the hardware and software architectures of network devices A and B are the same as those of network devices 110 and 120 shown in Figure 2, network device A continuously collects downlink traffic at its port as input for AI tidal load prediction. AI tidal load prediction predicts expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold based on the input. AI tidal load prediction uses the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold as input for energy-saving decision-making and energy-saving negotiation.

[0251] Figure 11 takes network device B performing time slot compression or time slot recovery based on the shrinking threshold and / or expanding threshold as an example. The energy-saving negotiation announces the expanding threshold and / or shrinking threshold to network device B, and network device B uses the expanding threshold and / or shrinking threshold as input for energy-saving decision.

[0252] In a possible implementation of this embodiment, network device B can also perform coordinated operations with network device A to compress or restore time slots based on time slot negotiation. In this case, network device A does not need to notify network device B of the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold.

[0253] The transmission channel between network device A and network device B for the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold can be a multichannel shared (MC-s) channel. This MC-s channel can be the OH channel before PHY splitting or the OH channel after PHY splitting. PHYs can also include transport (TX) channels and receive (RX) channels.

[0254] The specific data structure for transmitting expansion and / or reduction thresholds between network devices will be explained next.

[0255] The expansion and / or reduction thresholds can be carried in the second message. The first network device can receive the second message to obtain the expansion and / or reduction thresholds announced by the upstream device of the first network device. The first network device can also send the second message to the second network device to announce the expansion and / or reduction thresholds to the downstream device, i.e., the second network device.

[0256] In this embodiment, the second message can be any format capable of carrying expansion thresholds and / or reduction thresholds, such as the OIF-ND protocol, LLDP vendor proprietary protocol, OAM code block, etc.

[0257] Optionally, the second message conforms to the OIF-ND protocol. If the second message conforms to the OIF-ND protocol, the second message includes a second LLDPDU, which carries the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold.

[0258] The second LLDPDU includes a second optional TLV, which includes a subtype field and an information field. The subtype field indicates whether the optional TLV carries an expansion threshold and / or a reduction threshold, and the information field indicates the specific values ​​of the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold.

[0259] For example, as shown in Table 8, the subtype field of the second optional TLV is 'e', ​​where 'e' indicates that the optional TLV carries an expansion threshold and / or a reduction threshold. The information fields include an expansion threshold field and / or a reduction threshold field. The expansion threshold field carries the expansion threshold, and the reduction threshold field carries the reduction threshold. The length of both the expansion threshold field and the reduction threshold field can be 8 bits, and they can carry only the integer part of the bandwidth percentage of the expansion threshold, with a valid range of 0 to 100.

[0260] Table 8

[0261] For other details and features of the second optional TLV, please refer to the description of the first optional TLV above, which will not be repeated here.

[0262] Optionally, the second message conforms to the LLDP vendor's proprietary protocol. If the second message conforms to the LLDP vendor's proprietary protocol, the second message includes a second LLDPDU, which carries the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold.

[0263] The second LLDPDU includes a second optional TLV. For the relevant fields and definitions of the second optional TLV, please refer to the relevant fields and definitions of the second optional TLV under the OIF-ND protocol above. They will not be repeated here.

[0264] Since the expansion and / or contraction thresholds are based on historical traffic data and are subject to dynamic changes, if the expansion and / or contraction thresholds are transmitted via the MC-s channel, the transmission channel for the second message will change due to the MC-s channel switching caused by the PHY splitting of the FlexE PHY. To avoid the uncertainty of the aforementioned channel changes, the second message can optionally be carried by an OAM code block.

[0265] For example, as shown in Table 9, the OAM code block uses data1 to data2 to carry the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold. In a possible implementation of this embodiment, the OAM code block can use data3 to data6 or any other part to carry the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold. Here, seq is the sequence number, CRC4 is cyclic redundancy check 4, and other parts are specified in the OAM code block format; they will not be elaborated here.

[0266] Table 9

[0267] The preceding text has provided a detailed explanation of the energy-saving capability negotiation method and related message formats in the FlexE port negotiation method. In the FlexE port negotiation method, the first network device can split the FlexE PHY according to an energy-saving granularity strategy. To mitigate the traffic loss caused by the first network device re-initializing the split FlexE group after PHY splitting, this embodiment also provides a FlexE group initialization method. This FlexE group initialization method can improve the synchronization of handover actions, reduce hardware initialization time and the time difference between the two ends, thereby reducing the traffic loss caused by FlexE group re-initialization.

[0268] Please refer to Figure 12, which is a schematic diagram of a FlexE group initialization process provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 12, network element A (such as a first network device) communicates with network element B (such as a second network device). The FlexE group initialization may include the following steps 1 to 15.

[0269] Step 1: Enable deep energy saving for network element A.

[0270] Deep energy saving refers to performing energy-saving operations based on deep energy saving strategies.

[0271] Step 2: Network element A sends an energy-saving capability message to network element B.

[0272] Among them, the energy-saving capability message is used to carry the capability information of network element A. For its specific content, please refer to the description of the first message above, which will not be repeated here.

[0273] Step 3: Network element B stores the capability information of network element A.

[0274] Step 4: Enable deep energy saving for network element B.

[0275] Step 5: Network element B sends an energy-saving capability message to network element A.

[0276] Among them, the energy-saving capability message is used to carry the capability information of network element B. For its specific content, please refer to the description of the first message above, which will not be repeated here.

[0277] Step 6: Network element B determines the PHY splitting granularity of the FlexE group.

[0278] For details on how network element B determines the PHY splitting granularity of the FlexE group, please refer to Figure 6 and the steps shown therein, which will not be repeated here.

[0279] Step 7: Network element B determines the energy-saving granularity strategy based on the PHY splitting granularity.

[0280] For details on how network element B determines the energy-saving granularity strategy, please refer to Figure 7 and the steps shown therein, which will not be repeated here.

[0281] Step 8: Network element B sends PHY status messages and GRP status messages to network element A.

[0282] PHY status messages are also known as PHY status messages, and GRP status messages are also known as group status messages. PHY status messages are used to report status information related to the physical link (PHY). GRP status messages are used to report status information at the FlexE group level.

[0283] In this embodiment, the PHY status message and GRP status message are used to carry energy-saving granularity strategies.

[0284] Step 9: Network element A stores the energy-saving granularity strategy of network element B.

[0285] Step 10: Network element A determines the PHY splitting granularity of the FlexE group.

[0286] For details on how network element A determines the PHY splitting granularity of the FlexE group, please refer to Figure 6 and the steps shown therein, which will not be repeated here.

[0287] Step 11: Network element A determines the energy-saving granularity strategy based on the PHY split granularity.

[0288] For details on how network element A determines the energy-saving granularity strategy, please refer to Figure 7 and the steps shown therein, which will not be repeated here.

[0289] Step 12: Network element A sends PHY status messages and GRP status messages to network element B.

[0290] Step 13: Network element B saves the energy-saving granularity strategy of network element A.

[0291] Step 14: When the energy-saving granularity strategies of network element A and network element B are consistent, perform PHY splitting and reinitialize the FlexE group.

[0292] Step 15: When the energy-saving granularity strategies of network element A and network element B are consistent, network element B performs PHY splitting and reinitializes the FlexE group.

[0293] In the FlexE port negotiation method provided in the embodiments of this application, a FlexE port switching method can also be provided to ensure that the PHY of the network devices at both ends switches simultaneously and reduce the switching frequency, so as to reduce the loss of traffic carried by the current FlexE group during the switching process of the PHY in the active and inactive states.

[0294] For example, if conditions 1-3 are met simultaneously, the FlexE port will be switched back to its normal state before the power-saving operation (the state without PHY splitting, time slot compression, or time slot migration) and the power-saving capability will be renegotiated. Corresponding to the normal state, the PHY after the power-saving operation can be referred to as being in a power-saving state.

[0295] Condition 1: The FlexE group performs energy-saving operations based on the split PHY.

[0296] Condition 2: All PHYs derived from any PHY shall perform energy-saving operations.

[0297] Condition 3: No negotiation channel is available in the FlexE group.

[0298] If conditions 1-3 above are met simultaneously, and the PHY is in power-saving mode after all PHYs are split, the local network device cannot detect the actions of the remote network device (such as changing ports, changing optical devices, etc., which cause changes in splitting granularity). In this case, the power-saving capability of the remote network device is cleared, the FlexE port is switched back to normal mode, and the power-saving capability is renegotiation is performed after the FlexE port is ready again.

[0299] The negotiation channel is used to transmit messages related to energy-saving capability negotiation. Please refer to Figure 13, which is a schematic diagram of an energy-saving negotiation channel provided in an embodiment of this application. NE1 includes PHY1, NE2 includes PHY1, and the PHY1 of NE1 and NE2 are connected by an OH channel, a TX channel, and an RX channel.

[0300] Energy-saving channels under normal conditions include:

[0301] Channel 1: PHY control plane channel before splitting, which can be used for capability negotiation. This channel is unavailable after the port performs PHY splitting.

[0302] Channel 2: The PHY data plane channel before splitting, which can be used to push expansion thresholds and / or reduction thresholds.

[0303] Channel 1 can be the OH channel of the PHY before splitting, such as the MC-s channel of PHY1. Channel 2 can be the TX channel and RX channel of the PHY before splitting.

[0304] The energy-saving channels in energy-saving mode include:

[0305] Channel 3: The split PHY control plane channel, which can be used to push expansion thresholds and / or reduction thresholds.

[0306] Channel 4: The split PHY data plane channel, which can be used to push expansion thresholds and / or reduction thresholds.

[0307] Channel 3 can be the OH channel of a split PHY such as PHY1.1 or PHY1.2, such as the MC-s channel. Channel 4 can be the TX and RX channels of a split PHY such as PHY1.1 or PHY1.2.

[0308] In the above embodiments, the prerequisite for the FlexE port to switch back to the normal state is that the FlexE port is in the energy-saving state where energy-saving operation has been performed. In the FlexE port negotiation method, the first network device obtains the negotiation result according to the energy-saving capability negotiation method in the above embodiments, and performs energy-saving operation on at least one idle PHY based on the negotiation result in order to obtain the FlexE port in the energy-saving state.

[0309] The following section describes the energy-saving operations that may be indicated by the negotiation results in the FlexE port negotiation method provided in this embodiment.

[0310] As one possible implementation, energy-saving operation could be to shut down the electrical layer and / or parts of the electrical layer.

[0311] For the electrical layer (e.g., the FlexE SHIM chip), the first network device can achieve energy-saving operation by shutting down some devices in the electrical layer based on clock gating (CG) or power gating.

[0312] Clock gating reduces dynamic power consumption by stopping the operation of related modules or parts of the circuit by turning off the clock signal. Power gating reduces static power consumption by completely cutting off the power supply to the module.

[0313] For example, the first network device can perform a clock gating operation on the idle PHY in the FlexE SHIM chip to shut down the clock chip and related clock circuits and modules of the idle PHY.

[0314] For example, the first network device can perform a power gating operation on the idle PHY to shut down the PHY module of the idle PHY, i.e., power down the PHY module.

[0315] For the optical layer (e.g., optical modules), the first network device can shut down some devices based on multiple layers to achieve energy-saving operation.

[0316] Taking the first layer as an example, the first network device can disable the data plane function module of the idle PHY. This data plane function module may include a deserializer link between the optical module and the FlexE SHIM chip, CDR devices, etc.

[0317] Taking the second layer as an example, the first network device can disable the data plane function module and optical layer devices of the idle PHY. Among them, optical layer devices may include photoelectric conversion units, lasers, etc.

[0318] Taking the third layer as an example, the first network device can shut down the data plane function module, optical layer devices, and optical module power supply of the idle PHY. Specifically, shutting down the optical module power supply of the idle PHY refers to powering down the power module within the optical module corresponding to the idle PHY.

[0319] Thus, the first network device improves its overall telecommunications energy efficiency ratio by performing energy-saving operations on at least one idle PHY in at least one PHY of the first FlexE group. In some embodiments, the first network device performs time slot adjustments such as time slot migration and / or time slot compression based on the time slot status during the process of determining at least one idle PHY, in order to increase the number of idle PHYs as much as possible, thereby further reducing the overall power consumption of the first network device.

[0320] This application embodiment also provides a FlexE port negotiation device 1400, which is used to execute the above-described FlexE port negotiation method. As shown in FIG14, the FlexE port negotiation device 1400 includes a transceiver module 1410 and a processing module 1420.

[0321] For example, the FlexE port negotiation device 1400 can implement the functions of the first network device in FIG3.

[0322] The processing module 1420 is used to: determine the energy-saving capability of the first network device. The energy-saving capability of the first network device is used to indicate the energy-saving functions of the first network device, which are used to support energy-saving operations on at least one PHY.

[0323] The transceiver module 1410 is used to: obtain the energy-saving capabilities of the second network device.

[0324] The processing module 1420 is further configured to: determine a negotiation result based on the energy-saving capabilities of the first network device and the second network device. The negotiation result is used to indicate the energy-saving capabilities jointly supported by the first network device and the second network device, or the energy-saving strategies of the first network device and the second network device.

[0325] As one possible implementation, energy-saving capabilities include lossless PHY isolation, which is used to ensure that the flow between at least one PHY does not interfere with each other.

[0326] As one possible implementation, energy-saving capabilities also include time slot migration, which is used to migrate any data stream from the time slot of the first PHY to the time slot of other PHYs, at least one PHY including the first PHY and other PHYs.

[0327] As one possible implementation, energy-saving capabilities also include time slot compression, which is used to reduce the number of time slots in at least one PHY that carry any data stream.

[0328] As one possible implementation, energy-saving capabilities also include granularity of resolution. The first network device includes a first FlexE SHIM chip and a first optical module. The first FlexE SHIM chip and the first optical module are connected through at least one pair of deserializers. The granularity of resolution supported by the first network device is determined by the PHY rate configuration provided by the first FlexE SHIM chip, the number of at least one pair of deserializers, and the number of optical device channels.

[0329] As one possible implementation, the transceiver module 1410 is specifically used to: receive a first message; the first message is used to carry capability information of the second network device, and the capability information of the second network device is used to indicate the energy-saving capability of the second network device.

[0330] As one possible implementation, the first message conforms to the OIF-ND protocol or the LLDP vendor's proprietary protocol, and the first message includes a first LLDP DU, which is used to carry capability information of the second network device.

[0331] As one possible implementation, the first LLDPDU includes a first optional TLV, which includes a subtype field and an information field. The information field is used to carry capability information of the second network device.

[0332] As one possible implementation, the subtype field is the first subtype value, and the information field is used to indicate, using bits, whether the second network device supports one or more power-saving functions, including one or more of PHY lossless isolation, slot migration, slot compression, and split granularity.

[0333] As one possible implementation, the subtype value of the subtype field corresponds to an energy-saving function. The information field is used to indicate whether the second network device supports the energy-saving function corresponding to the subtype value. The subtype value and the energy-saving function are in one-to-one correspondence. The energy-saving function includes PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, or split granularity.

[0334] As one possible implementation, the first message includes an OAM code block, which carries capability information of the second network device.

[0335] As one possible implementation, the processing module 1420 is also configured to: perform time slot compression and / or time slot migration on at least one PHY based on the commonly supported energy-saving capabilities, to obtain at least one idle PHY.

[0336] As one possible implementation, at least one idle PHY includes: a PHY in which the number of time slots used before time slot adjustment is zero; and / or a PHY in which the number of time slots used after time slot adjustment is zero.

[0337] As one possible implementation, at least one idle PHY includes at least one pre-split PHY and / or at least one post-split PHY, wherein any post-split PHY is obtained by splitting any PHY with a first bandwidth into at least two PHYs with a second bandwidth, wherein the first bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth.

[0338] As one possible implementation, the processing module 1420 is further configured to: determine an energy-saving strategy based on the negotiation result; the energy-saving strategy is used to instruct the first network device to perform time slot adjustment operations and / or energy-saving operations on the at least one PHY.

[0339] As one possible implementation, the transceiver module 1410 is further configured to: obtain a capacity expansion threshold and / or a capacity reduction threshold; the capacity reduction threshold and / or the capacity reduction threshold are fixed thresholds or predicted based on the traffic of the corresponding data stream. When the current traffic of any data stream carried by the at least one PHY is less than the capacity reduction threshold, the first network device performs time slot compression; when the current traffic of any data stream in at least one data stream carried by the at least one PHY is greater than or equal to the capacity expansion threshold, time slot recovery or PHY wake-up is performed.

[0340] As one possible implementation, the transceiver module 1410 is specifically used to: receive a second message; the second message is used to carry an expansion threshold and / or a reduction threshold.

[0341] As one possible implementation, the second message includes a second LLDPDU, which carries the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold.

[0342] As one possible implementation, the second LLDPDU includes a second optional TLV, which includes a subtype field and an information field. The information field of the second optional TLV is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold.

[0343] As one possible implementation, the subtype field of the second optional TLV is a second subtype value, and the information field of the second optional TLV includes an expansion threshold field and / or a shrinking threshold field, wherein the expansion threshold field is used to carry the expansion threshold and the shrinking threshold field is used to carry the shrinking threshold.

[0344] As one possible implementation, the second message includes an OAM code block, which is used to carry an expansion threshold and / or a reduction threshold.

[0345] It should be understood that the device shown in Figure 14 above is only illustrated by the division of the above-described functional modules. In practical applications, the above functions can be assigned to different functional modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above. In addition, the device and method embodiments provided in the above embodiments belong to the same concept, and their specific implementation process can be found in the method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0346] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 15, the communication device 1500 includes a processor 1510, a bus 1520, a memory 1530, a communication interface 1540, and a memory unit 1550 (also referred to as a main memory unit). The processor 1510, memory 1530, memory unit 1550, and communication interface 1540 are connected via the bus 1520.

[0347] It should be understood that in this embodiment, the processor 1510 may be a CPU, but it may also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0348] The processor may also be a graphics processing unit (GPU), a neural network processing unit (NPU), a microprocessor, or one or more integrated circuits used to control the execution of the program in this application.

[0349] In a possible embodiment, communication device 1500 may refer to processor 1510.

[0350] The communication interface 1540 is used to enable communication between the communication device 1500 and external devices or components. In this embodiment, when the communication device 1500 is used to implement the functions of any network device, server, or controller in FIG1, the communication interface 1540 is used as a physical port for sending and receiving data packets.

[0351] Bus 1520 may include a pathway for transferring information between the aforementioned components (such as processor 1510, memory unit 1550, and memory 1530). In addition to a data bus, bus 1520 may also include a power bus, control bus, and status signal bus. However, for clarity, all buses are labeled as bus 1520 in Figure 15. Bus 1520 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) bus, or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, Unified Bus (Ubus or UB), Compute Express Link (CXL), Cache Coherent Interconnect for Accelerators (CCIX), etc. Bus 1520 can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus, etc.

[0352] As an example, the communication device 1500 may include multiple processors. A processor may be a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. Here, a processor may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or computing units used to process data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0353] It is worth noting that Figure 15 only shows the example of a communication device 1500 including a processor 1510 and a memory 1530. Here, the processor 1510 and the memory 1530 are used to indicate a type of device or equipment. In specific embodiments, the number of each type of device or equipment can be determined according to business needs.

[0354] Memory cell 1550 may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both. The non-volatile memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous linked dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0355] The memory 1530 can correspond to the storage medium used to store computer instructions and other information in the above method embodiments, such as a disk, like a mechanical hard disk or a solid-state hard disk.

[0356] The communication device 1500 described above can be a general-purpose device or a special-purpose device. For example, the communication device 1500 can be an edge device (e.g., a box carrying a chip with processing capabilities). Alternatively, the communication device 1500 can also be a chip, network device, server, or other device with computing capabilities.

[0357] It should be understood that the communication device 1500 according to this embodiment can correspond to the FlexE port negotiation device 1400 in this embodiment, and can correspond to the corresponding subject executing the method according to FIG3. The above and other operations and / or functions of each module in the FlexE port negotiation device 1400 are respectively for implementing the corresponding process of the method in FIG3. For the sake of brevity, they will not be described in detail here.

[0358] This application also provides a network system, which includes a first network device and a second network device. The first FlexE group of the first network device is communicatively connected to the second FlexE group of the second network device. The first FlexE group includes at least one physical port PHY. The first network device is used to execute the method steps in the embodiment shown in FIG3 above.

[0359] The first network device and the second network device may be the aforementioned communication device 1500, or the first network device and the second network device may include the aforementioned communication device 1500.

[0360] As one possible implementation, the first network device can collaboratively execute the method steps shown in the embodiment of FIG3.

[0361] The first network device can be used to implement the functions of the aforementioned FlexE port negotiation device 1400.

[0362] This application also provides a computer program product containing instructions. This computer program product may be a software or program product containing instructions capable of running on a computing device or stored on any available medium. When the computer program product runs on at least one computing device, it causes the at least one computing device to perform the aforementioned FlexE port negotiation method.

[0363] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computing device can store, or a data storage device such as a data center containing one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid-state drive). The computer-readable storage medium includes instructions that instruct the computing device to perform the aforementioned FlexE port negotiation method.

[0364] This application also provides a chip, including a processor. The processor is used to retrieve and execute instructions stored in a memory, causing a communication device equipped with the chip to perform the aforementioned FlexE port negotiation method.

[0365] As one possible implementation, the chip also includes an input interface, an output interface, and a memory. The input interface, the output interface, the processor, and the memory are connected via internal interconnection paths. The processor is used to execute code in the memory, and when the code is executed, the processor is used to execute the aforementioned FlexE port negotiation method.

[0366] The method steps in this embodiment can be implemented in hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can consist of corresponding software modules, which can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disks, portable hard disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor, enabling the processor to read information from and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and storage medium can reside in an ASIC. Alternatively, the ASIC can reside in an electronic device (such as a network device). Of course, the processor and storage medium can also exist as discrete components in an electronic device.

[0367] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved entirely or partially through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented entirely or partially in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are performed entirely or partially. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user equipment, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions can be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; it can also be an optical medium, such as a digital video disc (DVD); or it can be a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive (SSD). The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of various equivalent modifications or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application, and these modifications or substitutions should all be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A flexible Ethernet (FlexE) port negotiation method, characterized in that, Performed by a first network device, wherein a first FlexE group of the first network device is communicatively connected to a second FlexE group of a second network device, and the first FlexE group includes at least one physical port PHY, the method comprising: Determine the energy-saving capability of the first network device; the energy-saving capability of the first network device is used to indicate the energy-saving function of the first network device, and the energy-saving function of the first network device is used to support energy-saving operation on the at least one PHY; Obtain the energy-saving capabilities of the second network device; Based on the energy-saving capabilities of the first network device and the second network device, a negotiation result is determined; the negotiation result is used to indicate the energy-saving capabilities jointly supported by the first network device and the second network device, or the energy-saving strategies of the first network device and the second network device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The energy-saving capability includes PHY non-disruptive isolation, which is used to ensure that the flow between the at least one PHY does not interfere with each other.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The energy-saving capability also includes time slot migration, which is used to migrate any data stream from the time slot of the first PHY to the time slot of other PHYs, wherein the at least one PHY includes the first PHY and the other PHYs.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, The energy-saving capability also includes time slot compression, which is used to reduce the number of time slots in the at least one PHY that carry any data stream.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2-4, characterized in that, The energy-saving capability also includes granularity splitting. The first network device includes a first Flexible Ethernet SHIM chip and a first optical module. The first FlexE SHIM chip and the first optical module are connected through at least one pair of deserializers. The granularity splitting supported by the first network device is determined by the PHY rate configuration provided by the first FlexE SHIM chip, the number of the at least one pair of deserializers, and the number of optical device channels.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The step of obtaining the energy-saving capability of the second network device includes: Receive a first message; the first message is used to carry the capability information of the second network device, and the capability information of the second network device is used to indicate the energy-saving capability of the second network device.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The first message conforms to the Optical Internet Forum-Network Device OIF-ND protocol or the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) vendor proprietary protocol. The first message includes a first LLDP Data Unit (DU), which carries capability information of the second network device.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The first LLDPDU includes a first optional type-length-value TLV, the first optional TLV includes a subtype field and an information field, the information field being used to carry the capability information of the second network device.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The subtype field is a first subtype value, and the information field is used to indicate whether the second network device supports one or more power-saving functions using bits. The one or more power-saving functions include one or more of PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, and split granularity.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein, The subtype value of the subtype field corresponds to an energy-saving function. The information field is used to indicate whether the second network device supports the energy-saving function corresponding to the subtype value. The subtype value and the energy-saving function are in one-to-one correspondence. The energy-saving function includes PHY lossless isolation, time slot migration, time slot compression, or split granularity.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein, The first message includes an Operation Management and Maintenance (OAM) code block, which carries capability information of the second network device.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1-11, characterized in that, The method further includes: Based on the commonly supported energy-saving capabilities, time slot compression and / or time slot migration are performed on the at least one PHY to obtain the at least one idle PHY.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The at least one idle PHY includes: The at least one PHY in which the number of time slots used before time slot adjustment is zero; and / or The PHY in which the number of time slots used after time slot adjustment is zero.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1-13, characterized in that, The at least one idle PHY includes at least one pre-split PHY and / or at least one post-split PHY, wherein any post-split PHY is obtained by splitting any PHY with a first bandwidth into at least two PHYs with a second bandwidth, wherein the first bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12-14, characterized in that, The method further includes: The energy-saving strategy is determined based on the negotiation results; the energy-saving strategy is used to instruct the first network device to perform time slot adjustment operation and / or energy-saving operation on the at least one PHY.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1-15, characterized in that, The method further includes: Obtain the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold; the reduction threshold and / or reduction threshold are fixed thresholds or predicted based on the traffic of the corresponding data stream; When the current traffic of any data stream carried by the at least one PHY is less than the shrinkage threshold, the first network device performs time slot compression; when the current traffic of any data stream in at least one data stream carried by the at least one PHY is greater than or equal to the expansion threshold, time slot recovery or PHY wake-up is performed.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The process of obtaining the expansion threshold and / or reduction threshold includes: Receive a second message; the second message is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that, The second message includes a second LLDPDU, which carries the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The second LLDPDU includes a second optional TLV, which includes a subtype field and an information field. The information field of the second optional TLV is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The subtype field of the second optional TLV is a second subtype value. The information field of the second optional TLV includes an expansion threshold field and / or a shrinkage threshold field. The expansion threshold field is used to carry the expansion threshold, and the shrinkage threshold field is used to carry the shrinkage threshold.

21. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that, The second message includes an OAM code block, which is used to carry the expansion threshold and / or the reduction threshold.

22. A chip, characterized in that, The chip includes a processor for retrieving and executing instructions stored in a memory, causing the chip to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-21.

23. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processor and a memory; The processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-21.

24. A FlexE port negotiation device, characterized in that, The apparatus is used to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-21.

25. A computer program product containing instructions, characterized in that, When the instruction is executed by the communication device, the communication device performs the method as described in any one of claims 1-21.

26. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, It includes computer program instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-21.

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