Optical Module Lane-Lock Signaling for Reliable PHY Encryption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network security technologies face challenges in ensuring the reliability of data encryption at the physical layer, particularly in local area networks where a large quantity of security risks exist due to plaintext data transmission.
Innovation Solution
A status notification method is implemented, which includes determining the lock status of logical lanes in optical modules and sending notification information to enable secure data encryption and decryption only after the logical lanes are locked, thereby enhancing the reliability of data encryption at the physical layer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data encryption is implemented at the physical layer, then network security is improved, but the reliability of encryption cannot be ensured without proper lane status synchronization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the first optical module sends uplink notification information to the second optical module to indicate the lock status of logical lanes. This feedback loop ensures that both ends have synchronized status information before encryption/decryption operations are performed, resolving the reliability issue without exposing plaintext data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent requires that the logical lane lock status be determined and notification information be exchanged before data encryption and decryption operations are performed. This preliminary action ensures that both optical modules are in the correct state (locked) before security-sensitive operations begin, preventing security risks from plaintext transmission.
2Reliability
If notification information is sent to synchronize lock status, then encryption reliability is improved, but communication overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential lock status information into compact notification messages (uplink and downlink notification information) that are exchanged between optical modules. This extraction approach provides the necessary reliability for encryption while minimizing communication overhead by transmitting only the critical status synchronization data rather than complete state information.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If logical lane lock status is determined before encryption operations, then data security is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs the lock status determination and notification exchange as a preliminary action before the actual encryption and decryption operations. By completing this status synchronization in advance, the patent ensures data security is improved while the additional processing time is incurred only once before the main data transmission begins, rather than for each data packet.
Data Source
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AI summary
This application provides a status notification method, an optical module, a network device, and a network system. The method includes: determining a lock status of a logical lane in a first optical module, where the first optical module belongs to a first network device, and the lock status includes a locked state or an unlocked state; and sending uplink notification information when the lock status indicates that the logical lane in the first optical module is locked, where the uplink notification information is used to enable a second optical module to determine that the logical lane in the first optical module is locked, the second optical module belongs to a second network device, and the first optical module is connected to the second optical module. The optical module in this application can determine whether a logical lane of a peer end optical module is locked, and perform a subsequent operation only after the logical lane of the peer end optical module is locked. Therefore, reliability of the subsequent operation can be improved.