Traffic Management for Passive Optical Network Terminals
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Solution Overview
Problem
Passive optical network (PON) optical network terminals (ONTs) often exceed their bandwidth capacity due to multiple traffic flows, leading to overflow issues, as they cannot efficiently manage the combination of unique and common packet streams.
Innovation Solution
Implementing traffic management techniques that meter or reduce the transmission rate of unique packet streams and selectively deny access to additional packet streams based on bandwidth capacity, allowing ONTs to manage bandwidth on a per-stream basis and prevent overflow by adjusting transmission rates and access permissions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple packet streams are received at full transmission rate, then bandwidth utilization is maximized, but the ONT exceeds its bandwidth capacity and overflows
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic transmission rate adjustment for packet streams based on real-time bandwidth availability. The system monitors the combined bandwidth requirements of unique and common packet streams and dynamically meters or reduces the transmission rate of unique streams when the ONT approaches its bandwidth capacity, preventing overflow while maximizing bandwidth utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the transmission rate parameter of packet streams based on bandwidth conditions. When the ONT receives a unique packet stream and a common packet stream that would collectively exceed bandwidth capacity, the system adjusts the transmission rate of the unique stream to ensure the combined rate remains within the ONT's bandwidth capacity, thus preventing overflow.
2Ease of operation
If upstream metering functions are implemented, then traffic flow is controlled, but device complexity and configuration requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The ONT performs self-service bandwidth management by autonomously monitoring its own bandwidth capacity and making decisions about packet stream admission and rate adjustment. The ONT determines whether to admit common packet streams based on available bandwidth and automatically meters unique packet streams, eliminating the need for external upstream metering functions and reducing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of implementing upstream metering to control traffic flow to the ONT, the patent inverts the approach by implementing downstream bandwidth management at the ONT itself. The ONT actively manages incoming traffic by adjusting transmission rates and selectively admitting or denying packet streams based on its bandwidth capacity, reversing the traditional control paradigm.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described for managing traffic flow to an optical network terminal (ONT) on a passive optical network (PON) to prevent an individual ONT from being overrun. Specifically, the techniques involve reducing a transmission rate of a unique traffic flow and selectively denying access to a common traffic flow. By reducing the transmission rate of the unique traffic flow, sufficient bandwidth may be released to receive the unique traffic flow and the common traffic flow without overflowing the ONT. For example, the ONT or, alternatively, the OLT may send the requested common traffic flow without reducing the transmission rate of the unique traffic flow when sufficient bandwidth is available, send the common traffic flow but reduce the transmission rate of unique traffic flow by an appropriate amount, or deny access to the common traffic flow altogether without reducing the transmission rate of the unique traffic flow.