PON ONU Power Saving Mode with Periodic Wake-Up

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Solution Overview

Problem

In PON systems, disconnecting an ONU when no upstream data is transmitted leads to inefficient power usage and difficulty in detecting communication abnormalities, as the discovery process for re-registration is cumbersome and fails to detect link issues promptly.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a power-saving mode where ONUs notify the OLT of their transition to a sleep state, allowing for intermittent communication and failure detection while maintaining a link, thereby reducing power consumption and enabling early detection of communication failures.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If the ONU is kept in a constant communication state to enable round-trip time measurement, then measurement capability is maintained, but power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveround-trip time measurement capabilityVSAvoidpower consumption of ONU
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements periodic wake-up of the ONU at predetermined intervals to perform round-trip time measurements. The ONU transitions between sleep mode and active state periodically, allowing measurements to be conducted at specific intervals rather than continuously. This resolves the contradiction by enabling measurement capability while significantly reducing power consumption through intermittent operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #19Periodic action

2Productivity

If the OLT disconnects the ONU when no upstream data is transmitted, then bandwidth efficiency is improved, but failure detection capability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebandwidth utilization efficiencyVSAvoidcommunication failure detection capability
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent establishes a predetermined periodic wake-up schedule in advance before the ONU enters sleep mode. This preliminary action ensures that the ONU will automatically wake up at specified intervals to maintain link connectivity and enable failure detection, while allowing bandwidth to be efficiently released during sleep periods when no measurements are needed.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Use of energy by moving object

If the ONU enters sleep mode to reduce power consumption, then energy efficiency is improved, but link maintenance capability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepower consumption of ONUVSAvoidlink connectivity stability
Core Design Contradiction:
Use of energy by moving objectVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements dynamic state transitions where the ONU alternates between sleep mode and active state according to a predetermined schedule. The ONU dynamically adjusts its operational state based on timing conditions, waking up at predetermined intervals to maintain link stability while spending the majority of time in low-power sleep mode. This dynamic approach resolves the contradiction by making link maintenance capability time-dependent rather than constant.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentEP2552057B1Communication method, optical communication system, optical line terminal, and optical network unit
Publication Date: 2021.11.03 MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP
  • EP2552057B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2552057B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP2552057B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The ONU 10 includes the optical transceiver 14 capable of an operation in a power-saving mode in which power consumption is reduced by stopping transmission while continuing reception, and the control device 11 that controls to tentatively validate transmission of the optical transceiver and outputs a response signal when a control signal is received from the OLT during an operation in a power-saving state. Moreover, the OLT includes the control device 2 that allocates a transmission bandwidth to the ONU even while the optical transceiver of the ONU operates in a power-saving mode and stops transmission and determines whether a communication failure occurs or the ONU is in operation in a power-saving mode based on the response signal received by a transceiver of the OLT.