Method and apparatus for data transmission in synchronous optical networks

Claim 1

A switching node for use in a synchronous optical network ring transporting data divided into first size blocks, said switching node including: a plurality of primary receive connections for receiving inter-ring optical signals divided into second size blocks, where a second size block is smaller than a first size block, a second size block including a header section and a payload section, the header section including a mark related to at least a portion of the payload section, the mark being indicative as to whether the portion of the payload section is concatenated data or non concatenated data, when the portion of the payload section is non concatenated data it includes a plurality of independent data elements; a plurality of primary send connections for transmitting inter-ring optical signals divided into second size blocks; a secondary receive connection for receiving intra-ring optical signals divided into first size blocks; a secondary send connection for transmitting intra-ring optical signals divided into first size blocks; a main controller for routing of first size blocks towards the primary send connections, said main controller being operative to: a) divide an incoming first size block into at least two second size blocks; b) observe the mark in the header section of a second size block to determine whether the payload section of the second size block includes concatenated data and acquiring either one of two data transmission modes in dependence of the mark; i) If the mark is indicative of presence of concatenated data in the payload section of the second size block, said main controller acquires a first data transmission mode where the concatenated data is routed as a single unit towards a particular primary send connection; and ii) If the mark is indicative of absence of concatenated data in the payload section of the second size block, said main controller acquires a second data transmission mode permitting routing of independent data elements contained in the payload section of the second size block towards different primary send connections.

Claim 10

A method for managing the transmission of optical signal concatenated payloads in a switching node of a synchronous optical network ring transporting data divided into first size blocks, said switching node including: a plurality of primary receive connections for receiving inter-ring optical signals divided into second size blocks, where a second size block is smaller than a first size block, a second size block including a header section and a payload section, the header section including a mark related to at least a portion of the payload section, the mark being indicative as to whether the portion of the payload section is concatenated data or non concatenated data, when the portion of the payload section is non concatenated data it includes a plurality of independent data elements; a plurality of primary send connections for transmitting inter-ring optical signals divided into second size blocks; a secondary receive connection for receiving intra-ring optical signals divided into first size blocks; a secondary send connection for transmitting intra-ring optical signals divided into first size blocks; said method comprising the steps of: a) receiving an incoming first size block; b) dividing said first size block into at least two second size blocks, where a second size block includes a header section and a payload section; c) processing a second size block to determine whether the payload section of said second size block includes concatenated data; d) routing the second size block towards an adjacent optical network ring in dependence of the presence of concatenated data, if there is presence of concatenated data said concatenated data is routed as a single unit towards a particular primary inter-ring connection, if there is absence of concatenated data the data contained in said payload section of the second size block may be routed as independent data elements towards different primary inter-ring connections.