Dynamic, asymmetric rings

摘要

Dynamic, asymmetric rings and related communication equipment and methods are disclosed. Various features may be implemented to provide any or all of several degrees of freedom for managing resources in a communication network. Communication rates may be optimized on a node-to-node basis or overall on a network level. Different rates may be configured and possibly dynamically adjusted between different nodes, and/or for different directions of traffic transfer. Bandwidth can be dynamically allocated along a string of the communication nodes in a ring or linear topology in some embodiments. Direction of traffic transfer represents an additional possible degree of freedom in a ring topology, in that traffic can be transferred in either direction in a ring, such as the direction of least delay.

主权项

1. A communication node comprising:
at least one interface that enables the communication node to communicate with other communication nodes via communication links established over underlying DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) links in a ring or linear topology, the other communication nodes comprising at least one adjacent communication node with which the communication node communicates directly and non-adjacent communication nodes with which the communication node communicates through intermediate communication nodes; and a communication control module, operatively coupled to the at least one interface, that determines whether respective communication rates on the communication links should be adjusted based on information associated with the adjacent communication nodes and the non-adjacent communication nodes, and requests adjustment of one or more of the underlying DSL links to adjust any of the respective communication rates that should be adjusted, wherein each of the respective communication rates comprises first and second portions of total bandwidth available for bidirectional communication traffic transfer via a communication link over an underlying DSL link, the first portion comprising bandwidth allocated to communication traffic transfer in a first direction and the second portion comprising bandwidth allocated to communication traffic transfer in a second direction opposite the first direction, wherein the total bandwidth comprises a plurality of frequency bands respectively allocated for communication traffic transfer in the first and second directions, and the communication control module requests adjustment by requesting re-allocation of one or more of the plurality of frequency bands from one of the first and second portions to the other of the first and second portions.