Adaptation scheme for communications traffic

摘要

A method of generating a generic framing procedure hierarchy comprising processing a first generic framing procedure frame to determine the overall length of the generic framing procedure frame, mapping the frame into the generic framing procedure payload area of a second generic framing procedure frame at the next level of the generic framing procedure hierarchy, whereby information enabling the size of the generic framing procedure payload remaining after that frame has been extracted is captured in the header fields of the generic framing procedure frame into which the first frame is encapsulated, and wherein the generic framing procedure header indicates whether there are more frames left in the mapping hierarchy when de-encapsulating (i.e., running down) the generic framing procedure frame stack by providing an indicator at level N of the hierarchy that at the level N−1 there is a generic framing procedure frame to extract.

主权项

1. A machine-implemented method of client data transportation in a carrier Ethernet communications system, the method comprising use of at least one data processor to perform method steps comprising:
receiving, at a node, a generic framing procedure communications protocol frame carrying as payload a type of communications protocol client data; and mapping, using the data processor, the received generic framing procedure frame carrying said client data to the payload area of one or more carrier generic framing procedure communications protocol frames; wherein data comprising a plurality of said carrier generic framing procedure communications protocol frames is encapsulated within the payload area of a single Ethernet protocol data unit for transport in said carrier Ethernet communications system, whereby the hierarchical encapsulation of said generic framing procedure frames provides an adaptation layer for client data conforming to a plurality of different communications protocols for transport over said carrier Ethernet communications system.