VIRTUAL PATH RING PROTECTION METHOD AND APPARATUS

摘要

A method and apparatus for the robust implementation and protection of Asynchronous Transfer Mode, ATM, traffic over a Synchronous Optical Network, SONET, Unidirectional Path Switched Ring, UPSR (100). The traditional SONET bridging function is eliminated for the ATM traffic in favor of a selector function. The selector function occurs at the ingress of the ATM traffic to the UPSR and directs the ATM traffic to its destination via a virtual path over the UPSR. The ATM traffic is protected from both SONET failures and ATM failures by an Intra-Ring Communication IRC protocol (300). The IRC protocol governs failure detection and the notification of the SONET nodes on the UPS R of the failure and any protection switch that may be necessary (750, 800).