Clear channel 1:N SONET transport system and method

Abstract

A SONET format signal transport system and method providing an increased transport capacity. The transport system includes multiple low speed transport systems wherein each low speed transport system can have a pair of low speed terminals connected by N working channels and one protection channel. A clear channel high speed SONET transport system is connected between the low speed transport systems. The clear channel high speed SONET transport system has N+1 working channels that each terminate at a high speed terminal. The low speed system protection channels are multiplexed into a protection channel of the clear channel high speed system, while each working channel of each individual low speed system is multiplexed into different high speed channels.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A SONET format signal transport system, comprising: 
 a plurality of low speed transport systems, each low speed transport system comprising a pair of low speed terminals connected by a maximum of N working channels and one protection channel;    a clear channel high speed SONET transport system connected between each low speed SONET transport system, the clear channel high speed SONET transport system comprising N+1 working channels, wherein each working channel terminates at a high speed terminal; and    wherein each working channel of each low speed system multiplexes into a different high speed channel, and further wherein the protection channels of each low speed system are multiplexed into a protection channel of the clear channel high speed system.    
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the protection channel of the high speed system are distinct from the high speed channels into which the low speed working channels multiplex.  
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of low speed transport systems comprise a plurality of low speed SONET transport systems, and further wherein the plurality of low speed SONET transport systems comprise OC48 channels, and wherein the high speed SONET transport system comprises OC192 channels.  
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the clear channel high speed SONET transport system terminals are operable to receive signals from low speed terminals, multiplex the received signals, transport the multiplexed signals across the high speed channel, demultiplex the multiplexed signals, and send the signals to low speed terminals in the same format as received.  
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the clear channel high speed SONET transport system terminals are operable to optically multiplex and optically demultiplex the signals received from low speed terminals in order to transport the signals.  
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein N equals 3.  
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the number of low speed systems exceeds the number of high speed channels in the clear channel high speed SONET transport system.  
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the low speed terminals of the low speed systems contain a switching protocol that controls switching from a failed working channel to the protection channel to protect data.  
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the high rate SONET transport system comprises clear channel transport hardware that provides the transport of the low rate systems, signaling control and overheads from low rate terminal to low rate terminal across the high rate channel.  
     
     
         10 . A SONET formatted signal transport system, comprising: 
 a clear channel high speed SONET transport system, comprising: 
 N+1 working channels; and  
 2(N+1) clear channel high speed terminals, each clear channel high speed terminal connects to another clear channel high speed terminal by a single working channel;  
   a first low speed SONET transport system connected to the clear channel high speed SONET transport system, comprising: 
 a plurality of low speed terminals, each low speed terminal comprising: 
 no greater than N working channels, wherein each working channel of a low speed terminal connects to a different clear channel high speed terminal; and  
 a protection channel, wherein all of the protection channels from each low speed terminal connects to a single clear channel protection high speed terminal, the protection high speed terminal receiving only protection channels from low speed terminals; and  
 
   a second low speed SONET transport system connected to the clear channel high speed SONET transport system opposite the first low speed SONET transport system, comprising: 
 a plurality of low speed terminals, each low speed terminal comprising: 
 a maximum of N working channels, wherein each working channel of a low speed terminal connects to a different clear channel high speed terminal; and  
 a protection channel, wherein all of the protection channels from each low speed terminal connects to a single clear channel protection high speed terminal, the protection high speed terminal receiving only protection channels from low speed terminals, the protection high speed terminal further connects to the protection high speed terminal that receives the protection channels from the first low speed transport system.  
 
   
     
     
         11 . A method for increasing the transport capacity in a SONET format signal transport system, comprising: multiplexing each working channel of a low speed transport system into a different working channel of a clear channel high speed SONET transport system; and multiplexing all protection channels of the low speed SONET transport system into a separate channel of a high speed SONET transport system.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising: 
 providing a high speed SONET transport system having N+1 working channels; and    providing a low speed transport system having a maximum of N working channels, and one protection channel terminals.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein each low speed transport system comprises a low speed SONET transport system, and further wherein each low speed SONET transport system comprises a pair of low speed terminals connected by a maximum of N working channels and one protection channel, and wherein the clear channel high speed SONET transport system comprises N+1 working channels each terminating at a high speed terminal.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising: 
 receiving a signal from a low speed terminal located at a first end of the low speed transport system to a first high speed SONET transport system terminal;    multiplexing the received signal;    transporting the multiplexed signal across a high speed SONET system working channel;    demultiplexing the multiplexed signal at a second high speed SONET transport system terminal; and    sending the signal to a low speed terminal located at a second end of the low speed transport system in the same format as received.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein multiplexing further comprises optical multiplexing and demultiplexing further comprises optical demultiplexing.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein each signal on the working channel and each signal on the protection channel of the low speed SONET system is optically multiplexed and demuliplexed at the clear channel high speed SONET transport system.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the number of low speed transport systems exceeds the number of high speed channels in the clear channel high speed SONET transport system.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising: 
 controlling the protection using a switching protocol of the low speed system that controls switching from a failed working channel to the protection channel to protect data.    
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising: controlling the transport of the signals using clear channel transport hardware located within the high rate SONET transport system, the controlling performed in such a manner to provides the transport of the low rate systems, signaling control and overheads from a first low rate terminal to a second low rate terminal across the high rate channel.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein multiplexing each working channel of a low speed transport system further comprises multiplexing each working channel of a plurality of low speed transport systems into a different working channel of a clear channel high speed SONET transport system.