System and Method for Optical Layer Management in Optical Modules and Remote Control of Optical Modules

Abstract

A system and method for managing the optical layer network data communications of an optical fiber data network by an optical transceiver module is disclosed. The management of the optical layer network data communications comprising data link layer functions or layer 2 functions in an OSI model. Benefits include reduction in reduced cost of network deployments from consolidation of network equipment, such as switches, and reduction in power consumed as well as enabling point-to-multipoint network connections from previously only point-to-point network connection.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An Optical Network Terminal (ONT) integrated circuit (IC) configured for use in a pluggable optical transceiver module, whereby the pluggable optical transceiver module is configured to have a bi-directional optical subassembly and configured to have an electrical interface, the ONT IC comprising of:
 an optical subassembly interface for communicating electrically with the bi-directional optical subassembly of the pluggable optical transceiver module;   a network interface for communicating electrically with the electrical interface of the pluggable optical transceiver module; and   a protocol processor that includes a control module and an adaptation unit, wherein the control module is configured to enable optical data link layer communications based on at least one optical data link layer address through the optical subassembly interface and wherein the adaption unit is electrically coupled to the control module and wherein the adaption unit includes an Ethernet Media Access Control (MAC) configured to enable Ethernet communications through the network interface.   
     
     
         2 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the adaptation unit is configured to process the transmission and reception of Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Layer 3 communications. 
     
     
         3 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the control module of the protocol processor manages the transmission and reception of optical data link layer communications including one or more of the following functions comprising:
 encapsulating user data into optical data link layer frames;   frame synchronization;   forward error correction;   physical layer addressing;   data packet queuing status reporting;   operation administration and maintenance (OAM) message processing;   supporting quality of service (QoS) for different classes of data traffic;   supporting provisioning and de-provisioning; and   monitoring network alarms.   
     
     
         4 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the control module of the protocol processor performs functions conforming to an optical data link layer network protocol selected from the group consisting essentially of:
 ITU-T G.984 Gigabit PON (GPON);   IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet PON (EPON);   ITU-T G.987 10 Gigabit PON (XG-PON);   IEEE 802.3av 10 Gigabit Ethernet PON (10G-EPON);   ITU Next Generation PON (NG-PON);   ITU NG-PON2;   WDM-PON;   ITU-T G.983 Broadband Passive Optical Network (BPON); and   Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) PON (D-PON/DPON).   
     
     
         5 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the Ethernet MAC of the adaptation unit includes a MAC address. 
     
     
         6 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the bi-directional optical subassembly interface includes a transmit serial interface and includes a receive serial interface. 
     
     
         7 . The ONT IC of  claim 6 , wherein the transmit serial interface includes burst mode transmissions. 
     
     
         8 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the network interface conforms to at least one interface from the group consisting essentially of:
 MII;   GMII;   SGMII;   RGMII;   XGMII;   XAUI;   Serial;   Serial XFI; and   SPI.   
     
     
         9 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the network interface includes a serializer and a deserializer (SerDes). 
     
     
         10 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the network interface includes clock and data recovery (CDR). 
     
     
         11 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the ONT IC is communication logic and memory combined into one or more integrated circuits. 
     
     
         12 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the protocol processor includes one or more micro controllers or central processing units (CPUs). 
     
     
         13 . The ONT IC of  claim 1 , wherein the ONT IC includes a diagnostic interface for monitoring the pluggable optical transceiver module digital diagnostics. 
     
     
         14 . A method of communicating for an integrated circuit (IC) of a pluggable optical transceiver module for an optical network, the pluggable optical transceiver module configured to have a bi-directional optical subassembly and an electrical interface, the method of communicating for the IC comprising of:
 receiving a first electrical signal through an optical subassembly interface of the IC;   processing the first electrical signal according to an optical data link layer protocol to de-encapsulating the first electrical signal to produce a first payload data, wherein the first electrical signal includes a first optical data link layer address, wherein the first optical data link layer address is associated with the IC;   encapsulating the first payload data according to an Ethernet protocol into one or more Ethernet frames using an Ethernet address associated with the IC; and   transmitting the one or more Ethernet frames through a network interface of the IC to the electrical interface of the pluggable optical transceiver module.   
     
     
         15 . The method of communicating for the IC of  claim 14 , the method further comprising:
 receiving a second electrical signal through the network interface of the IC from the electrical interface of the pluggable optical transceiver module;   processing the second electrical signal according to the Ethernet protocol using the Ethernet address to de-encapsulate the first electrical signal to produce a second payload data;   encapsulating the second payload data into a first optical data link layer frame including the first optical data link layer address according to the optical data link layer protocol; and   transmitting the first optical data link layer frame through the optical subassembly interface of the IC to the bi-directional optical subassembly of the pluggable optical transceiver module, wherein the transmitting of the first optical data link layer frame is responsive to receiving an upstream bandwidth allocation in the first electrical signal.   
     
     
         16 . The method of communicating for the IC of  claim 15 , wherein the optical data link layer protocol conforms to a network protocol selected from the group consisting essentially of:
 ITU-T G.984 Gigabit PON (GPON);   IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet PON (EPON);   ITU-T G.987 10 Gigabit PON (XG-PON);   IEEE 802.3av 10 Gigabit Ethernet PON (10G-EPON);   ITU Next Generation PON (NG-PON);   ITU NG-PON2;   WDM-PON;   ITU-T G.983 Broadband Passive Optical Network (BPON), and Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) PON (D-PON/DPON).   
     
     
         17 . The method of communicating for the IC of  claim 14 , wherein the IC includes an Ethernet media access control (MAC). 
     
     
         18 . The method of communicating for the IC of  claim 14 , wherein the IC includes communication logic and memory combined into one or more integrated circuits. 
     
     
         19 . The method of communicating for the IC of  claim 14 , wherein the IC includes one or more micro controllers or central processing units (CPUs). 
     
     
         20 . A method of communicating for an integrated circuit (IC) of a pluggable optical transceiver module for an optical network, the pluggable optical transceiver module configured to have a bi-directional optical subassembly and an electrical interface, the method of communicating for the IC comprising of:
 receiving a first electrical signal through an optical subassembly interface of the IC;   processing the first electrical signal according to an optical data link layer protocol using a first optical data link layer address to de-encapsulating the first electrical signal to produce a first payload data, wherein the first optical data link layer address is associated with the IC; and   processing the first payload data in accordance with an Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Layer 3 protocol.   
     
     
         21 . The method of communicating for the IC of  claim 20 , further comprising of:
 encapsulating the first payload data according to an Ethernet protocol into one or more Ethernet frames using an Ethernet address associated with the IC; and   transmitting the one or more Ethernet frames through a network interface of the IC to the electrical interface of the pluggable optical transceiver module.