DESC:
CROSS- REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the priority of the provisional application with serial number 1659/CHE/2014 filed on March 28, 2014 with title, “AN SFP-MSA COMPLIANT MODULE” and the contents of which is incorporated in entirety.

A) TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of Small Form Factor Pluggable Transceivers. Particularly, the present disclosure relates to a Small Form Factor Pluggable Transceiver having IEEE 1588v2 support.

B) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Telecommunication networks nowadays are subject to tremendous loads in terms of data/information transfer from a source to a destination. In addition to carrying excessive amount of data packets, the network elements of a telecommunication network should also incorporate IEEE 1588v2 clock support for improving the accuracy of the recovered synchronization references at the PTP slave network elements. Typically, network elements which do not encompass IEEE 1588v2 clock support cannot be utilized in a SFP based telecommunication network, and such network elements would have to be discarded.

[0004] The only possible way to provide 1588v2 Clock support in the telecommunication network is by replacing the existing network elements with the new network elements, which incorporate the 1588v2 Clock support. However, discarding the non-complaint network elements and replacing them with network elements complaint with IEEE 1588v2 would be a costly procedure. However, since a telecommunication network typically comprises several hundreds of network elements, and replacing several hundreds of network elements is not only ineffective in terms of the cost, but also renders the telecommunication network ineffective, thereby resulting in prolonged network downtime.

[0005] Therefore, there was felt a need for a Small Form Factor Pluggable Transceiver (SFP) complaint module having inherent 1588v2 clock support which would obviate the hitherto mentioned drawbacks.

[0006] The above mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.

C) OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The primary object of the present invention is to provide a SFP compatible module.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is to provide a 1588v2 compatible SFP based module.

[0009] Another object of the present invention is to provide an SFP compatible module which can be plugged onto an SFP port of a network element, thereby rendering the network element, PTP Slave compatible.

[0010] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an SFP compatible module which obviates the need for replacing network elements that are not compatible with PTP Slave.

[0011] One more object of the present disclosure is to provide an SFP compatible module which can be plugged onto an SFP port of a network element.

[0012] Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide an SFP compatible module that provides for seamless transformation of a telecommunication network into being PTP Slave compatible.

[0013] Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide an SFP compatible module which is cost effective.

[0014] These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

D) SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0015] The various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a small form factor pluggable (SFP) PTP slave module with integrated PTP slave functionality. The SFP PTP slave module comprises an OC-S module configured to retrieve the information corresponding to at least frequency, phase and time-of-day, subsequent to the slave module being synchronized with a network grandmaster. The PTP slave module is configured to support PTP (Precision Timing Protocol)/IEEE1588v2. The SFP slave module is further configured to synchronize a network element with the network grandmaster, on being electronically coupled to the network element.

[0016] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the SFP module is configured to be controlled by an I2C interface.

[0017] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the SFP module is configured to transform a network element into being compatible with precision clock protocol based synchronization (PTP), subsequent to the plugging of the SFP module into the network element.

[0018] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the SFP module is configured to be connected to the fabric of the network element via an SFP SERDES interface. The SFP module is further configured to draw electric power via the SFP port located on the network connector.

[0019] The various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for rendering a network element compatible with precision timing protocol (PTP) based synchronization. The method comprises the following steps:

[0020] creating a PTP slave SFP module having at least one OC-S module;

[0021] configuring said network element to be compatible with precision timing protocol based synchronization, by electronically coupling the PTP slave module with the network element.

[0022] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the step of creating an SFP module having at least one OC-S module and further includes the step of configuring the OC-S module to retrieve the information corresponding to at least frequency, phase and time-of-day, subsequent to the SFP slave module being synchronized with a network grandmaster.

[0023] These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicating the preferred embodiments and numerous specific details thereof, are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the embodiments herein without departing from the spirit thereof, and the embodiments herein include all such modifications.

E) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings in which:

[0025] FIG. 1 is a system level block diagram illustrating a packet network in a wireless backhaul scenario, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG.2 is a system level block diagram of the SFP MSA compliant module with integrated PTP slave functionality, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] Although the specific features of the present invention are shown in some drawings and not in others. This is done for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the present invention.

F) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0028] In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which the specific embodiments that may be practiced is shown by way of illustration. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and it is to be understood that the logical, mechanical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments. The following detailed description is therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense.

[0029] The various embodiments of the present invention provide a Small Form factor Pluggable (SFP) Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) compliant module which is capable of rendering a network element compatible with IEEE 1588v2 protocol. Throughout the specification, the term Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and IEEE 1588v2 are used interchangeably. The SFP MSA compliant module enhances accuracy at a plurality of PTP network elements by providing a recovered synchronization reference for frequency, phase and time of day (TOD). The SFP MSA compatible module comprises SFP form factor, and is configured to be plugged onto an SFP slot/port via an SFP connector.

[0030] FIG. 1 is a system level block diagram illustrating a packet network in a wireless backhaul scenario, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. With respect to FIG. 1, the packet network comprises atleast one Base Transceiver Station (BTS) 102 which facilitates a wireless communication between a user equipment (UE) and the network. The network further comprises a Base Station controller (BSC) 101 which control one or more BTS 102 via a base station control function (BCF). The BSC 101 comprises a Global Positioning System (GPS)-receiver along with a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) grandmaster 103 which is a source for packet synchronization reference for synchronizing the plurality of BTSs 102 connected to the controller. A network element (NE) 104 located at the BSC 101 is configured to aggregate a traffic received from the plurality of BTSs 102 and transfer the traffic to the core network. The packet network further comprises a plurality of terminal NEs 106 without PTP functionality, each terminal NE is located at atleast one of the plurality of BTSs. The PTP-functionality is enabled in the terminal NE(s) 106 by plugging the SFP MSA compatible module 105 into the SFP slot/port of the NE(s) 106. The PTP grandmaster 103 communicates a synchronization reference for frequency, phase and time of day (TOD) in form of a plurality of PTP packets. The synchronization references for frequency, phase and time of day (TOD) are recovered by the SFP MSA compatible module 105 of the terminal NE(s) 106. The synchronization references are used by the module to synchronize the NE(s) 106 with the PTP grandmaster 103.

[0031] FIG.2 is a system level block diagram of the SFP MSA compliant module, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. The SFP MSA compliant module 105 possess a small form factor and plugs into the SFP slot/port of the NE(s) using a SFP cage and a SFP connector. The plurality of PTP packets from the PTP grandmaster are received at the SFP MSA compatible module 106 of the NE(s). The module 105 connects to a switch fabric of the NE(s) through a SFP SERDES interface 201. The SERDES interface 201 communicates traffic of PTP packets between the switching fabric and the SFP module 106 of the NE(s). The module 105 operates on 3.3 volts which is supplied by a power source 203 to the SFP port through the SFP connector. A system controller of the NE(s) is configured to control the SFP MSA compatible module 105 through an I2C interface 202. The plurality of PTP packets that ingress and egress the SFP MSA compliant module 105 are time stamped at an Ethernet Physical layer 204 of the module 105. The plurality of PTP packets from the PTP grandmaster terminate at a host interface 205 of the SFP MSA module 105. The host interface 205 serves as an end point for the PTP session with the PTP grandmaster.

[0032] The SFP MSA compliant module 105 comprises an oscillator source (OSC) 207, preferably Stratum 3E, which provides a stable clock to a Digitally Controlled Oscillator (DCO) 206. The clock generated by the oscillator source 207 facilitates synchronization for a plurality of components within the NE(s). The DCO 206 controls the frequency and phase of the clock generated by the oscillator source 207 to accordingly synchronize the clock with the PTP grandmaster. The host interface 205 operates with OC-S functionality to establish a PTP session with the network grandmaster and synchronize to it. With OC-S functionality, the NE(s) acts as a PTP-slave module. The PTP sync packets from the grandmaster are terminated at the host interface 205. The host in the OC-S module then transmits a plurality of delay request packets to the grandmaster. The grandmaster responds back by transmitting a plurality of delay response messages which are received at the host interface of the SFP MSA module 105. The delay-request and delay-response communication occurs periodically. The time stamps from the PTP packets are deciphered by the host interface 205 to calculate the offsets and average them out over a time period so as to eventually arrive at the digital frequency and phase correction factor. The digital correction factor is used at the DCO 206 for generating the synchronized clock. The host interface 205 further comprises a TOD clock device which keeps continuously ticking using the PTP recovered clock output from the DCO. The clock’s ‘seconds’ roll off is aligned to the pulse per second (1PPS) from the DCO 206. The host interface 205 periodically checks and aligns the internally running TOD clock based on the time offset estimated from the response packets received from the grandmaster. The PTP recovered clock and phase from the DCO 206 is provided to the BTS 102 connected to the terminal NE(s).

[0033] In accordance with the present disclosure, the SFP module is defined to have the integrated PTP functionality. SFP is one of the many hot pluggable modules (SFP, XFP, XENPAK, X2, QSFP, CFP and the like) that can get plugged into a network element’s ports depending on the supported port type. The reference to the SFP module in the present disclosure is more out of convenience and is not restricted to it. The present disclosure is extended to any hot pluggable electrical or optical module which may come in any form factor, including but not limited to formats such as XFP (1.0 Gigabit Small Form Factor Pluggable), XENPAK, X2, QSFP, and CFP.

[0034] Although the embodiments herein are described with various specific embodiments, it will be obvious for a person skilled in the art to practice the invention with modifications. However, all such modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the claims.

[0035] It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the embodiments described herein and all the statements of the scope of the embodiments which as a matter of language might be said to fall there between.

F) TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

[0036] The technical advantages envisaged by the present disclosure include the realization of an SFP compatible PTP module. The present disclosure provides a 1588v2 compatible PTP module. The PTP module envisaged by the present disclosure can be plugged onto an SFP port of a network element, thereby rendering the network element, SFP compatible. The PTP module of the present disclosure obviates the need for replacing network elements that are not compatible with SFP. The PTP module envisaged by the present disclosure can be plugged onto an SFP port of a network element. The PTP module provides for seamless transformation of a telecommunication network element into being PTP Slave compatible. The SFP compatible module of the present disclosure can be plugged onto an SFP port of a network element, thereby seamlessly making the network element compatible with IEEE 1588v2 protocol for OC-S synchronization. The present disclosure envisages an SFP compatible module which is cost effective. The SFP based module of the present disclosure can be seamlessly integrated into an existing telecommunication network, without requiring the telecommunication network to be shut down.
,CLAIMS:

What is claimed is:

1. A small form factor pluggable (SFP) PTP slave module, wherein said PTP slave module comprises integrated PTP slave functionality, said PTP slave module comprising:
An OC-S module configured to retrieve the information corresponding to at least frequency, phase and time-of-day, subsequent to the slave module being synchronized with a network grandmaster; wherein said PTP slave module is configured to support PTP (Precision Timing Protocol)/IEEE1588v2, said SFP slave module configured to synchronize a network element with the network grandmaster, on being electronically coupled to the network element.

2. The PTP slave module as claimed in claim 1, wherein said SFP module is configured to be controlled by an I2C interface.

3. The PTP slave module as claimed in claim 1, wherein said SFP module is configured to transform a network element into being compatible with precision clock protocol based synchronization (PTP), subsequent to the plugging of the SFP module into the network element.

4. The PTP slave module as claimed in claim 1, wherein said SFP module is configured to be connected to the fabric of the network element via an SFP SERDES interface, the SFP module further configured to draw electric power via the SFP port located on the network connector.

5. A method for rendering a network element compatible with precision timing protocol (PTP) based synchronization, said method comprising the following steps:

creating a PTP slave module having at least one OC-S module; configuring said network element to be compatible with precision timing protocol based synchronization, by electronically coupling the PTP slave module with the network element.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the step of creating an SFP module having at least one OC-S module and further includes the step of configuring the OC-S module to retrieve the information corresponding to at least frequency, phase and time-of-day, subsequent to the SFP slave module being synchronized with a network grandmaster.