Optical transport network power-save technique based on client signal information

摘要

The invention relates to a method and devices for an optical transport network for load-adaptive adjustment of processing resources. The optical transport network comprises a first communication node (10) configured to provide an interface between a client (2) and the optical transport network (1), wherein optical data units comprising an overhead area (5) and a payload area (6) are generated and wherein ingress packet data is encapsulated into frames and said frames are mapped into the optical data units. The method comprises the step of determining, at said first communication node (10), whether or not ingress packet data is currently being received. If it has been determined that no ingress packet data is currently being received at said first communication node (10), reducing or switching off of available data processing resources at said first communication node (10) and inserting an indicator in the overhead area (5) of an optical data unit, wherein the inserted indicator indicates that the payload area (6) of said optical data unit does not contain any valid payload data.