System and method for 1 + 1 flow protected transmission of time-sensitive data in packet-based communication networks

摘要

A method of transmitting data packets in a communication network comprises receiving, at an originating node, at least one frame of time-division-multiplexed (TDM) data and converting the at least one frame of TDM data into a first flow of data packets. Each packet of the first flow includes a header identifying a packet sequence number and a first path between the originating node and a destination node. The method further includes a step of generating a second flow of data packets, the second flow of data packets being representative of the at least one frame of TDM data and including a header identifying a packet sequence number and a second path between the originating node and a destination node. The first and second flows of data packets are launched over the corresponding paths. At the receiver end, only the flow of data packets associated with the path designated as the working path is converted back into frames of TDM data and forwarded to an appropriate external interface. If monitoring of the sequence number or received rate of packets over the working path reveals a failure or poor performance, a transfer is performed such that only the flow of data packets associated with the protection path are converted into frames of TDM data.