TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a bandwidth scheduling method and an apparatus.

BACKGROUND

FIG. 1is a schematic diagram of an existing bandwidth scheduling method. As shown inFIG. 1, in the existing bandwidth scheduling method, a user-side device sends a first bandwidth request message to a second access device, where the first bandwidth request message includes a bandwidth requirement of the user-side device. After receiving the first bandwidth request message, the second access device allocates a bandwidth to the user-side device based on the bandwidth requirement of the user-side device. The second access device sends a first bandwidth response message to the user-side device, where the first bandwidth response message carries information about the bandwidth allocated to the user-side device. The user-side device may send uplink data to the second access device based on the obtained bandwidth information. After receiving the uplink data, the second access device sends a second bandwidth request message to a first access device, to request a bandwidth used for sending the uplink data, where the second bandwidth request message includes a bandwidth requirement of the second access device, and the bandwidth requirement of the second access device is a bandwidth requirement used for sending the uplink data of the user-side device. After receiving the second bandwidth request message, the first access device allocates the bandwidth to the second access device. The first access device sends a second bandwidth response message to the user-side device, where the second bandwidth response message carries information about the bandwidth allocated to the second access device. The second access device sends the uplink data to the first access device based on the obtained bandwidth information. The user-side device may be a cable modem (CM) or user equipment (UE). The second access device may be an optical network unit (ONU). The first access device may be an optical line terminal (OLT). In the foregoing process in which the CM sends the uplink data, dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) needs to be performed twice and communication interaction needs to be performed a plurality of times. Consequently, an uplink data transmission delay is increased.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of this application provide a bandwidth scheduling method and an apparatus, to help reduce an uplink data transmission delay and improve bandwidth allocation efficiency.

According to a first aspect, a bandwidth scheduling method is provided, where the method includes receiving, by a bandwidth allocation apparatus, a bandwidth request message sent by a message conversion apparatus, where the bandwidth request message includes a bandwidth requirement, and the bandwidth requirement is a bandwidth used for completing transmission of a service, calculating, by the bandwidth allocation apparatus, first bandwidth grant information and second bandwidth grant information based on the bandwidth requirement, where the first bandwidth grant information is information about a bandwidth that is allocated to a user-side device and that corresponds to the service, and the second bandwidth grant information is information about a bandwidth that is allocated to a second access device and that corresponds to the service, and sending, by the bandwidth allocation apparatus, a first bandwidth response message to the message conversion apparatus, and sending a second bandwidth response message to a first access device, where the first bandwidth response message includes the first bandwidth grant information, and the second bandwidth response message includes the second bandwidth grant information.

In the foregoing method, the bandwidth allocation apparatus directly allocates corresponding bandwidths to the user-side device and the second access device based on the bandwidth request message reported by the message conversion apparatus, sends the first bandwidth grant information to the message conversion apparatus, and sends the second bandwidth grant information to the first access device. In this way, in a process of uplink communication between the message conversion apparatus and the first access device, there is no need to perform bandwidth requesting and exchange a plurality of times. Therefore, a transmission delay caused by a bandwidth request process is reduced, and bandwidth allocation efficiency is improved.

In an implementation, the message conversion apparatus is disposed on the second access device, or the message conversion apparatus is disposed outside the second access device. In a passive optical network (PON) system, the user-side device may be a CM, and the second access device may be an ONU with a built-in cable television cable device, a cable modem termination system (CMTS), or a converged cable access platform (CCAP). In a wireless network system, the user-side device may be UE, and the second access device may be an ONU having a wireless access point (AP) function or a base station (BS) function.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth grant information includes at least one of first time information and first frequency information. The first time information includes a start point of a first time slice and a length of the first time slice, and the first frequency information includes a center frequency of a first frequency band and a frequency width of the first frequency band. The start point of the first time slice is a start moment at which the user-side device sends the service, the length of the first time slice is effective duration in which the user-side device sends the service, and the first frequency band is a frequency range within which the user-side device sends the service.

In an implementation, the second bandwidth grant information includes at least one of second time information and second frequency information. The second time information includes a start point of a second time slice and a length of the second time slice, and the second frequency information includes a center frequency of a second frequency band and a frequency width of the second frequency band. The start point of the second time slice is a start moment at which the second access device sends the service, the length of the second time slice is effective duration in which the second access device sends the service, and the second frequency band is a frequency range within which the second access device sends the service. The start point of the second time slice may be determined based on the start point of the first time slice and the length of the first time slice. For example, the start point of the second time slice is a moment obtained by adding the length of the first time slice and the start point of the first time slice. Optionally, when the start point of the second time slice is determined, a transmission delay generated by the user-side device may be further considered. To be specific, the start point of the second time slice is a moment obtained by adding the start point of the first time slice, the length of the first time slice, and the transmission delay generated by the user-side device.

In an implementation, the bandwidth request message further includes at least one of a service identifier and priority information, the priority information is used to identify a priority of the service, and the service identifier is used to identify the service. The service identifier may be 5-tuple information in the bandwidth request message, where the 5-tuple information may be used to identify a service, or the service identifier may be information carried in a message body.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth response message and the second bandwidth response message are internet protocol (IP)-based messages, or the first bandwidth response message and the second bandwidth response message are Ethernet encapsulation messages.

In an implementation, a message header of the bandwidth request message includes a destination address, a source address, and first type information, where the destination address is an address of the bandwidth allocation apparatus, the source address is an address of the message conversion apparatus, and the first type information is used to indicate that the message body carries a bandwidth request-related parameter. A message body of the bandwidth request message includes the bandwidth requirement. Optionally, the message body of the bandwidth request message further includes at least one of a service identifier and a service type.

In an implementation, a message header of the first bandwidth response message includes a destination address, a source address, and second type information, where the source address is the address of the bandwidth allocation apparatus, the destination address is the address of the message conversion apparatus, and the second type information is used to indicate that the message body carries a bandwidth grant-related parameter. A message body of the first bandwidth response message includes the first bandwidth grant information. Optionally, the message body of the first bandwidth response message further includes at least one of a service identifier and a service type.

In an implementation, a message header of the second bandwidth response message includes a destination address, a source address, and second type information, where the source address is the address of the bandwidth allocation apparatus, the destination address is the address of the message conversion apparatus, and the second type information is used to indicate that the message body carries the bandwidth grant-related parameter. A message body of the second bandwidth response message includes the second bandwidth grant information. Optionally, the message body of the second bandwidth response message further includes at least one of a service identifier and a service type.

In an implementation, the method further includes receiving, by the message conversion apparatus, a third bandwidth response message sent by the first access device, where the third bandwidth response message includes the second bandwidth grant information. The third bandwidth response message and the first bandwidth response message are based on different protocol types. In this way, after the message conversion apparatus receives the third bandwidth response message, the second access device at which the message conversion apparatus is located may reserve the bandwidth for the user-side device based on the second bandwidth grant information, to further reduce a transmission delay.

According to a second aspect, a bandwidth scheduling method is provided, where the method includes receiving, by a message conversion apparatus, a second bandwidth request message sent by a user-side device, where the second bandwidth request message includes a first bandwidth requirement, and the first bandwidth requirement is a bandwidth used for completing transmission of a first service, obtaining, by the message conversion apparatus, a first bandwidth request message based on the second bandwidth request message, where the first bandwidth request message includes the first bandwidth requirement, sending, by the message conversion apparatus, the first bandwidth request message to a bandwidth allocation apparatus, receiving, by the message conversion apparatus, a first bandwidth response message sent by the bandwidth allocation apparatus, where the first bandwidth response message includes first bandwidth grant information, and the first bandwidth grant information is information about a bandwidth that is allocated to the user-side device and that corresponds to the first service, obtaining, by the message conversion apparatus, a second bandwidth response message based on the first bandwidth response message, where the second bandwidth response message includes the first bandwidth grant information, and sending, by the message conversion apparatus, the second bandwidth response message to the user-side device.

In the foregoing method, the message conversion apparatus may perform protocol conversion on the second bandwidth request message from the user-side device, to obtain the first bandwidth request message. The message conversion apparatus may no longer send the first bandwidth request message to a first access device, but directly send the first bandwidth request message to the bandwidth allocation apparatus, to trigger the bandwidth allocation apparatus to allocate corresponding bandwidth information to the user-side device and the second access device. This simplifies a procedure of currently allocating bandwidths to the message conversion apparatus and the first access device, improves bandwidth allocation efficiency, and reduce a latency caused to data transmission in a process of allocating a bandwidth to the message conversion apparatus.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth grant information is the same as the first bandwidth grant information in the first aspect.

In an implementation, the second bandwidth request message further includes first priority information, where the first priority information is used to identify a priority of a first service. For example, the message conversion apparatus may generate a new bandwidth request message and sort a sending sequence based on the first priority information. If the first priority information is high, the message conversion apparatus preferentially generates the first bandwidth request message and preferentially sends the first bandwidth request message to the bandwidth allocation apparatus.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth request message further includes the first priority information. If the first priority information is high, the bandwidth allocation apparatus may preferentially process the first bandwidth request message, to obtain the first bandwidth grant information and the second bandwidth grant information.

In an implementation, the second bandwidth request message further includes a first service identifier, and the first service identifier is used to identify the first service. The first service identifier may be 5-tuple information carried in a message header of the second bandwidth request message, or the first service identifier may be an identifier carried in a message body of the second bandwidth request message.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth request message further includes the first service identifier. If service identifiers are all represented by using 5-tuple information in a message header, 5-tuple included in the first bandwidth request message is not the same as 5-tuple included in the second bandwidth request message, but the 5-tuple included in the first bandwidth request message can still be used to represent the first service identifier. A message body of the first bandwidth request message may be the same as the message body of the second bandwidth request message, that is, the first service identifier may also be carried in the message body of the first bandwidth request message.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth request message and the first bandwidth response message are based on a same protocol, and the first bandwidth request message is based on an IP or an Ethernet protocol, and the second bandwidth request message and the first bandwidth request message are based on different protocols, and the second bandwidth response message and the second bandwidth request message are based on a same protocol. For example, the message header of the first bandwidth request message is different from the message header of the second bandwidth request message, and the message body of the first bandwidth request message is the same as the message body of the second bandwidth request message. A message header of the first bandwidth response message is different from a message header of the second bandwidth response message, and a message body of the first bandwidth response message is the same as a message body of the second bandwidth response message.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth response message further includes the second bandwidth grant information, where the second bandwidth grant information is information about a bandwidth that is allocated to the user-side device and that corresponds to a second service, and the method further includes receiving, by the message conversion apparatus, a second bandwidth requirement sent by the user-side device, where the second bandwidth requirement is a bandwidth used for completing transmission of the second service, adding, by the message conversion apparatus, the second bandwidth requirement to the first bandwidth request message, obtaining, by the message conversion apparatus, the second bandwidth grant information from the first bandwidth response message, and sending, by the message conversion apparatus, the second bandwidth grant information to the user-side device.

In an implementation, the second bandwidth requirement may be carried in the message body of the second bandwidth request message. The second bandwidth grant information may be carried in the message body of the second bandwidth response message.

According to a third aspect, a bandwidth allocation apparatus is provided, where the bandwidth allocation apparatus includes a receiving unit, configured to receive a bandwidth request message sent by an optical network module message conversion apparatus, where the bandwidth request message includes a bandwidth requirement, and the bandwidth requirement is a bandwidth used for completing transmission of a service, a calculation unit, configured to calculate first bandwidth grant information and second bandwidth grant information based on the bandwidth requirement, where the first bandwidth grant information is information about a bandwidth that is allocated to a user-side device and that corresponds to the service, the second bandwidth grant information is information about a bandwidth that is allocated to a second access device and that corresponds to the service, and the second access device is a device at which the message conversion apparatus is located, and a sending unit, configured to send a first bandwidth response message to the message conversion apparatus, and send a second bandwidth response message to a first access device, where the first bandwidth response message includes the first bandwidth grant information, and the second bandwidth response message includes the second bandwidth grant information.

In an implementation, the bandwidth request message further includes at least one of a service identifier and priority information, the priority information is used to identify a priority of the service, and the service identifier is used to identify the service.

The first bandwidth grant information is the same as the first bandwidth grant information in the first aspect. The second bandwidth grant information is the same as the second bandwidth grant information in the second aspect.

According to a fourth aspect, a message conversion apparatus is provided, where the message conversion apparatus includes a first receiving unit, configured to receive a second bandwidth request message sent by a user-side device, where the second bandwidth request message includes a first bandwidth requirement, and the first bandwidth requirement is a bandwidth used for completing transmission of a first service, a first conversion unit, configured to obtain a first bandwidth request message based on the second bandwidth request message, where the first bandwidth request message includes the first bandwidth requirement, a first sending unit, configured to send the first bandwidth request message to a bandwidth allocation apparatus, a second receiving unit, configured to receive a first bandwidth response message sent by the bandwidth allocation apparatus, where the first bandwidth response message includes first bandwidth grant information, and the first bandwidth grant information is information about a bandwidth that is allocated to the user-side device and that corresponds to the first service, a second conversion unit, configured to obtain a second bandwidth response message based on the first bandwidth response message, where the second bandwidth response message includes the first bandwidth grant information, and a second sending unit, configured to send the second bandwidth response message to the user-side device.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth request message further includes at least one of a first service identifier and first priority information, where the first priority information is used to identify a priority of a first service, and the first service identifier is used to identify the first service.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth request message and the first bandwidth response message are based on a same protocol, and the first bandwidth request message is based on an IP or an Ethernet protocol, and the second bandwidth request message and the first bandwidth request message are based on different protocols, and the second bandwidth response message and the second bandwidth request message are based on a same protocol.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth response message further includes second bandwidth grant information, and the second bandwidth grant information is information about a bandwidth that is allocated to the user-side device and that corresponds to a second service, the first receiving unit is further configured to receive a second bandwidth requirement sent by the user-side device, where the second bandwidth requirement is a bandwidth used for completing transmission of the second service, the first conversion unit is further configured to add the second bandwidth requirement to the first bandwidth request message, the second conversion unit is further configured to obtain the second bandwidth grant information from the first bandwidth response message, and the second sending unit is further configured to send the second bandwidth grant information to the user-side device.

The first bandwidth request message in the fourth aspect is the same as the first bandwidth message in the second aspect, and the second bandwidth request message in the fourth aspect is the same as the second bandwidth request message in the second aspect. The first bandwidth response message in the fourth aspect is the same as the first bandwidth response message in the second aspect, and the second bandwidth grant information in the fourth aspect is the same as the second bandwidth grant information in the second aspect.

In an implementation, the message conversion apparatus is disposed on a second access device, or the message conversion apparatus is disposed outside the second access device.

In any implementation of this application, information about a bandwidth corresponding to a service is information about a bandwidth used for transmitting the service, and the user-side device is an apparatus that is disposed on a user side and that can communicate with the second access device.

According to a fifth aspect, a bandwidth scheduling system is provided, where the system includes the bandwidth allocation apparatus provided in any one of the third aspect or the implementations of the third aspect, and the message conversion apparatus provided in any one of the fourth aspect or the implementations of the fourth aspect.

According to a sixth aspect, a bandwidth allocation apparatus is provided, where the bandwidth allocation apparatus includes a processor, a memory, and a communications interface. The processor, the memory, and the communications interface may communicate with each other through a communications bus. The processor may read an instruction from the memory, to implement the method step included in any one of the first aspect or the implementations of the first aspect.

According to a seventh aspect, a message conversion apparatus is provided, where the message conversion apparatus includes a processor, a memory, and a communications interface. The processor, the memory, and the communications interface may communicate with each other through a communications bus. The processor may read an instruction from the memory, to implement the method step included in any one of the second aspect or the implementations of the second aspect.

According to an eighth aspect, a second access device is provided, where the second access device includes the message conversion apparatus provided in the fourth aspect or any implementation of the fourth aspect.

In an implementation, the second access device further includes a third receiving unit and a bandwidth configuration unit. The third receiving unit is configured to receive a third bandwidth response message sent by a first receiving device, where the third bandwidth response message includes third bandwidth grant information, the third bandwidth grant information is information about a bandwidth that is allocated to the second access device and that corresponds to the first service, and the bandwidth configuration unit is configured to complete bandwidth configuration based on the third bandwidth grant information.

The third bandwidth grant information is the same as the second bandwidth grant information in any one of the first aspect or the implementations of the first aspect.

According to a ninth aspect, a first access device is provided, where the first access device includes a receiving unit, a conversion unit, and a sending unit. The receiving unit is configured to receive a first bandwidth response message sent by a bandwidth allocation apparatus, where the first bandwidth response message includes bandwidth grant information, and the bandwidth grant information is information about a bandwidth that is allocated to a second access device and that corresponds to a service. The conversion unit is configured to perform protocol format conversion on the first bandwidth response message, to obtain a second bandwidth response message, where the second bandwidth response message includes the bandwidth grant information. The sending unit is configured to send the second bandwidth response message to the second access device.

In an implementation, the first bandwidth response message and the second bandwidth response message are based on different protocols, the first bandwidth response message may be an IP-based message, and the second bandwidth response message may be a passive optical network (PON) message.

According to a tenth aspect, a bandwidth scheduling system is provided, where the system includes the second access device according to any one of the eighth aspect or the implementations of the eighth aspect and the first access device according to any one of the ninth aspect or the implementation of the ninth aspect.

