System and Method for Controlling Timing in a Distributed Digital Cross-Connect System

1. A timing system for coordinating the components of a distributed digital cross-connect system, the timing system comprising: a master timing system operable-to receive a network timing reference and to generate a master timing signal; a distributed services node timing system coupled to the master timing system, the distributed services node timing system operable to receive the master timing signal and to embed a timing signal in a data transmission frame; and two or more network interface island timing systems coupled to the distributed services node timing system, each network interface island timing system operable to receive the data transmission frame and to retrieve the embedded timing signal from the data transmission frame.

2. The timing system of claim 1 wherein the master timing system further comprises two redundant planes of components, such that the master timing system can remain fully operable after the failure of one or more master timing system components.

3. The timing system of claim 1 wherein each distributed services node timing system further comprises two redundant planes of components, such that the distributed services node timing system can remain fully operable after the failure of one or more distributed service node timing system components.

4. The timing system of claim 1 wherein each network interface island timing system further comprises two redundant planes of components, such that each network interface island timing system can remain fully operable after the failure of one or more digital cross-connect system components.

5. The timing system of claim 1 wherein the master timing system, each distributed services node timing system, and each network interface island timing system further comprises two redundant planes of components, such that the master timing system, each distributed services node timing system, and each network interface island timing system can remain fully operable after the failure of one or more components.

6. The timing system of claim 5 wherein the first redundant master timing system plane is coupled to the second redundant master timing system plane, the first redundant master timing system plane is operable to receive the master timing signal from the second redundant master timing system plane, and the second redundant master timing system plane is operable to receive the master timing signal from the first redundant master timing system.

7. The timing system of claim 6 wherein the first and second redundant distributed services nodes timing systems each further comprises a main and backup timing generator, the first redundant master timing system being coupled to the main and backup timing generator of the first and second redundant distributed services nodes timing systems, and the second redundant master timing system plane being coupled to the main and backup timing generator of the first and second redundant distributed services nodes timing systems.

8. The timing system of claim 7 wherein the first redundant distributed services node timing system is coupled to the second redundant distributed services node timing system.

9. The timing system of claim 6 wherein the first and second redundant distributed services nodes timing systems further comprise a phase-locked loop coupled to an electrical-to-optical converter and are operable to transmit timing signals to the network access island timing systems by embedding a timing signal in a data stream.

10. The timing system of claim 7 wherein the backup timing generators of the first and second distributed services nodes timing systems further comprise a controller that activates the backup timing generators only after failure of the main timing generator associated with each backup timing generator.

11. The timing system of claim 5 wherein each network access island timing system further comprises: a local timing generator operable to derive a timing reference signal from an embedded timing signal in a data stream; a maintenance circuit operable to detect drift in the local timing generator; and a realignment circuit operable to realign the phase of the local timing generator to that of the embedded timing signal.

12. A timing system for coordinating the components of a distributed digital cross-connect system, comprising: a master timing system operable to receive a network timing reference and to generate a master timing signal, the master timing system having two redundant planes of components, the first redundant master timing system plane being coupled to the second redundant master timing system plane, so that the master timing system can remain fully operable after the failure of one or more master timing system components, and where the first redundant master timing system plane is operable to receive the master timing signal from the second redundant master timing system plane, and the second redundant master timing system plane is operable to receive the master timing signal from the first redundant master timing system; a distributed services node timing system coupled to the master timing system, the distributed services node timing system operable to receive the master timing signal and to embed a timing signal in a data transmission frame, each distributed services node timing system having two redundant planes of components, so that the distributed services node timing system can remain fully operable after the failure of one or more distributed service node timing system components; and two or more network access island timing systems coupled to the distributed services node timing system, each network access island timing system operable to receive the data transmission frame and to retrieve the embedded timing signal from the data transmission frame, each network access island timing system having two redundant planes of components, such that each network access island timing system can remain fully operable after the failure of one or more network access island timing system components.

13. The timing system of claim 12 wherein the first and second redundant distributed services nodes timing systems each further comprises a main and backup timing generator, the first redundant master timing system plane being coupled to the main and backup timing generator of the first and second redundant distributed services nodes timing systems, and the second redundant master timing system plane being coupled to the main and backup timing generator of the first and second redundant distributed services nodes timing systems.

14. The timing system of claim 13 wherein the first redundant distributed services node timing system is coupled to the second redundant distributed services node timing system.

15. The timing system of claim 12 wherein the first and second redundant distributed services nodes timing systems further comprise a phase-locked loop coupled to an electrical-to-optical converter and are operable to transmit timing signals to the network access island timing systems by embedding a timing signal in a data stream.

16. The timing system of claim 13 wherein the backup timing generators of the first and second distributed services nodes timing systems further comprise a controller that activates the backup timing generators only after failure of the main timing generator associated with each backup timing generator.

17. The timing system of claim 12 wherein each network access island timing system further comprises a local timing generator operable to derive a timing reference signal from an embedded timing signal in a data stream.

18. The timing system of claim 12 wherein each network access island timing system further comprises a local timing generator operable to generate a timing reference signal from the embedded timing signal.

19. The timing system of claim 18 wherein each network access island timing system further comprises a maintenance circuit operable to detect drift in the local timing generator.

20. The timing system of claim 19 wherein each network access island timing system further comprises: a realignment circuit operable to realign the phase of the local timing generator to that of the embedded timing signal.

21. A timing method for coordinating the components of a distributed digital cross-connect system, the timing method comprising: generating the reference timing signal at a first and second master timing system, respectively; transmitting the reference timing signal generated at the first master timing system to the second master timing system; transmitting the reference timing signal generated at the second master timing system to the first master timing system; transmitting the reference timing signal from the first and second master timing systems to a distributed services node timing system; receiving the reference timing signal from each of the first and second master timing systems at each of first and second distributed service node timing systems; transmitting a reference timing signal of the first distributed services node timing system to the second distributed services node timing system; transmitting the reference timing signal of the second distributed services node timing system to the first distributed services node timing system; and transmitting the reference timing signal from the first and second distributed services node timing system to two or more network access island timing systems.

22. The timing method of claim 21 wherein the reference timing signal is derived from a network timing reference signal.

23. The timing method of claim 21 wherein the step of receiving the reference timing signal to the distributed services node timing system further comprises receiving the reference timing signal from the first and second master timing systems at a primary and a backup timing generator of the first distributed services nodes timing systems, and a primary and a backup timing generator of the second distributed services nodes timing systems.

24. The timing method of claim 21 wherein the step of transmitting the reference timing signal to two or more network access island timing systems further comprises the steps of: embedding reference timing signal data in a data frame; transmitting the data frame from the first distributed services node timing system to a first plane of each network access island timing system; and transmitting the data frame from the second distributed services node timing system to a second plane of each network access island timing system.

25. The timing method of claim 24 further comprising the steps of: generating a local timing signal at each network access island timing system; and aligning the phase of the local timing signal to the phase of the reference timing signal.

26. The timing method of claim 25 further comprising the step of deriving the reference timing signal from a network timing reference signal.