A clock synchronization packet exchanging method includes sending, by a first device in a Flexible Ethernet (FlexE) group, a first FlexE instance at a first physical layer (PHY), where the first FlexE instance includes a clock synchronization packet, and a second FlexE instance sent by the first device in the FlexE group at a second PHY also includes a clock synchronization packet. The clock synchronization packets are carried in a plurality of FlexE instances transmitted between a transmit end and a receive end in the FlexE group.

A device determines a first latency value of a first data flow from a first physical port of the device to a second physical port of the device and a second latency value of a second data flow from the second physical port to the first physical port, where the first latency value is less than the second latency value. The device determines a first target latency value based on the first latency value and the second latency value. The device adjusts a latency value of the first data flow to the first target latency value.

This application provides a data transmission method and apparatus. The method includes: processing, by a network device, a to-be-sent optical data unit ODU to obtain another ODU, where a bit rate of the another ODU is lower than a bit rate of the ODU; and sending, by the network device, the another ODU. In embodiments of this application, the ODU is processed to obtain the another ODU with a lower bit rate, and this helps reduce a rate increase when service data is transmitted in an OTN, so as to reduce an OTN interface rate and OTN costs.

The present disclosure relates to communication methods, communications devices, and storage medium. In one example method, a port of a first device supports a flexible Ethernet protocol and a standard Ethernet protocol, and a protocol type supported by a port of a second device includes at least one of the flexible Ethernet protocol or the standard Ethernet protocol. The first device obtains the protocol type supported by the port of the second device, determines a target protocol type based on the protocol type supported by the port of the second device and a protocol type supported by the port of the first device, and communicates with the second device based on the target protocol type. The target protocol type includes the flexible Ethernet protocol or the standard Ethernet protocol.

This disclosure provides a method for sending and receiving a clock synchronization packet in FlexE. The method includes: generating, by a sending apparatus, indication information and a plurality of data blocks, where the plurality of data blocks are obtained by encoding a first clock synchronization packet, the indication information is used to indicate a first data block, and the first data block is a data block used for timestamp sampling in the plurality of data blocks; determining, by the sending apparatus, according to the indication information, a moment at which the first data block arrives at a medium dependent interface MDI of the sending apparatus, and generating a sending timestamp, where the sending timestamp is used to record a sending moment of the first clock synchronization packet; generating a second clock synchronization packet carrying the sending timestamp; and sending, by the sending apparatus, the second clock synchronization packet.

Methods and apparatus are provided for transmitting synchronization data over a FlexE communications link. In an example aspect, a method of transmitting synchronization data over a FlexE communications link includes, in response to a synchronization event, selecting a next slot of the FlexE communications link that is unallocated or is allocated to a FlexE client, and transmitting synchronization data associated with the synchronization event in the selected slot.

Example methods and apparatus for processing a bit block stream are described. One example method includes obtaining a first to-be-processed bit block stream and mapping the first to-be-processed bit block stream into at least two slot bit block streams. The at least two slot bit block streams include a first slot bit block stream and a second slot bit block stream. The first slot bit block stream includes a first boundary bit block and a second boundary bit block. The second slot bit block stream includes a third boundary bit block and a fourth boundary bit block. N first bit blocks exist between the first boundary bit block and the second boundary bit block. N first bit blocks exist between the third boundary bit block and the fourth boundary bit block. The first bit block is a non-idle bit block.

A data transmission method is disclosed. The method in the embodiments of the present disclosure includes: obtaining, by a sending apparatus, a code block set; determining, by the sending apparatus, whether the code block set includes an idle code block; if the code block set comprises an idle code block, generating, by the sending apparatus, a dedicated code block, where the dedicated code block includes an indication field and a data field, the data field is used to carry a service, the indication field carries indication information, and the indication information is used to indicate that the dedicated code block and indicate that the data field carries the service; replacing, by the sending apparatus, the idle code block with the dedicated code block to obtain a target code block set, and sending, by the sending apparatus, the target code block set.

Methods and apparatus are provided for processing communications. In one aspect, a method of processing Flex Ethernet (FlexE) data comprises receiving a plurality of data blocks over at least one physical layer connection, each data block corresponding to one of at least one FlexE client flow, wherein data blocks corresponding to a first client flow of the at least one FlexE client flow have a destination over at least one further physical layer connection and contain Ethernet packets and Operation, Administration & Management (OAM) blocks, forming at least one further Ethernet packet containing at least one of the OAM blocks, the at least one further Ethernet packet specifying the destination, and providing the at least one further Ethernet packet to a switching node for forwarding to the destination.

A ZR or ZR+ interface includes circuitry configured to receive one or more client signals; and circuitry configured to transmit the one or more client signals as an aggregate signal in a Flexible Ethernet (FlexE) format in one of a ZR format and a ZR+ format, including a mapping indicative of how the one or more client signals are one of multiplexed and subrated into the aggregate signal. The aggregate signal can have a rate that does not correspond to a standard Ethernet Physical Medium Dependent (PMD). The FlexE format can include a plurality of FlexE instances with at least one of the FlexE instances having calendar slots removed for a subrating application.