Patent · US Expired

Lockup detection and recovery in a packet switching network

US4630259A · kind A · utility

46Cited by
5References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 14, 1984
Grant dateDec 16, 1986
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 14, 2004

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L47/10
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A self-routing packet switching network in which packets are communicated through stages of the network in response to self-contained addresses and in which a packet is discarded if a packet cannot be transferred to a subsequent stage of the network within a predefined amount of time. In addition, upon a packet being discarded, a maintenance message is transmitted over a maintenance channel to the processor controlling the network. Each network comprises stages of switching nodes which are responsive to the physical address in a packet to communicate the packet to a designated subsequent node. The nodes provide for variable packet buffering, packet address rotation techniques, and inter-node and intra-node signaling protocols. Each node comprises a timer which commences timing for a predefined amount of time upon receipt of a packet. If the timer times out, the packet is discarded and a maintenance message is transmitted to the processor controlling the network. The maintenance message includes the physical address plus an address identifying the network entry point of the packet. By discarding packets after a predefined amount of time, the problem of a self-routing network locking…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.