Patent · US Expired

Apparatus for determining the topology of an ATM network or the like Via communication of topology information between a central manager and switches in the network over a virtual service path

US5729685A · kind A · utility

289Cited by
61References
11Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 13, 1996
Grant dateMar 17, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 13, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2101/604
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network or the like employing a method and apparatus for automatically determining the topology of the network is described. The method and apparatus provides for each switch in the network transmitting on each of its ports link advertisement messages (without processing intervention by intermediate switches). The link advertisement messages are received by neighbor switches and forwarded to a topology manager. The topology manager constructs network topology profile information based on received link advertisement messages. Further, the topology manager is able to verify bidirection links based on the received link advertisement messages.

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