Patent · US Expired

Interconnect fault detection and localization method and apparatus

US5987629A · kind A · utility

25Cited by
7References
4Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 20, 1998
Grant dateNov 16, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 20, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L43/50
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus for detecting and isolating an interconnect fault in a packet switched network generates a parity check error code for status messages which are used for flow control in a packet switched network. The packet switched network uses a reverse flow control method wherein status messages are sent locally between adjacent nodes. A receiving node uses status messages to inform an adjacent node of the availability of the input buffers located in the receiving node. Included in the status message is a parity check code that is sent sequentially with the status message using two phases of a clock. The parity check code is a one bit parity check for each bit of the status message. Faults on the local interconnect are detected at the receiving node by performing a one bit parity check on the received status message using the accompanying parity code. Because the status message and the parity check code are transmitted over the same physical bit connections, the one bit parity checks detects any "stuck at" or "open" faults in the link.

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