Automatic load sharing for network routers
US6397260B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 8, 1999 |
| Grant date | May 28, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 8, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L49/50
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A network is operated such that message forwarding traffic is shared among routers in a load-sharing set. The routers are respectively associated with different non-overlapping subspaces of a source address space from which source addresses of source nodes on the network are drawn, and each router has an identifier uniquely identifying the router in the load-sharing set. Address request messages identifying a predetermined forwarding route are broadcast on the network by source nodes, each request message containing a source address of the broadcasting node. In response to each address request message, each router determines whether the source address is within the address subspace associated with the router, and if so returns the router's identifier to the source node. When a message is to be transmitted from a source node to a destination node on another network via a router, the source node transmits the message on the network along with the identifier returned in response to the address request message broadcast by the source node. Each router forwards only those messages that contain the router's identifier.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.