Patent · US Expired

System and method for fault recovery for two line bi-directional ring network

US6615362B1 · kind B1 · utility

29Cited by
13References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 12, 2002
Grant dateSep 2, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 4, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L45/22
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention provides a protection protocol for fault recovery, such as a ring wrap, for a network, such as a two line bi-directional ring network. An embodiment of the present invention works in conjunction with a ring topology network in which a node in the network can identify a problem with a connection between the node and a first neighbor. The present invention provides a protection protocol which simplifies the coordination required by the nodes in a ring network. The nodes do not need to maintain a topology map of the ring, identifying and locating each node on the ring, for effective protection. Additionally, independently operating ring networks can be merged and the protection protocol will appropriately remove a protection, such as a ring wrap, to allow the formation of a single ring. It also provides for multiple levels of protection priority so that protection for a high priority failure, such as a physical break in a connection, would remove protection for a low priority failure, such as a signal degrade, on another link.

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