Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.

Mci Communications Corporation

Mci, Inc.

Mci Worldcom, Inc.

John David Allen

Jasvantrai C Shah

Lee Dennis Bengston

Donald E Smith

Bryan J McGlade

Sridhar Alagar

Rina Rotshild Schneur

Hal Badt

Ching-Hua Chow

An approach is provided for scheduling work order tasks based on an optimization of available resources and an assessment of cost penalty functions for missing work order deadlines, including determining an estimated work order completion time for processing a plurality of tasks associated with a work order on one or more resources, scheduling the plurality of tasks in a processing queue based on the estimated work order completion time, and determining a value of a penalty function for violating a work order deadline.

Method and apparatus for scheduling media processing jobs on multiple processors to maximize processor utilization

Systems and methods for core network topology router placement planning are provided. The systems and methods may use existing network data to create a data set and use the data set to optimize a network for the placement of routers.

System and method for core network topology router placement planning

A method may include inputting parameters that characterize an optical network, inputting one or more demands to be routed, selecting routes, wavelengths, and wavelength translation nodes simultaneously for the one or more demands of the optical network based on the parameters, where each demand includes a working path and one or more protect paths, and configuring the optical network based on the selected routes, wavelengths, and wavelength translation nodes associated with the one or more demands.

Wavelength assignment optimization

In a telecommunications network provisioned with a distributed restoration scheme, to determine the reactions and responses of the network while the network is &ldquo;live&rdquo; or operational, an exercise information message is provided to the network for presenting a simulated failure or failures thereto. This exercise information message is broadcast to all of the nodes of the network so that every node is aware of the simulated failure scenario. Modified DRA messages that indicate that they are exercise only messages are used by the nodes for executing the exercise restoration process. Such exercise restoration process will proceed as if an actual failure has occurred with the notable exception that no actual cross-connections will be made. Certain functionalities are provisioned to the nodes to allow the exercise restoration process to be aborted if a real failure is detected or upon the expiration of a timer. The exercise restoration process can also be terminated by a command from the network management.

Method of exercising a distributed restoration process in an operational telecommunications network

To ensure that the distributed restoration process of a DRA provisioned network proceeds only in response to true failures, the present invention DRA network provisions to each of the ports of the nodes a timer mechanism for ascertaining whether an alarm is a genuine alarm. This is done by presetting the timer with an expiration period so that an alarm is validated as a failure only upon the expiration of the timer. When validated, the value of a counter is incremented. The value of the counter is reflective of the sum of validated alarms, and is compared against a preset threshold value. And it is only when the value of the summed validated alarms exceeds the preset threshold value would the DRA process be initiated. When a validated alarm ceases, the reverse process takes place. That is, the ending of the alarm has to be validated by another timer, which could be the same timer as used for validating an alarm. The counter is decremented for each validated non-alarm, so that when the value of the defect counter falls below the threshold value, the DRA process is reset.

Method and system therefor for ensuring a true activation of distributed restoration in a telecommunications network

A system and method for restoring communications in a network having multiple span failures. After a failure is detected, a sender node in each of the plurality of sender-chooser pairs sends a failed status message to the other nodes in the network. The failed status message identifies a restoration priority of the particular sender-chooser pair. Upon receipt, other nodes in the network suspend processing of lower priority restoration efforts and queue lower priority messages if they are preempted by higher priority messages. Lower priority restoration efforts resume upon receipt of a finished status message from the sender node of the higher priority sender-chooser pair.

Restoration of multiple span cuts with priority hand-off using SHN

To restore partial outages within a communication network having numerous switching nodes and links interconnecting the nodes, a three-stage distributed restoration protocol is activated to use spare links to bypass failed links and restore normal network connectivity. The three-stage protocol detects and resolves contention for spare resources among separate restoration processes and is therefore particularly advantageous in the event of multiple simultaneous network failures. A conservative flooding approach is used during the first forward signalling stage. Data elements added to the forward signals convey the likelihood that the path will be needed for restoration. The second reverse signalling stage uses reverse signals with attached contention data to detect contention among separate processes for spare resources and to alert the respective processes. The final path implementation stage involves reviewing the reverse signals and using the attached contention data to make informed choices of restoration paths that result in the highest degree of overall network restoration. The present invention, including node logic and specific signal structures and multiple-pass signalling, allows for shared awareness among diverse restoration processes so that they may work collectively to best utilize available spare resources.

Communication system and method providing optimal restoration of failed

A system and method for restoring communications between a pair of nodes, between which communications have been broken, in a network. The method comprises the steps of designating one of the nodes a SENDER node and the other a CHOOSER node, where the SENDER and CHOOSER nodes each have a working port connected to a link bearing the interrupted communications; creating a forward restoration signature having a unique priority; selectively transmitting the forward restoration signal from the SENDER node based on its priority; upon receipt of a forward restoration signature at a TANDEM node, modifying and selectively transmitting the forward restoration signature based on its priority; upon receipt of a forward restoration signature at a spare port on the CHOOSER node, choosing the restoration path indicated by the received forward restoration signature, connecting the working port to the spare port, and transmitting a reverse restoration signature having the same priority as the forward restoration signature; upon receipt of a reverse restoration signature at a TANDEM node, based on the priority of the reverse restoration signature, modifying and selectively transmitting the reverse restoration signature, and connecting the port on which the reverse restoration signal was received to the port on which the corresponding forward restoration signature was originally received; and on receipt of a reverse restoration signature at a spare port on the SENDER node, connecting the spare port to the working port, thereby restoring communications between the pair of nodes.

Communications system and method providing optimal restoration of

A system and method for restoration of a disrupted telecommunications path between a source node and a destination node via at least one tandem node. The operation of the present invention proceeds in five phases: notification, broadcast, path trace-out, confirmation and cleanup. In the notification phase, the path's source and destination nodes are notified of the disruption. In the broadcast phase, the network is flooded with PACK messages to locate restoration paths; selective rebroadcasting of the PACK messages limits the volume of restoration message traffic. In the path trace-out phase, bandwidth is conservatively reserved along the restoration paths indicated by the PACK messages. In the confirmation phase, restoration paths are built up step-wise along the traced-out paths, thereby restoring the disrupted path between the source and destination nodes. In the clean-up phase, all of the network resources that were allocated to restoration of the disrupted path, and that are no longer needed, are released.

Growing community of inventors

Garland, TX, United States of America

John David Allen