The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 27, 2000
Filed:
Oct. 01, 1997
Mark Aldo Bordogna, North Andover, MA (US);
Philip Sidney Dietz, East Hampstead, NH (US);
Joseph Elide Landry, Atkinson, NH (US);
Jeffrey Robert Towne, Litchfield, NH (US);
Warren Clifton Trested, Jr, E. Hampstead, NH (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, DE (US);
Abstract
A network element with a centralized switch fabric is able to support multiple switching functions while meeting established performance requirements by using a control system based on an embedded signal status protocol. Generally, each input signal within a transmission path is monitored to derive signal status information, which is then individually encoded and embedded within the input signal. The embedded signal status can be decoded and provided as input to control logic for processing at any point within the transmission path, as necessary. In the case of a centralized switch fabric, the control logic resolves an address of a single input signal based on the embedded signal status and provides this resolved address to the switch fabric so that the appropriate input signal can be selected. In the present invention, the control logic may be configured to support any given application, e.g., 'path-in-line' protection switching, whereby each configuration of control logic constitutes an application control set that supports the performance requirements of that given application.