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:
Apr. 24, 2001
Filed:
Jun. 22, 1995
Mark Wayne Sees, Plano, TX (US);
Will Russ, Dallas, TX (US);
Lee Dennis Bengston, Murphy, TX (US);
Clinton Allen Wagner, Allen, TX (US);
MCI Communications Corporation, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
To revert the topology of a network to its original or normal state after an alternate route has been found for bypassing traffic away from a malfunctioned link that has since been repaired, an Operation Support System (OSS) sends to each of the custodial sender/chooser nodes and the tandem nodes that form the alternate route respective commands to revert the operation(s) that each node had performed during distributed restoration. The OSS is able to identify the custodial nodes by the fact that those nodes perform more operations than the tandem nodes. The operations that were performed during the distributed restoration process were recorded and the thus restored topology of the network is mapped and stored. Upon receipt from the different nodes that the malfunctioned link has been repaired, the OSS sends to each of the nodes a specific command to perform the inverse of the operation(s) that that node had performed during the restoration. The custodial nodes are ordered to perform their inverse operations first so that the malfunctioned link that has since been repaired once again connects the custodial nodes. A path verification process is next performed to ensure the integrity of the newly repaired path. Once the integrity of the repaired path is confirmed, each of the tandem nodes performs the inverse of the operation it had performed during the distributed restoration to disconnect the cross connected ports within each of the tandem nodes.