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. 09, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 16, 1998
John Alvan Voelker, Aurora, IL (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
In a connection-oriented packet switching network, different paths through the network from one point to another are likely to have different delay. The invention is a method and network architecture for rerouting data packets from one path to another path without loss, duplication, or mis-ordering of the packets (or cells) despite unpredictable differences in delay incurred by packets on the replacement path relative to packets on the original path. The invention uses a marker cell, which is either transmitted along one path or along both paths. At the downstream convergence of the original and replacement path, all pre-marker data packets arriving on the original path are first transmitted and then all post-marker data packets on the replacement path are transmitted. Proper use of the marker provides a means for ensuring that the data packets will be delivered in the proper order, despite the order in which the data packets are received over the original path and the replacement path.