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:
Sep. 17, 2002
Filed:
May. 06, 1999
Daljeet Singh, Morgan Hill, CA (US);
John G. Waclawsky, Fredrick, MD (US);
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A system including a method and apparatus are provided for controlling fault conditions in a computer controlled device such as a data communications device. The invention can preferably be provided in a process restarter mechanism within an operation system. In operation, the process restarter system detects improper execution (i.e., detects a processing failure) of a set of instructions and initiates execution of the set of instructions in response to the operation of detecting. The system then repeats the operation of detecting and initiating according to a first restart sequence and then repeats the operation of detecting and initiating according to a second restart sequence. The second restart sequence initiates execution of the set of instructions in a different sequence than the first restart sequence. For example, the first restart sequence may perform process restarts quickly after failure detection, while the second restart sequence performs process restarts after longer and longer periods of time after failure detection. The quick restarts of the first restart sequence initially provide for maximum process uptime, and the delayed or progressively backed-off restarts allows a fault condition causing process failure to be remedied. The second restart sequence can include the use of helper processes which provide passive or active fault management. In active fault management using helper processes, the helper processes can diagnose and correct the fault condition(s) causing the improper execution of the set of instructions. Passive fault management helper processes can diagnose the fault condition and report back to the process restarter. By providing delayed restarts in the second restart sequence along with helper processes, fault management in a device equipped with the invention helps ensure proper and prolonged device operation with minimized system resource over-utilization.