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:
Nov. 25, 2003
Filed:
Feb. 12, 1999
Stephen Arthur Oliva, Foothill Ranch, CA (US);
Brian Crowe, Garland, TX (US);
Sprint Communications Company, L.P., Overland Park, KS (US);
Abstract
A system and method for continuously monitoring neighboring network elements and determining physical connection topology and changes in topology among network elements. Each port in a network element capable of having physical connectivity to a port on an adjacent network element has a unique identification of the node and a unique identification of the port. The identification is both available to the network management system and continuously transmitted on the physical link between two ports in the network, thus identifying the transmitting port to the receiving port. As nodes and ports are added to or deleted from a network, a representation of the nodes or ports is added or removed from the network management system. The local operating program in each network element informs the network management system of changes, or changes are queried by a network management system. The transmission of identification takes place in overhead data channels, designated as topology trace channels, which are designed into the overall framework of the transmission system and its equipment. No information capacity that could support network customer traffic or network control traffic between network elements is pre-empted.