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. 14, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 27, 1999
Peter J. Desnoyers, Cambridge, MA (US);
Shawn A. Clayton, Boylston, MA (US);
Nitin D. Godiwala, Boylston, MA (US);
Emulex Corporation, Costa Mesa, CA (US);
Abstract
A network includes devices such as computers and the like, interconnected by switching nodes. The devices are identified by globally-unique identifiers, such as Ethernet MAC addresses or the like. At least some of the devices are configured to determine the topology of the network. In determining the network topology, a device operates in a series of iterations, in each iteration transmitting a request message over a path to determine whether an additional entity is present in the network. If an additional entity is present at the end of the path defined in the request message, the entity will generate a response, which is provided to the device. The device, on receiving the response, will add information concerning the entity to a network topology database, which it maintains to define the topology of the database. At least some of the devices, as they discover additional switching nodes in the network, will attempt to configure the switching nodes. In that operation, the devices interact with the switching nodes in connection with a locking protocol to ensure that only one device attempts to configure each switching node. Each device, after it determines the network topology, and when it needs to transfer information with another device, can determine an appropriate route using the network topology information in its network topology database. After determining the appropriate route, the devices will load routing information into the switching nodes to enable them to forward messages containing the information to be transferred thereamong. Each device will provide to the other devices its globally-unique address, which the other devices use to identify the respective device.