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. 23, 2004
Filed:
Feb. 09, 2001
Douglas Edward Smith, Westford, MA (US);
Howard C. Reeve, III, North Andover, MA (US);
James T. Francis, Jr., Merrimack, NH (US);
Sycamore Networks, Inc., Chelmsford, MA (US);
Abstract
A system and method is provided for using a first data channel to pass working data and a second data channel to pass error correction information. For example, this second data channel may be defined along a redundant data path. For example, this error correction information may be forwarded error correction (FEC) information such as Hamming code information or any other type of error correction information. Use of the redundant path to forward FEC information provides several advantages: 1) the FEC information can be used to correct bit errors that occur within the system, making the system high-quality and more reliable and 2) use of the protected path provides an efficient method to constantly monitor the quality of both the working and redundant path. Monitoring is accomplished by using the FEC information on the redundant path in conjunction with the information on the working path to accurately count the number of errors that occur on the working and redundant paths. Information provided by monitoring can then be used to diagnose problems on the working path, so that the problems can be fixed before there is a need for the communication system to switch over to the redundant path.