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. 29, 2005
Filed:
Dec. 28, 1999
Robert Duncan Doverspike, Tinton Falls, NJ (US);
Gokhan Sahin, Seattle, WA (US);
John Lester Strand, Holmdel, NJ (US);
Robert William Tkach, Little Silver, NJ (US);
Robert Duncan Doverspike, Tinton Falls, NJ (US);
Gokhan Sahin, Seattle, WA (US);
John Lester Strand, Holmdel, NJ (US);
Robert William Tkach, Little Silver, NJ (US);
AT&T Corp., New York, NY (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides methods and systems for restoring communication in a fiber optic network by placing error detection circuitry at the add/drop ports of the network nodes of the network. If the error detection circuitry detects an error condition for a communication signal traversing a normal communication path within the network, the communication signal is rerouted along a restoration communication path that is node and span disjoint from the first communication path. By requiring a restoration path to be node and span disjoint from the normal communication path, error detection circuitry need only be placed at the end nodes of the normal communication path. By allowing each node in the restoration path to dynamically choose the particular channels that can accommodate a particular communication signal at the time of the restoration, efficient use of available resources is gained. The result is a cost effective network that restores communication in times competitive to that of SONET rings.