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:
Apr. 30, 2013
Filed:
Nov. 07, 2011
Furquan Ahmed Ansari, Middletown, NJ (US);
Martin Havemann, Belford, NJ (US);
Tirunell V. Lakshman, Morganville, NJ (US);
Thyagarajan Nandagopal, Middletown, NJ (US);
Ramachandran Ramjee, Summit, NJ (US);
Thomas Y. Woo, Red Bank, NJ (US);
Furquan Ahmed Ansari, Middletown, NJ (US);
Martin Havemann, Belford, NJ (US);
Tirunell V. Lakshman, Morganville, NJ (US);
Thyagarajan Nandagopal, Middletown, NJ (US);
Ramachandran Ramjee, Summit, NJ (US);
Thomas Y. Woo, Red Bank, NJ (US);
Alcatel Lucent, Paris, FR;
Abstract
A SoftRouter architecture deconstructs routers by separating the control entities of a router from its forwarding components, enabling dynamic binding between them. In the SoftRouter architecture, control plane functions are aggregated and implemented on a few smart servers which control forwarding elements that are multiple network hops away. A dynamic binding protocol performs network-wide control plane failovers. Network stability is improved by aggregating and remotely hosting routing protocols, such as OSPF and BGP. This results in faster convergence, lower protocol messages processed, and fewer route changes following a failure. The SoftRouter architecture includes a few smart control entities that manage a large number of forwarding elements to provide greater support for network-wide control. In the SoftRouter architecture, routing protocols operate remotely at a control element and control one or more forwarding elements by downloading the forwarding tables, etc. into the forwarding elements. Intra-domain routing and inter-domain routing are also included.