Method of protecting traffic in a mesh network
First Claim
1. A method of protecting traffic in a mesh network, the method comprising the steps of:
- establishing at least two physically diverse paths from a source node to a destination node for transmitting data packets of the traffic;
tagging, at the source node, each of said data packets with a sequence number;
transmitting, by the source node, the tagged data packets onto the paths;
receiving, at the destination node, the data packets transmitted over the paths; and
reconstructing, at the destination node, the traffic from the received data packets.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Method and apparatus for protection of traffic in a mesh network are disclosed. A source node sends duplicate copies of data packets of the protected traffic on physically diverse paths through the network. The data packets include a sequence number for determining their position in the protected traffic. A destination node receives the data packets from the paths, selects the next data packet in the sequence and transfers that packet to a receiving queue, while duplicate packets are discarded, and later packets in the sequence are held in a holding queue for future selection. The method does not require a synchronization function between the paths to perform a switchover in the event of a fault, and therefore the method is simple to implement. The method is also scalable to provide multiple physically diverse paths in order to achieve greater degrees of protection.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method of protecting traffic in a mesh network, the method comprising the steps of:
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establishing at least two physically diverse paths from a source node to a destination node for transmitting data packets of the traffic;
tagging, at the source node, each of said data packets with a sequence number;
transmitting, by the source node, the tagged data packets onto the paths;
receiving, at the destination node, the data packets transmitted over the paths; and
reconstructing, at the destination node, the traffic from the received data packets. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of receiving traffic in a mesh network, the method comprising the steps of:
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establishing at least two physically diverse paths from a source node to a destination node for carrying data packets of the traffic;
receiving, at the destination node, the data packets transmitted over the paths; and
reconstructing, at the destination node, the traffic from the received data packets. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A network node for receiving protected traffic carried over physically diverse paths in a mesh network, the node comprising:
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a plurality of receivers, each one of said receivers for connecting to one of the paths and being operable to receive data packets of the traffic, each of said data packets having a sequence number corresponding to its position in the traffic;
a controller being operable to maintain an expected sequence number, the expected sequence number corresponding to the position in the traffic of a next data packet to be received; and
a receiving queue for receiving said data packets, the controller being operable to cause a particular data packet to be delivered from any one of the receivers to the receiving queue responsive to the particular data packet having a sequence number equal to the expected sequence number. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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Specification