System and method for tracing cable interconnections between multiple systems
First Claim
1. A method for identifying cable interconnections between two systems connected along a cabling path over one or more intermediate systems, comprising:
- a) storing local interconnections information at each system, which includes a system identifying code and a cable identifying code that uniquely identifies a cable to be connected to the system;
b) at said first end point, generating an interconnections trace message addressed to said second endpoint, said message including an interconnections information field;
c) at said first system and each intermediate system, if any, updating the interconnections information carried by said interconnections trace message by appending the local interconnections information of said respective system and transmitting said interconnections trace message to a downstream system along said cabling path; and
d) at the second system, extracting said interconnections information from said interconnections trace message and identifying all cables and systems along said cabling path.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques to ascertain physical cabling connections of electronic systems are provided for situations where there are numerous systems interconnected by a very large number of electrical or optical cables. A cable identifying code is inserted into a message sent from a local endpoint system to remote endpoint system over the identified cable. Each intermediate system that is in the interconnection path between the two endpoint systems of interest appends its code for the cable connected to the I/O port from which the message will egress that system and be sent to the next system along the path. The remote endpoint system receives the message which now contains codes for all the cables transited along the path, extract the codes, and thereby determines the exact cabling used in the interconnection of the two endpoint systems.
67 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method for identifying cable interconnections between two systems connected along a cabling path over one or more intermediate systems, comprising:
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a) storing local interconnections information at each system, which includes a system identifying code and a cable identifying code that uniquely identifies a cable to be connected to the system; b) at said first end point, generating an interconnections trace message addressed to said second endpoint, said message including an interconnections information field; c) at said first system and each intermediate system, if any, updating the interconnections information carried by said interconnections trace message by appending the local interconnections information of said respective system and transmitting said interconnections trace message to a downstream system along said cabling path; and d) at the second system, extracting said interconnections information from said interconnections trace message and identifying all cables and systems along said cabling path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for identifying a second end point of a cabling path from a first end point of said cabling path, said cabling path interconnecting a first and a second end systems, comprising:
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storing local interconnections information at each system, which includes a system identifying code and a cable identifying code that uniquely identifies a cable to be connected to the system; at said first end point, generating an interconnections trace message specifying the address of said first end point and including an interconnections information field; at said first system and each intermediate system, if any, updating the interconnections information carried by said interconnections trace message by appending the local interconnections information of said respective system and transmitting said interconnections trace message to a downstream system along said cabling path; at the second endpoint, updating the interconnections information with an identification of said second endpoint and processing said interconnection information updated with the identification of said second end point for identifying all cables and systems along said cabling path and said second end point. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A cabling interconnection identification unit installed on a system connected along a cabling path between a first and a second end systems, comprising:
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a receiver for receiving a forward interconnections trace message from an upstream system connected in said cabling path and a transmitter for transmitting an updated forward interconnections trace message to a downstream system connected in said cabling path; a code memory for storing local interconnection information; and a processor for appending said local interconnection information to said forward interconnections trace message for obtaining said updated forward interconnections trace message. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification