Method and apparatus for self-restoring and self-provisioning communication networks
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A method of restoring communications between a pair of nodes in a network having an arbitrary number of nodes and an arbitrary number of spans interconnecting said nodes, each said span having working circuits between nodes designated for transmitting actual communications traffic and spare circuits between nodes capable of, but not designated for, transmitting actual communications traffic, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) establishing one or more independent communication paths between said pair of nodes through a series of spare circuits of spans interconnecting said pair of nodes and other interconnected nodes in said network, including the steps of;
i. repeatedly transmitting restoration signals along logical spans of spare circuits departing said one node;
ii. repeatedly retransmitting said restoration signals from said other interconnected nodes along logical spans of spare circuits departing said interconnected nodes; and
iii. upon receipt of a restoration signal by said other node, transmitting a complement restoration signal from said other node along a path consisting of the same spare circuits along which said restoration signal was communicated to said other node; and
(b) redirecting communications traffic intended for one or more failed spans interconnecting said pair of nodes through one or more of said paths.
1 Assignment
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus of restoring communications between a pair of nodes in a network having an arbitrary number of nodes and an arbitrary number of spans interconnecting the nodes, each span having working circuits between nodes designated for transmitting actual communications traffic and spare circuits capable of, but not designated for, transmitting actual communications traffic, the method comprising the steps of (a) establishing one or more independent communication paths between the pair of nodes through a series of spare circuits of spans interconnecting the pair of nodes and other interconnected nodes in the network; and (b) redirecting communications traffic intended for one or more failed spans interconnecting the pair of nodes through one or more of the paths.
-
Citations
76 Claims
-
1. A method of restoring communications between a pair of nodes in a network having an arbitrary number of nodes and an arbitrary number of spans interconnecting said nodes, each said span having working circuits between nodes designated for transmitting actual communications traffic and spare circuits between nodes capable of, but not designated for, transmitting actual communications traffic, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) establishing one or more independent communication paths between said pair of nodes through a series of spare circuits of spans interconnecting said pair of nodes and other interconnected nodes in said network, including the steps of; i. repeatedly transmitting restoration signals along logical spans of spare circuits departing said one node; ii. repeatedly retransmitting said restoration signals from said other interconnected nodes along logical spans of spare circuits departing said interconnected nodes; and iii. upon receipt of a restoration signal by said other node, transmitting a complement restoration signal from said other node along a path consisting of the same spare circuits along which said restoration signal was communicated to said other node; and (b) redirecting communications traffic intended for one or more failed spans interconnecting said pair of nodes through one or more of said paths. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A method of restoring communications between a pair of nodes in a network having an arbitrary number of nodes and an arbitrary number of spans interconnecting said nodes, each said span having working circuits between nodes designated for transmitting actual communications traffic and spare circuits between nodes capable of, but not designated for, transmitting actual communications traffic, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) designating one of said nodes of said pair of nodes as a SENDER node and the other of said pair of nodes as a CHOOSER node; (b) establishing one or more independent communication paths between said SENDER node and said CHOOSER node through a series of spare circuits of spans interconnecting said SENDER and CHOOSER nodes with other nodes in said network, including the steps of; i. repeatedly transmitting restoration signals along each logical span of spare circuits departing said SENDER node up to the minimum of either the number of circuit restorations required or the number of spare circuits available to said SENDER node; ii. repeatedly retransmitting said restoration signals from said other nodes along each logical span of spare circuits departing said other nodes; iii. upon receipt of a restoration signal by said other node, transmitting a complement restoration signal from said CHOOSER node along the logical span of the spare circuit upon which said restoration signal was received; iv. retransmitting said complement restoration signals from said other nodes along the logical span of the spare circuits on which said restoration was received and connecting the port upon which said restoration signal was received with the port upon which said complement restoration signal was received whereby to permit communications traffic therebetween; each said restoration signal and its complement restoration signal including a first attribute representative of a network-wide identification of the node originating said signals, a second attribute identifying either said SENDER node or said CHOOSER node as a SOURCE node, a third attribute identifying either said CHOOSER node or said SENDER node as a TARGET node, a fourth attribute representative of a particular one of said paths, and a fifth, incrementable attribute representative of the number of spans and/or linking nodes in each said path at any given point along said path; and (c) redirecting, through one or more of said paths, communications traffic received at input ports of each of said SENDER and CHOOSER nodes and intended for transmission through one or more failed spans interconnecting said SENDER and CHOOSER nodes. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A method of restoring communications between a pair of nodes, between which communications have been broken, in a network having an arbitrary number of nodes and an arbitrary number of spans interconnecting said nodes, each said span having working circuits between nodes designated for transmitting actual communications traffic and spare circuits between nodes capable of but, not designated for, the transmission of actual communications traffic, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) upon occurrence of a communication failure in one or more circuits in one or more spans between said pair of nodes, designating one of said pair of nodes a SENDER node and the other of said pair of nodes a CHOOSER node; (b) repeatedly transmitting restoration signals on the outgoing transmission link of one or more spare circuits departing from said SENDER node, each said restoration signal including the identity of said SENDER node, the identity of said CHOOSER node, an INDEX value representative of the identity of a complete, independent route between said SENDER and said CHOOSER nodes starting at the spare circuit departing said SENDER node along which said signal is transmitted, and a predetermined initial REPEAT value; (c) upon receipt of one of said restoration signals at a TANDEM node; i. determining whether said TANDEM node is already transmitting a restoration signal having the same INDEX value as the just received restoration signal; ii. ignoring any restoration signal having the same INDEX value as that of a signal said node is already transmitting; iii. if said node is not already transmitting a restoration signal having the same INDEX value, producing a modified restoration signal by incrementing said repeat value of said restoration signal and repeatedly transmitting said modified restoration signal along spare links departing said TANDEM node; (d) upon receipt of a modified restoration signal at said CHOOSER node, repeatedly transmitting a complement restoration signal from said CHOOSER node back through the same spare circuit along which said modified restoration signature was received, said restoration signal including the identity of said CHOOSER node, an INDEX value equal to the INDEX value of said modified restoration signal, and a predetermined initial REPEAT value; (e) upon receipt of a complement restoration signal at a TANDEM node; i. operatively connecting the port upon which said complement restoration signal was received with the port on which its corresponding restoration signal was received whereby to permit communications traffic therebetween; and ii. incrementing the repeat value of said complement restoration signal and transmitting the modified complement restoration signal back through the spare circuit along which said corresponding restoration signal was received; and (f) upon receipt of a modified complement restoration signal at said SENDER node, operatively connecting the port containing communications traffic intended for one of said failed circuits to the port on which said modified complement signature was received. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. An apparatus for restoring communications between a pair of nodes in a network having an arbitrary number of nodes and an arbitrary number of spans interconnecting said nodes, each said span having working circuits between nodes designated for transmitting actual communications traffic and spare circuits between nodes capable of, but not designated, for transmitting actual communications traffic, said apparatus comprising:
-
(a) means for establishing one or more independent communication paths between said pair of nodes through a series of spare circuits of spans interconnecting said pair of nodes and other interconnected nodes in said network, said establishing means including; i. means for repeatedly transmitting restoration signals along logical spans of spare circuits departing said one node; ii. means for repeatedly retransmitting said restoration signals from said other interconnected nodes along logical spans of spare circuits departing said interconnected nodes; and iii. means at said other node responsive to receipt of a restoration signal thereat for transmitting a complement restoration signal from said other node along a path consisting of the same spare circuits along which said restoration signal was communicated to said other node; and (b) means for redirecting communications traffic intended for one or more failed spans interconnecting said pair of nodes through one or more of said paths. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
-
-
41. An apparatus for restoring communications between a pair of nodes in a network having an arbitrary number of nodes and an arbitrary number of spans interconnecting said nodes, each said span having working circuits between nodes designated for transmitting actual communications traffic and spare circuits between nodes capable of, but not designated, transmitting actual communications traffic, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) means for designating one of said nodes of said pair of nodes as a SENDER node and the other of said pair of nodes as a CHOOSER node; (b) means for establishing one or more independent communication paths between said SENDER node and said CHOOSER node through a series of spare circuits of spans interconnecting said SENDER and CHOOSER nodes with other nodes in said network, said means including; i. means for repeatedly transmitting restoration signals along each logical span of spare circuits departing said SENDER node up to the minimum of either the number of circuit restorations required or the number of spare circuits available to said SENDER node; ii. means for repeatedly retransmitting said restoration signals from said other nodes along logical spans of spare circuits departing said other nodes; and iii. means responsive to receipt of a restoration signal at said CHOOSER node for transmitting a complement restoration signal from said CHOOSER node along the logical span of the spare circuit upon which said restoration signal was received; iv. means for retransmitting said complement restoration signals from said other nodes along the logical span of the spare circuit on which said restoration was received and for connecting the port upon which said restoration signal was received with the port upon which said complement restoration signal was received whereby to permit communications traffic therebetween; each said restoration signal and its complement restoration signal including a first attribute representative of a network-wide identifier for the node originating said signals, a second attribute identifying either said SENDER node or said CHOOSER node as a SOURCE node, a third attribute identifying either said CHOOSER node or said SENDER node as a TARGET node, a fourth attribute representative of a particular one of said paths, and a fifth, incrementable attribute representative of the number of spans and/or linking nodes in each said path at any given point along said path; and (c) means for redirecting, through one or more of said paths, communications traffic received at input ports of each of said SENDER and CHOOSER nodes and intended for transmission through one or more failed spans interconnecting said SENDER and CHOOSER nodes. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
-
-
48. An apparatus for restoring communications between a pair of nodes in a network having an arbitrary number of nodes and an arbitrary number of spans interconnecting said nodes, each said span having working circuits between nodes designated for transmitting actual communications traffic and spare circuits between nodes capable of, but not designated, transmitting actual communications traffic, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) means responsive to a communication failure in one or more circuits in one or more spans between said pair of nodes for designating one of said pair of nodes a SENDER node and the other of said pair of nodes a CHOOSER node; (b) means for identifying spare circuits at said SENDER node and allocating a distinct restoration signal to each identified spare circuit; (c) means for repeatedly transmitting restoration signals on the outgoing transmission link of each said identified spare circuits departing from said SENDER node, each said restoration signal including the identity of said SENDER node, the identity of said CHOOSER node, an INDEX value representative of the identity of a complete, independent route between said SENDER and said CHOOSER nodes starting at the spare circuit departing said SENDER node along which said signal is transmitted, and a predetermined initial REPEAT value; (d) means responsive to receipt of one of said restoration signals at a TANDEM node for determining whether said TANDEM node is already transmitting a restoration signal having the same INDEX value as the just received restoration signal, ignoring any restoration signal having the same INDEX value as that of a signal said node is already transmitting and, if said node is not already transmitting a restoration signal having the same INDEX value, producing a modified restoration signal by incrementing said repeat value of said restoration signal and repeatedly transmitting said modified restoration signal along spare links departing said TANDEM node; (e) means responsive to a modified restoration signal at said CHOOSER node for repeatedly transmitting a complement restoration signal from said CHOOSER node back through the same spare circuit along which said modified restoration signature was received, said restoration signal including the identity of said CHOOSER node, an INDEX value equal to the INDEX value of said modified restoration signal, and a predetermined initial REPEAT value; (f) means responsive to a complement restoration signal at a TANDEM node for operatively connecting the port upon which said complement restoration signal was received with the port on which its corresponding restoration signal was received whereby to permit communications traffic therebetween, incrementing the repeat value of said complement restoration signal and transmitting the modified complement restoration signal back through the spare circuit along which said corresponding restoration signal was received; and (g) means responsive to a modified complement restoration signal at said SENDER node, operatively connecting the port containing communications traffic intended for one of said failed circuits to the port on which said modified complement signature was received. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
-
-
57. In a communications network having an arbitrary number of nodes and an arbitrary number of spans interconnecting said nodes, each said span having working circuits between nodes designated for transmitting actual communications traffic and spare circuits between nodes capable of but not designated for the transmission of actual communications traffic, each said node having one or more bi-directional transmission interfaces connected to external transmission lines and to an internal switching matrix, each said transmission interface having circuit means for processing signals received along a receive link and feeding said received signal to said switching matrix and circuit means for processing transmit signals received from said switching matrix and applying said transmit signal to a transmit link, the improvement comprising a communications restoring apparatus for use at each said node and comprising:
-
restoration signature detecting circuit means at each said transmission interface for detecting and storing restoration signatures received along said receive link; restoration signature transmitting circuit means at each said transmission interface for applying transmit signature signals to said transmit link; and control means operatively connected to said detecting circuit means and said transmitting circuit of each said transmission interface and being responsive to; (a) an alarm signal indicative of a circuit failure in a span connecting said node and an adjacent node for generating and repeatedly applying predetermined restoration signature signals to said restoration signature transmitting circuit means of one or more of said transmitting interfaces whereby to cause said restoration signals to be transmitted along one or more transmitting links to other adjacent nodes; (b) a restoration signature detected by said detecting circuit for producing modified restoration signatures and applying said modified restoration signatures to the transmitting circuit means of each said transmission interface of said node whereby to cause said modified restoration signatures to be transmitted along said transmitting links to adjacent nodes; (c) a modified restoration signature received at the detecting circuit means of one of said transmission interfaces for generating a complement restoration signature signal and applying said complement restoration signature signal to said transmitting circuit means of said one of said transmission interfaces; and (d) a complement restoration signature received at the detecting circuit means of one of said transmission interfaces for either operatively connecting the receive and transmission links of the transmission interface at which said complement restoration signature signal was received with the transmission and receive links, respectively, of the transmission interface on which the restoration signature associated to said complement signal was received if said control means modified an existing restoration signature, or operatively connecting the receive and transmission links of the transmission interface at which said complement restoration signature signal was received with the transmission and receive links, respectively, of the transmission interface on which communications traffic intended to be transmitted through a failed circuit between said pair of nodes if said control means generated the original restoration signature associated with said complement restoration signature signal. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
-
-
67. A Digital Crossconnect Machine for use as a node in a communications network having an arbitrary number of nodes and an arbitrary number of spans interconnecting said nodes, each said span having one or more working circuits interconnecting adjacent nodes and designated for transmitting actual communications traffic and spare circuits interconnecting adjacent nodes and capable of, but not designated, for the transmission of actual communications traffic, each said circuit having a transmit link and a receive link, said machine comprising:
-
an operating system for controlling the operation of said machine; crossconnect switching matrix means for internally connecting interface ports of said machine; crosspoint controller means responsive to said operating system for controlling said switching matrix means; one or more bi-directional transmission interfaces connected to external transmission lines and to an internal switching matrix, each said transmission interface having; circuit means for processing signals received along the receive link of an associated working or spare circuit and feeding said received signal to said switching matrix; circuit means for processing transmit signals received from said switching matrix and applying said transmit signal to a transmit link; restoration signature detecting circuit means for detecting and storing restoration signatures applied to said received signal processing circuit means along said receive link; and restoration signature transmitting circuit means for applying transmit signature signals to said transmit signals processing circuit means for transmission along transmit link; and an emergency restoration controller operatively connected to each said transmission interface means, said crosspoint controller and said operating system and being responsive to a circuit failure alarm and/or restoration signature detected by said detecting circuit and cooperable with other Digital Crossconnect Machines in said network for establishing one or more independent communication paths between said pair of nodes through a series of spare circuits of spans interconnecting a pair of nodes between which communications have failed and other interconnected nodes and redirecting communications traffic intended for one or more failed spans through said one or more of said paths. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76)
-
Specification