Network configuration method

• US 6,678,781 B1
• Filed: 11/24/1999
• Issued: 01/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Domon, Wataru
• Primary Examiner(s): Lefkowitz, Sumati
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Christopher E.
• Application Number:
  US09/449,931
• Time in Patent Office: 1,511 Days
• Field of Search: 709/221, 709/224, 709/227, 710/8, 710/100, 710/311, 710/305, 710/313, 713/400, 370/224, 370/452
• US Class Current: 710/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40078 Bus configuration home automation networks H04L12/2803; arrangements for maintenance or administration H04L41/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40091 Bus bridging LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; single bridge functionality H04L12/462
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play

Abstract

A network configuration method ensuring high reliability of bridge manager selection and bus reset is disclosed. After configuring each of the IEEE 1394 buses according to IEEE 1394 standard, a network management node is selected from a first IEEE 1394 bus including at least one node capable of network management. First, the first IEEE 1394 bus is configured such that the first IEEE 1394 bus belongs to the network management node. Then, an adjacent IEEE 1394 bus of the first IEEE 1394 bus is configured into a configured IEEE 1394 bus to produce an interim network such that the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus belongs to the network management node. The configuration of the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus is repeated until no adjacent IEEE 1394 bus which does not belong to the network management node is left in the IEEE 1394 network.

Claims

1. A method for configuring an IEEE 1394 network composed of a plurality of IEEE 1394 buses joined by at least one IEEE 1394 bridge having at least two portals, each of the portals having a single IEEE 1394 bus connected thereto, comprising the steps of:

a) configuring each of the IEEE 1394 buses according to IEEE 1394 standard with each node including a node identification comprising a first part storing a bus identification indicating a non-configured bus and a second part storing a physcal identification;

b) selecting a network management node from a first IEEE 1394 bus including at least one node capable of network management;

c) configuring the first IEEE 1394 bus into a configured IEEE bus such that the first IEEE 1394 bus belongs to the network management node with the node identification of each node connected to the first IEEE 1394 bus including in the first part a bus identification indicating the first IEEE 1394 bus,

each of the nodes of buses other than the first IEEE 1394 bus continuing to have the bus identification indicating a non-configured bus;

d) upon completion of configuring the first IEEE 1394 bus, configuring an adjacent IEEE 1394 bus of the fist IEEE 1394 bus into a configured IEEE 1394 bus to produce an interim network such that the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus belongs to the network management node with the node identification of each node connected to the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus including in the first part a bus identification indicating the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus,

each of the nodes of buses other than the first IEEE 1394 bus and the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus continuing to have the bus identification indicating a non-configured bus; and

e) upon completing step d), repeating the step d) until no adjacent IEEE 1394 bus which does not belong to the network management node is left in the IEEE 1394 network and the first part of each node identification within the IEEE 1394 network is free of the common bus identification indicating a non-configured bus.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the step c) comprises the steps of;

c-1) assigning a bus identifier to the first IEEE 1394 bus; and

c-2) writing a unique identifier of the network management node to all the portals connected to the first IEEE 1394 bus,

the writing of the unique identifier of the network management node being limited to portals directly connected to the first IEEE 1394 bus, and

the step d) comprises the steps of;

d-1) assigning a bus identifier to the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus; and

d-2) writing the unique identifier of the network management node to all the portals connected to the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus,

the writing of the unique identifier of the network management node being limited to portals directly connected to the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

the step c) further comprises the steps of;

c-3) creating a network topology map consisting of the first IEEE 1394 bus; and

c-4) creating a routing map of each portal connected to the first IEEE 1394 bus, and

the step d) further comprises the steps of;

d-3) updating the network topology map to represent the interim network; and

d-4) updating the routing map of each portal on the interim network to allow data transfer on the interim network.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

in the step c-1), the bus identifier is written to all nodes connected to the first IEEE 1394 bus;

in the step d-1), the bus identifier is written to all nodes connected to the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus; and

in the steps c-2) and d-2), the unique identifier of the network management node is a global unique identifier (GUID).

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step d) is performed when the first part of the node identifications of the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus of the configured IEEE 1394 bus includes the common bus identification for a non-configured bus.

17. The method according to claim 3, wherein each of the portals of each bridge has a node identifier map comprising node identifiers of all the portals of the bridge, wherein the network topology map is created and updated by collecting node identifier maps from the portals on the configured IEEE 1394 bus.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein,

the node identifier map has a node identification field,

to the node identification field, of a first portal having a unique identifier identical to the network management node, is written the bus identifier assigned to the IEEE 1394 bus connected to the first portal, and

to the node identification field of another portal having a different value from the network management node is written a predetermined initial value.

6. A method for configuring an IEEE 1394 network composed of a plurality of IEEE 1394 buses joined by at least one IEEE 1394 bridge having at least two portals, each of the portals having a single IEEE 1394 bus connected thereto, comprising the steps of:

a) configuring each of the IEEE 1394 buses according to IEEE 1394 standard so that each node includes a node identification comprising a first part storing a common bus identification indicating a non-configured bus and a second part storing a physical identification;

b) selecting a network management node from an IEEE 1394 bus including at least one node capable of network management;

c) configuring the IEEE 1394 bus into a first configured IEEE bus such that the IEEE 1394 bus belongs to the network management node;

d) configuring an adjacent IEEE 1394 bus into a second configured IEEE 1394 bus to produce an interim network such that the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus belongs to the network management node;

e) when a further adjacent IEEE 1394 bus of the configured IEEE 1394 bus belongs to another network management node, determining one of the network management node and the other network management node depending on a predetermined rule;

f) initializing the interim network produced by the one of the network management node and the other network management node; and

g) repeating the steps d) through f) by the other of the network management node and the other network management node.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein:

the step c) comprises the steps of;

c-1) assigning a bus identifier to the IEEE 1394 bus; and

c-2) writing a unique identifier of the network management node to all the portals connected to the IEEE 1394 bus, and

the step d) comprises the steps of;

d-1) assigning a bus identifier to the a adjacent IEEE 1394 bus; and

d-2) writing the unique identifier of the network management node to all the portals connected to the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein:

the step c) further comprises the steps of;

c-3) creating a network topology map consisting of the IEEE 1394 bus; and

c-4) creating a routing map of each portal connected to the IEEE 1394 bus, and

the step d) further comprises the steps of;

d-3) updating the network topology map to represent the interim network; and

d-4) updating the routing map of each portal on the interim network to allow data transfer on the interim network.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein:

in the step c-1), the bus identifier is written to all nodes connected to the IEEE 1394 bus;

in the step d-1), the bus identifier is written to all nodes connected to the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus; and

in the steps c-2) and d-2), the unique identifier of the network management node is a global unique identifier (GUID).

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step b) comprises the steps of:

comparing network management performance indexes of a plurality of nodes capable of network management; and

selecting the network management node depending on a comparison result.

11. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step b) comprises the steps of:

comparing physical identifiers of a plurality of nodes capable of network management; and

selecting the network management node depending on a comparison result.

12. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step b) comprises the steps of:

comparing unique identifiers of a plurality of nodes capable of network management; and

selecting the network management node depending on a comparison result.

13. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step e) comprises the steps of:

comparing network management performance indexes of the network management node and the other network management node; and

selecting the one of the network management node and the other network management node depending on a comparison result.

14. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step e) comprises the steps of:

comparing unique identifiers of the network management node and the other network management node; and

selecting the one of the network management node and the other network management node depending on a comparison result.

15. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step e) comprises the steps of:

comparing a number of IEEE 1394 buses on a first interim network produced by the network management node and a number of IEEE 1394 buses on a second interim network produced by on the other network management node; and

selecting the one of the network management node and the other network management node depending on a comparison result.

16. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step e) comprises the steps of:

comparing a total number of nodes included in a first interim network produced by the network management node and a total number of nodes included in a second interim network produced by on the other network management node; and

selecting the one of the network management node and the other network management node depending on a comparison result.

19. A network management node for configuring an IEEE 1394 network to allow packet transfer between different IEEE 1394 buses, wherein the IEEE 1394 network is composed of a plurality of IEEE 1394 buses joined by at least one IEEE 1394 bridge having at least two portals, each of the portals having a single IEEE 1394 bus connected thereto, comprising:

first means for configuring a small network composed of a part of the IEEE 1394 network including an IEEE 1394 bus connected to the network management node; and

second means for reconfiguring the small network into a new small network including an adjacent IEEE 1394 bus of the IEEE 1394 network and repeating reconfiguration of the new small network to configure a network consisting of all IEEE 1394 buses on the IEEE 1394 network,

wherein the second means remains inactive until the first means completes configuration of the small network.

20. The network management node according to claim 19, wherein the first means comprises:

first writing means for writing a bus identifier to all nodes connected to the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus;

second writing means for writing a global unique identifier (GUID) of the network management node to all the portals connected to the adjacent IEEE 1394 bus;

means for producing a network topology map representing a topology of a reconfigured small network; and

means for producing a routing map of each portal on the reconfigured small network to allow the packet transfer between IEEE 1394 buses on the reconfigured small network.