Directional integrity enforcement in a bi-directional braided ring network

• US 7,502,334 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2004
• Issued: 03/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Driscoll, Kevin R., Hall, Brendan, Paulitsch, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan; Wing F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tsegaye; Saba
• Application Number:
  US10/993,932
• Publication Number:
  US 20050129038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,572 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370221-228, 370/254, 370/255, 370/258, 370/389, 370/390, 370/400, 370/404, 370/498, 709/239, 709/225
• US Class Current: 370/258
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/43 with synchronous transmission, e.g. time division multiplex [TDM], slotted rings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/437 Ring fault isolation or reconfiguration for SDH/SONET ring networks H04J3/085

Abstract

In one embodiment, a node comprises an interface to communicatively couple the node to a channel. The channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor node and first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in a first direction. When the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit and the node receives data from the first neighbor node via the channel, the node forwards the data to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor, receives other data from the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor, compares the data to the other data, and relays the data along the channel with information indicative of the comparison.

Claims

1. A node comprising:

an interface to communicatively couple the node to a first channel and a second channel, the first channel supporting communications in a first logical direction and the second channel supporting communications in a second logical direction;

wherein the first channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor node and a first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node;

wherein the second channel communicatively couples the node to the first neighbor node and the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node; and

wherein, when the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit on both the first and second channels and the node receives a first frame of data from the first neighbor node via the first channel, the node;

forwards the first frame to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor along the second channel;

receives a second frame of data from the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor via the first channel;

compares at least a portion of the first frame to at least a portion of the second frame; and

relays at least one of the first frame and the second frame along the first channel with information indicative of the comparison.

2. The node of claim 1, wherein the first channel and second channel communicatively couple the node to a second neighbor node and to a second neighbor'"'"'s node.

3. The node of claim 2, wherein the first channel comprises:

a first direct link that communicatively couples the node to the first neighbor node via the first channel;

a first skip link the communicatively couples the node to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node via the first channel;

a second direct link that communicatively couples the node to the second neighbor node via the first channel;

a second skip link that communicatively couples the node to the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node via the first channel;

a third direct link that communicatively couples the node to the first neighbor node via the second channel;

a third skip link the communicatively couples the node to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node via the second channel;

a fourth direct link that communicatively couples the node to the second neighbor node via the second channel; and

a fourth skip link that communicatively couples the node to the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node via the second channel.

4. The node of claim 3, wherein the node relays the at least one of the first frame and the second frame by relaying to the second neighbor node and the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node.

5. The node of claim 1, wherein the second channel comprises a ring.

6. The node of claim 1, wherein the first channel comprises a ring.

7. The node of claim 1, wherein the information indicative of the comparison comprises at least one of an appended field that is appended to the at least one of the first frame and the second frame and a shared field included in the at least one of the first frame and the second frame.

8. A network comprising:

a plurality of nodes that are communicatively coupled to one another over a first channel and a second channel, the first channel supporting communications in a first logical direction and the second channel supporting communications in a second logical direction;

wherein the first channel communicatively couples each node to a first neighbor node of that node and first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node;

wherein the second channel communicatively also couples each node to the respective first neighbor node and the respective first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node; and

wherein, for each node, when the first neighbor node of that node is scheduled to transmit on both the first and second channels and that node receives a first frame of data from that first neighbor node via the first channel, that node;

forwards the first frame to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor via the second channel;

receives a second frame of data from the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor via the first channel;

compares at least a portion of the first frame to at least a portion of the second frame; and

relays at least one of the first frame and the second frame along the first channel with information indicative of the comparison.

9. The network of claim 8, wherein the first channel and the second channel communicatively couple each node to a second neighbor node of that node and to a second neighbor'"'"'s node of that node.

10. The network of claim 9, wherein the first channel comprises, for each node:

a first direct link that communicatively couples that node to the first neighbor node of that node via the first channel;

a first skip link that communicatively couples that node to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node via the first channel;

a second direct link that communicatively couples that node to the second neighbor node of that node via the first channel;

a second skip link that communicatively couples that node to the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node via the first channel;

a third direct link that communicatively couples the node to the first neighbor node of that node via the second channel;

a third skip link the communicatively couples the node to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node via the second channel;

a fourth direct link that communicatively couples the node to the second neighbor node of that node via the second channel; and

a fourth skip link that communicatively couples the node to the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node via the second channel.

11. The network of claim 8, wherein each node relays the at least one of the first frame and the second frame by relaying to the second neighbor node of that node and the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node.

12. The network of claim 8, wherein the second channel comprises a ring.

13. The network of claim 8, wherein the first channel comprises a ring.

14. The network of claim 8, wherein, for each node, the information indicative of the comparison comprises at least one of an appended field that is appended to the at least one of the first frame and the second frame and a shared field included in the at least one of the first frame and the second frame.

15. A method of communicating in a network comprising a plurality of nodes that are communicatively coupled to one another over at least a first channel supporting communications in a first logical direction and a second channel supporting communications in a second logical direction, the method comprising:

at each node;

determining when a first neighbor node of that node is scheduled to transmit on the first channel;

when the first neighbor node of that node is scheduled to transmit on both the first channel and the second channel;

receiving a first frame of data transmitted by the first neighbor node of that node via the first channel;

forwarding the first frame to a first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor of that node via the second channel;

receiving a second frame of data from the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor via the first channel;

comparing at least a portion of the first frame to at least a portion of the second frame; and

relaying at least one of the first frame and the second frame along the first channel with information indicative of the comparison.

16. A node comprising:

means for communicatively coupling the node to a first channel and a second channel, where the first channel and second channel communicatively couple the node to a first neighbor node and a first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node, the first channel supporting communications in a first logical direction and the second channel supporting communications in a second logical direction;

means for determining when the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit on both the first and second channels;

means for receiving a first frame of data transmitted by the first neighbor node on the first channel when the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit;

means for forwarding the first frame to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor along the second channel;

means for receiving a second frame of data from the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor via the first channel;

means for comparing at least a portion of the first frame and at least a portion of the second frame; and

means for relaying at least one of the first frame and the second frame along the first channel with information indicative of the comparison.