Methods and systems for automatically rerouting logical circuit data from a logical circuit failure to a dedicated backup circuit in a data network

• US 8,345,537 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2008
• Issued: 01/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2004
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, William, Massengill, David, Hollingsworth, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Chirag
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHIVERS, ASHLEY L
• Application Number:
  US12/334,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20090086626A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,481 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2002 where interconnections or communication control functionality are redundant flexible arrangements for bus networks involving redundancy H04L12/40176
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/10 Routing in connection-oriented networks, e.g. X.25 or ATM
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery

Abstract

A method and system are provided for automatically rerouting logical circuit data from a physical circuit failure in a data network. When a failure in a logical circuit is detected, a label or services name associated with the logical circuit is automatically associated with a logical circuit identifier utilized for identifying the logical circuit in the 10 data network. Once the logical circuit is associated with the logical circuit identifier, the logical circuit data may be automatically rerouted to a “failover network,” thereby minimizing lost data until the failure in the logical circuit is resolved. The logical failover circuit may be an already existing logical circuit provisioned over a dedicated backup physical circuit in the data network.

Claims

1. A method of rerouting data, comprising:

determining a status of a logical circuit in a data network, the status including at least one of a committed information rate or a committed burst size;

rerouting from a first set of switches to a second set of switches to communicate data between network devices without breaking the logical circuit, the logical circuit comprising variable communication paths, and the second set of switches to form a route associated with the variable communication paths that is not predefined and that is dynamically defined at a time of automatic rerouting;

detecting a failure of the logical circuit based on determining that the at least one of the committed information rate or the committed burst size has been exceeded; and

rerouting the data from the logical circuit to a logical failover circuit in the data network in response to detecting the failure of the logical circuit, wherein the logical failover circuit comprises an alternative communication path to communicate the data.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the logical circuit comprises variable logical connections.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the logical failover circuit comprises a dedicated physical circuit and a dedicated logical circuit.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining the status of the logical circuit comprises:

receiving a header associated with the data communicated via the logical circuit; and

determining the status based on threshold information in the header associated with the at least one of the committed information rate or the committed burst size.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a service order specifying the at least one of the committed information rate or the committed burst size; and

provisioning the logical circuit based on the at least one of the committed information rate or the committed burst size.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining the status of the logical circuit comprises receiving trap data generated by a network switch, wherein the trap data indicates the status.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein the network switch generates the trap data in response to detecting dropped data.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining the status of the logical circuit comprises:

communicating a test signal to at least one of a plurality of test points associated with the logical circuit; and

receiving a loop back signal from the at least one of the plurality of test points indicating the status, wherein the loop back signal is indicative of the status.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the status of the logical circuit is determined in response to receiving a customer report of a network circuit failure.

10. A system to reroute data, comprising:

a logical element to receive status information associated with a logical circuit in a data network, the status information including at least one of a committed information rate or a committed burst size; and

a network management module comprising a processor, and a memory storing machine readable instructions which, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

rerouting from a first set of switches to a second set of switches to communicate data between network devices while maintaining the logical circuit, the logical circuit comprising variable communication paths, and the second set of switches to form a route associated with the variable communication paths that is not predefined and that is dynamically defined at a time of automatic rerouting of the variable communication paths;

detecting a failure of the logical circuit based on determining that the at least one of the committed information rate or the committed burst size has been exceeded; and

rerouting the data from the logical circuit to a logical failover circuit in the data network in response to detecting the failure of the logical circuit, wherein the logical failover circuit comprises an alternative communication path to communicate the data.

11. A system as defined in claim 10, further comprising:

a service order system to receive a service order specifying the at least one of the committed information rate or the committed burst size; and

a network database to provision the logical circuit based on the at least one of the committed information rate or the committed burst size.

12. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the logical element is to receive the status information by receiving trap data generated by a network switch, wherein the trap data indicates the status information.

13. A system as defined in claim 12, wherein the network switch generates the trap data in response to detecting dropped data.

14. A system as defined in claim 10, further comprising:

a test module in communication with the logical circuit; and

a plurality of test access points in communication with the logical circuit, wherein the test module is to communicate a test signal to at least one of the plurality of test points and receive a loop back signal from the at least one of the plurality of test points, wherein the loop back signal is indicative of the status information.

15. A tangible machine accessible storage device or storage disc having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to perform a method comprising:

determining a status of a logical circuit in a data network, the status including at least one of a committed information rate or a committed burst size;

rerouting from a first set of switches to a second set of switches to communicate data between network devices in an absence of a failure of the logical circuit, the logical circuit comprising variable communication paths, and the second set of switches to form a route associated with the variable communication paths that is not predefined and that is dynamically defined at a time at which the variable communication paths are automatically rerouted while maintaining the logical circuit through the second set of switches;

detecting a failure of the logical circuit based on determining that the at least one of the committed information rate or the committed burst size has been exceeded; and

rerouting the data from the logical circuit to a logical failover circuit in the data network in response to detecting the failure of the logical circuit, wherein the logical failover circuit comprises an alternative communication path to communicate the data.

16. A machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to determine the status of the logical circuit by:

receiving a header associated with the data communicated via the logical circuit; and

determining the status based on threshold information in the header associated with the at least one of the committed information rate or the committed burst size.

17. A machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to determine the status of the logical circuit by:

communicating a test signal to at least one of a plurality of test points associated with the logical circuit; and

receiving a loop back signal from the at least one of the plurality of test points, wherein the loop back signal is indicative of the status.

18. A machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to determine the status of the logical circuit by receiving trap data generated by a network switch, wherein the trap data indicates the status.

19. A machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 18, wherein the network switch generates the trap data in response to detecting dropped data.

20. A machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to determine the status of the logical circuit in response to receiving a customer report of a network circuit failure.