Methods and systems to reroute data in a data network

• US 8,547,830 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2012
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, William, Massengill, David, Hollingsworth, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): KAO, WEI PO ERIC
• Application Number:
  US13/547,474
• Publication Number:
  US 20120275299A1
• Time in Patent Office: 446 Days
• Field of Search: 370216-228, 370/229, 370/230, 370/235, 370/241, 370/241.1, 370/242, 370/244, 370/247, 370/249, 370/252, 370/253
• US Class Current: 370/225
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0659 by isolating or reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/3065 for real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/557 Error correction, e.g. fault recovery or fault tolerance

Abstract

A disclosed example method involves determining a first quality of service parameter associated with a failed logical circuit, and a second quality of service parameter associated with a logical failover circuit. When the first quality of service parameter is equal to or less than the second quality of service parameter, data from the failed logical circuit is rerouted to the logical failover circuit without requiring authorization from a customer to communicate the data at the second quality of service parameter. When the second quality of service parameter is a lower level of quality than the first quality of service parameter, the customer is prompted for authorization to communicate the data via the logical failover circuit at the second quality of service parameter. When authorization is received, the data is rerouted to the logical failover circuit. When authorization is denied, the data is not rerouted to the logical failover circuit.

Claims

1. A method to reroute logical circuit data in a data network, the method comprising:

determining a first quality of service parameter associated with a failed logical circuit;

determining a second quality of service parameter associated with a logical failover circuit;

when the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is equal to or less than the second quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit, rerouting data from the failed logical circuit to the logical failover circuit without requiring authorization from a customer to communicate the data at the second quality of service parameter; and

when the second quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit is a lower level of quality than the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit;

prompting the customer for an authorization to communicate the data via the logical failover circuit at the second quality of service parameter;

when the authorization is received, rerouting the data from the failed logical circuit to the logical failover circuit; and

when the authorization is denied, not rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is a traffic descriptor for logical circuit data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is a variable frame relay real time parameter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is a variable frame relay non-real time parameter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is a constant bit rate parameter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is a variable bit rate parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is an unspecified bit rate parameter.

8. A network management system to reroute logical circuit data in a data network, the network management system comprising:

a logical element module to receive status information for a logical circuit in the data network from a network device; and

a network management module, in communication with the logical element module, the network management module to;

determine a first quality of service parameter associated with the logical circuit;

determine a second quality of service parameter associated with a logical failover circuit;

when the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit specifies a first level of quality equal to or less than a second level of quality specified by the second quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit, reroute data from the logical circuit when it has failed to the logical failover circuit without requiring authorization from a customer to communicate the data at the second quality of service parameter;

when the first level of quality of the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is higher than the second level of quality for the second quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit;

request authorization from the customer to communicate the data at the second quality of service parameter before rerouting the data from the failed logical circuit to the logical failover circuit; and

when the authorization is denied, not reroute the data from the failed logical circuit to the logical failover circuit.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is a traffic descriptor for logical circuit data.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is a variable frame relay real time parameter.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is a variable frame relay non-real time parameter.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is a constant bit rate parameter.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is a variable bit rate parameter.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the first quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is an unspecified bit rate parameter.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the logical failover circuit comprises a dedicated failover logical connection in a failover data network.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the dedicated failover logical connection comprises a network-to-network interface.

17. The system of claim 8, wherein the logical failover circuit is identified by one of a data link connection identifier (DLCI) or a virtual path/virtual circuit identifier (VPI/VCI).

18. The system of claim 8, wherein the data network comprises a frame relay network.

19. The system of claim 8, wherein the data network comprises an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network.

20. A network management system to reroute logical circuit data in a data network, the network management system comprising:

a logical element module to receive status information from a network device for a logical circuit, the logical circuit to communicate data according to a first protocol; and

a network management module, in communication with the logical element module, the network management module to;

determine a first quality of service parameter of the first protocol;

provision a logical failover circuit comprising an alternate communication path to communicate data according to a second protocol;

determine a second quality of service parameter of the second protocol;

when the second quality of service parameter of the second protocol exceeds or equates to the first quality of service parameter of the first protocol, automatically reroute the data from the logical circuit to the logical failover circuit when the logical circuit fails; and

when the second quality of service parameter of the second protocol is less than the first quality of service parameter of the first protocol;

prompt for an authorization to communicate the data via the logical failover circuit using the second quality of service parameter;

when the authorization is received, reroute the data from the failed logical circuit to the logical failover circuit; and

when the authorization is denied, not reroute the data to the logical failover circuit.