Fault tolerant distributed mobile architecture

• US 10,547,530 B2
• Filed: 08/09/2017
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lemko Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lemko Corporation
• Inventors: Pan, Shaowei
• Primary Examiner(s): Schwartz, Joshua L
• Application Number:
  US15/673,156
• Publication Number:
  US 20170339036A1
• Time in Patent Office: 902 Days
• Field of Search: 370396, 455445
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0823 Errors, e.g. transmission errors

Abstract

A method, system and machine-readable storage medium for providing fault tolerance in a distributed mobile architecture (dMA) system. The method includes receiving a message or failing to receive the message within a predetermined time relating to a first dMA gateway (dMAG) at a second dMAG. It is determined whether the first dMAG is not operational or is otherwise offline based on the received message or the failure to receive the message. One or more dMA nodes associated with the first dMAG are notified in order to request connections to an external system via the second dMAG. The external system is also notified to request connections to one or more dMA nodes associated with the first dMAG via the second dMAG.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first message at a first distributed mobile architecture gateway (dMAG) from a distributed architecture (dMA) node of a dMA node group in response to a failure condition at a second dMAG;

in response to receiving the first message, sending a second message from the first dMAG to an endpoint at an external system and to the dMA node, wherein the second message identifies the first dMAG to perform data relaying operations associated with the dMA node group instead of the second dMAG;

receiving data from the dMA node at the first dMAG; and

relaying the data received at the first dMAG via a network to a destination device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the external system is a destination network that is external to the first dMAG and to the second dMAG and that includes the destination device, and wherein the failure condition at the second dMAG corresponds to the second dMAG being in a non-operative state, and wherein the first message is indicative of the non-operative state.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second message is sent to other dMA nodes of a dMA node group, and wherein the non-operative state corresponds to the second dMAG being offline.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the network corresponds to a legacy network, and wherein the data comprises voice data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving second data from at least one dMA node of other dMA nodes of a dMA node group at the first dMAG in response to sending the second message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second dMAG is associated with a dMA node group.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a third message from a third dMAG associated with a dMA node of a dMA node group, wherein the third message is indicative of a non-operational state of the third dMAG.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising, in response to the third message, sending a fourth message to dMA nodes of the dMA node group, wherein the fourth message indicates that the first dMAG is to perform the data relaying operations associated with the dMA node group.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the data from the network and relaying the data to the dMA node.

10. An apparatus comprising:

an interface of a first distributed mobile architecture gateway (dMAG) configured to receive a first message from a distributed architecture (dMA) node of a dMA node group in response to a failure condition at a second dMAG;

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to;

generate second and third messages identifying the first dMAG to perform data relaying operations associated with the dMA node group;

initiate transmission of the first and second and third messages via the interface to the dMA node and to a dMAG interface coupled to an external network, respectively; and

relay data received from the dMA node to a destination of the external network via the interface.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the dMA node is associated with the second dMAG, and wherein the destination is associated with a destination device.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory is configured to store second data indicating associations between dMA nodes and with a plurality of dMAGs.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the memory includes a first register, wherein the first register is configured to store a first portion of the second data, and wherein the first portion of the second data identifies one or more dMA nodes associated with the second dMAG.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second data further identifies first calling information for home mobile stations associated with the plurality of dMAGs.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the memory includes a second register, and wherein the second register is configured to store a second portion of the second data that identifies visitor dMA nodes associated with the plurality of dMAGs.

16. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first message at a first distributed mobile architecture gateway (dMAG) from a distributed architecture (dMA) node of a dMA node group in response to a failure condition at a second dMAG;

in response to receiving the first message, sending a second message from the first dMAG to an endpoint at an external system and to the dMA node, wherein the second message identifies the first dMAG and indicates that the first dMAG is to perform data relaying operations associated with the dMA node group instead of the second dMAG;

receiving data from the dMA node at the first dMAG; and

relaying the data received at the first dMAG via a network to a destination device.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the first message comprises a connection request to connect the dMA node to the network.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations include sending the second message to other dMA nodes of a dMA node group, and wherein the failure condition corresponds to unavailability of the second dMAG.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the external system is a destination network that includes the destination device, and wherein the operations further comprise determining, based on receipt of the first message, that the second dMAG is unavailable.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise parsing second data stored in a database to identify dMA nodes associated with the first dMAG and associated with the second dMAG.