Method and system for prioritized rerouting of logical circuit data in a data network

• US 20050138476A1
• Filed: 12/23/2003
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, William, Massengill, David, Hollingsworth, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,223,632 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/37
• 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 method and system are provided for prioritized rerouting of logical circuit data in a data network. A logical circuit failure is identified in the data network. Following the identification of the logical circuit failure, a quality of service parameter for the communication of data in the failed logical circuit is determined. The quality of service parameter may include a traffic descriptor indicating the quality of the data communicated in the logical circuit. Then, a logical failover circuit comprising an alternate communication path for communicating the data in the failed logical circuit is identified. Next, a quality of service parameter for the communication of data in the logical failover circuit is determined. If the quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is equal to the quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit, then the data from the failed logical circuit is rerouted to the logical failover circuit. In this manner, the quality of the data in the logical failover circuit is communicated at the same level of service provisioned for the failed logical circuit.

Claims

1. A method for prioritized rerouting of logical circuit data in a data network, the method comprising:

identifying a failed logical circuit in the data network;

determining a quality of service parameter for the communication of data in the failed logical circuit;

identifying a logical failover circuit comprising an alternate communication path for communicating the data in the failed logical circuit;

determining a quality of service parameter for the communication of data in the logical failover circuit; and

if the quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is equal to the quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit, then rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is not equal to the quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit, then obtaining an authorization prior to rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit is indicative of a lower level of quality than the first quality of service parameter.

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

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality of service parameter is a variable frame relay real time parameter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality of service parameter is a variable frame relay non-real time parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality of service parameter is a constant bit rate parameter.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality of service parameter is a variable bit rate parameter.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality of service parameter is an unspecified bit rate parameter.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical failover circuit comprises a dedicated failover logical connection in a failover data network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical circuit is identified by a logical circuit identifier in the data network.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the logical circuit identifier is a data link connection identifier (DLCI).

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the logical circuit identifier is a virtual path/virtual circuit identifier (VPI/VCI).

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the dedicated failover logical connection comprises a network-to-network interface.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical failover circuit is a permanent virtual circuit.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical failover circuit is a switched virtual circuit.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the data network is a frame relay network.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the data network is an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network.

19. A system for prioritized rerouting of logical circuit data in a data network, the comprising:

a network device for communicating status information for a logical circuit in the data network, the logical circuit comprising a communication path for communicating data;

a logical element module, in communication with the network device, for receiving the status information for the logical circuit in the data network; and

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

identifying a failed logical circuit in the data network;

determining a quality of service parameter for the communication of data in the failed logical circuit;

identifying a logical failover circuit comprising an alternate communication path for communicating the data in the failed logical circuit;

determining a quality of service parameter for the communication of data in the logical failover circuit;

if the quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is equal to the quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit, then rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit; and

if quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit is not equal to the quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit, then obtaining an authorization prior to rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit is indicative of a lower level of quality than the first quality of service parameter.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the quality of service parameter is a traffic descriptor for logical circuit data.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the quality of service parameter is a variable frame relay real time parameter.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the quality of service parameter is a variable frame relay non-real time parameter.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the quality of service parameter is a constant bit rate parameter.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the quality of service parameter is a variable bit rate parameter.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein the quality of service parameter is an unspecified bit rate parameter.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the logical failover circuit comprises a dedicated failover logical connection in a failover data network.

28. The system of claim 19, wherein the logical circuit is identified by a logical circuit identifier in the data network.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the logical circuit identifier is a data link connection identifier (DLCI).

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the logical circuit identifier is a virtual path/virtual circuit identifier (VPI/VCI).

31. The system of claim 27, wherein the dedicated failover logical connection comprises a network-to-network interface.

32. The system of claim 19, wherein the logical failover circuit is a permanent virtual circuit.

33. The system of claim 19, wherein the logical failover circuit is a switched virtual circuit.

34. The system of claim 19, wherein the data network is a frame relay network.

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

36. A system for prioritized rerouting of logical circuit data in a data network, the system comprising:

a network device for communicating status information for a logical circuit in the data network, the logical circuit comprising a communication path for communicating data;

a logical element module, in communication with the network device, for receiving the status information for the logical circuit in the data network; and

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

identifying a failure in the logical circuit based on the status information;

determining a quality of service parameter for the communication of data in the failed logical circuit;

provisioning a logical failover circuit comprising an alternate communication path for communicating the data in the failed logical circuit, the logical failover circuit having a quality of service parameter equal to the quality of service parameter for the failed logical circuit; and

rerouting the data from the failed logical circuit to the logical failover circuit.