Method for providing home agent geographic redundancy via a service redundancy protocol
First Claim
1. A system for providing communication between Home Agents comprising:
- a plurality of Home Agents including a first Home Agent acting as a primary Home Agent and at least one second Home Agent acting as backup Home Agents and communicating with the first Home Agent;
a communication link coupling the first Home Agent and the at least one second Home Agent;
the first Home Agent being able to send at least one Hello Message to the at least one second Home Agent, each of the at least one Hello Message containing system attributes including Home Agent state, priority information, and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) modifier, wherein the priority information includes a weight assigned to a Home Agent for use in operation and the BGP modifier is an attribute used to determine a Home Agent'"'"'s preference in a routing domain;
the first Home Agent being able to send a Service Checkpoint Message to the at least one second Home Agent which provides information used to perform as the primary Home Agent; and
one of the at least one second Home Agent being able, in response to at least one of the at least one Hello Message and the Service Checkpoint Message, to transition to become the primary Home Agent based on the priority information and the BGP modifier in the at least one Hello Message, wherein the BGP modifier is initially used to determine which one of the at least one second Home Agent should transition to become the primary Home Agent and the priority information is used to further determine the primary Home Agent if more than one Home Agent shares a same BGP modifier value.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for providing redundancy in servicing packet data communications within wireless mobile data networks are disclosed. More particularly, the method and system provide a redundant Home Agent with the ability to assume the role of the primary Home Agent in the event of a primary Home Agent network, software, or other failure. The redundancy allows the Home Agent services to remain functional even in the event of a failure of one of the Home Agents in the redundant group, which may be composed of one or more Home Agents. The Home Agents can use a service redundancy protocol which is composed of messages that are sent between the redundant group of Home Agents. The messages allow the Home Agents to, for example, back up call session information, check on the status of one another, and share priority information.
39 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for providing communication between Home Agents comprising:
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a plurality of Home Agents including a first Home Agent acting as a primary Home Agent and at least one second Home Agent acting as backup Home Agents and communicating with the first Home Agent; a communication link coupling the first Home Agent and the at least one second Home Agent; the first Home Agent being able to send at least one Hello Message to the at least one second Home Agent, each of the at least one Hello Message containing system attributes including Home Agent state, priority information, and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) modifier, wherein the priority information includes a weight assigned to a Home Agent for use in operation and the BGP modifier is an attribute used to determine a Home Agent'"'"'s preference in a routing domain; the first Home Agent being able to send a Service Checkpoint Message to the at least one second Home Agent which provides information used to perform as the primary Home Agent; and one of the at least one second Home Agent being able, in response to at least one of the at least one Hello Message and the Service Checkpoint Message, to transition to become the primary Home Agent based on the priority information and the BGP modifier in the at least one Hello Message, wherein the BGP modifier is initially used to determine which one of the at least one second Home Agent should transition to become the primary Home Agent and the priority information is used to further determine the primary Home Agent if more than one Home Agent shares a same BGP modifier value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for providing communication between Home Agents comprising:
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sending a Hello Message containing system attributes from a first Home Agent to at least one second Home Agent, wherein the system attributes includes Home Agent state, priority information, and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) modifier and wherein the priority information includes a weight assigned to a Home Agent for use in operation and the BGP modifier is an attribute used to determine a Home Agent'"'"'s preference in a routing domain; sending a Service Checkpoint Message from the first Home Agent acting as a primary Home Agent to the at least one second Home Agent acting as backup Home Agents, wherein the Service Checkpoint Message contains information used to perform as the primary Home Agent; and transitioning, in response to the Hello Message and the Service Checkpoint Message, one of the at least one second Home Agent to become the primary Home Agent based on the priority information and the BGP modifier in the Hello Message, wherein the BGP modifier is initially used to determine which one of the at least one second Home Agent should transition to become the primary Home Agent and the priority information is used to further determine the primary Home Agent if more than one Home Agent shares a same BGP modifier value. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer program product residing on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer program product comprising computer executable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method for providing communication between Home Agents, the method comprising:
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sending a Hello Message containing system attributes from a first Home Agent to at least one second Home Agent, wherein the system attributes includes Home Agent state, priority information, and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) modifier and wherein the priority information includes a weight assigned to a Home Agent for use in operation and the BGP modifier is an attribute used to determine a Home Agent'"'"'s preference in a routing domain; sending a Service Checkpoint Message from the first Home Agent acting as a primary Home Agent to the at least one second Home Agent acting as backup Home Agents, wherein the Service Checkpoint Message contains information used to perform as the primary Home Agent; and transitioning, in response to the Hello Message and the Service Checkpoint Message, one of the at least one second Home Agent to become the primary Home Agent based on the priority information and the BGP modifier in the Hello Message, wherein the BGP modifier is initially used to determine which one of the at least one second Home Agent should transition to become the primary Home Agent and the priority information is used to further determine the primary Home Agent if more than one Home Agent shares a same BGP modifier value. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification