Multiplex communications – Fault recovery – Bypass an inoperative station
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-03
2001-05-22
Nguyen, Chau (Department: 2663)
Multiplex communications
Fault recovery
Bypass an inoperative station
Reexamination Certificate
active
06236640
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for alternate circuiting, or routing, in bidirectional ATM cell transmission in a ring architecture.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method generally of the type described above is described in an unpublished German Patent application DE 19646016.6. In this known method, transmission equipment are provided for the bidirectional transmission of ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) cells, whereby two switching equipment which function as terminal points are connected to one another via a working entity and a protection entity. The two terminal points respectively contain a monitoring means for detecting transmission disturbances. A switch means that is controllable by the monitoring means connects the receiving terminal point to the working entity in a first switch condition and to the protection entity in a second switch condition. Control information are exchanged between the control devices of the two terminal points. The switch means is respectively controlled by the local monitoring means depending on local control criteria and on control criteria contained in the control information received from the cooperating location.
What is disadvantageous about the know method is that only the alternate circuiting, or routing, of transmission equipment between two terminal points is addressed. Since ring architectures are generally employed in a subscriber line network, this method cannot be employed in such networks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is based on the object of improving a method of the type initially cited such that information that are transmitted according to an asynchronous transfer mode can be transmitted via a plurality of network nodes with great dependability.
The method of the invention provides for the alternate circuiting, or routing, of transmission equipment in ring architectures for the bidirectional transmission of ATM cells, including at least two switching equipment that respectively terminate a transmission section formed of working entities and/or protection entities and between which information is supplied in ATM cells via this transmission section, whereby, given a malfunction on the appertaining transmission section, the ATM cells hitherto transmitted thereover are potentially rerouted onto the protection entity according to priority criteria and logical connection information, a plurality of switching equipment are linked into the transmission section and the at least two switching equipment are brought together.
It is especially advantageous in the invention that a plurality of protection entities share a transmission capacity that is reserved in common.
Advantageous developments of the invention provide that the method has a protection entity respectively allocated to a working entity, whereby a plurality of protection entities can share a transmission capacity reserved in common.
In the alternate circuiting case, an alternate circuiting request is generated to which further priorities are allocated.
Preferably, the logical connection information is the number of a virtual channel and/or the number of a virtual path and/or the number of a virtual path group that is formed of a plurality of virtual paths. Local and global priority tables in which the rank of the priorities is determined are provided.
Upon arrival of an alternate circuiting request in the receiving switching equipment, an alternate circuiting protocol is generated that is supplied only once to the transmitting switching equipment via the protection entity. The total outage and degradation of a working entity are detected in the monitoring means of the receiving switching equipment. In one embodiment, the switching equipment are fashioned as cross-connect switch devices.
The alternate circuiting potentially ensues by driving a switch means contained in the transmitting switching equipment as well as upon employment of a selection means arranged in the receiving switching equipment.
Special data are transmitted over the protection entity during malfunction-free times. In particular, special data are ABR or UBR traffic data.
Preferably, the selection means is fashioned as ATM switching network and/or as simple switch element.
The alternate circuiting protocol of a preferred embodiment is cyclically exchanged between the transmitting switching equipment and the receiving switching equipment.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5327427 (1994-07-01), Sandesara
patent: 5426420 (1995-06-01), Nagler
patent: 5621721 (1997-04-01), Vatuone
patent: 5663949 (1997-09-01), Ishibashi et al.
patent: 5706277 (1998-01-01), Klink
patent: 5933258 (1999-08-01), Flanagan et al.
Boakye Alexander
Nguyen Chau
Schiff & Hardin & Waite
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
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