US 2002/0057692 A1Published application

Arrangement for packet based call-related high availability solutions

OwnerKevin Kliland, Geir Sorbotteninventors

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Abstract

A method for exchange of vertical information in a layered redundant deployed network is disclosed. At an endpoint side, a first message, e.g. a user registration message, is vertically being sent upwards from layer to layer. For each passed node, an address list of peers in the current layer is added to the message. When reaching the uppermost layer, all the address lists added to the message are being stored in a node in that layer. A second message confirming the first message is being sent from the latter node in the opposite vertical direction from layer to layer, wherein said second message always contains the addresses of the previously passed node and its redundant peers. These addresses are stored in each node receiving said second message. Consequently, the uppermost layer at the endpoint side will know all the alternative routes for transmitting messages vertically towards the lowermost layer. Also, for messages to be sent upwards, each node in all the layers will know the addresses of the nodes in the above layer. The invention disclosed provides short implementation time, and limits processing overhead during normal execution without reducing redundancy.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A method for providing high availability and redundancy in communication between an endpoint at a terminating side and an endpoint at an originating side in a packet switched network, said network being virtually divided into horizontal layers comprising a number of nodes, wherein a plurality of said nodes are associated with said terminating side and a plurality of said nodes are associated with said originating side, nodes within the same layer associated with the same side said to be peers and holding relevant information about each other, each node within each layer, in addition to the endpoints, being connected to at least all peers of adjacent layer(s) within the same side respectively, the method comprising the following steps, executed at each side respectively prior to said communication:

sending a first message vertically by the endpoint associated with the current side from one of said nodes within the horizontal layer adjacent to said endpoint to one of said nodes within a higher horizontal layer passing through one of said nodes within each intermediate layers;
for each passed node, adding relevant information concerning current node and its peer(s) to said first message;
upon receiving said first message, storing said relevant information for each passed node and its peers included in said first message in said node within the higher layer;
in response to said first message, sending a second message in the opposite direction from said node within the higher layer to said endpoint passing through said nodes of said intermediate layers, said second message always containing the relevant information of the previously passed node and its peer(s);
and
in each node and in the endpoint, storing the relevant information of the previously passed node and its peer(s) when receiving said second message.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.