System and method for fast detection of communication path failures
AssigneeMitel Networks Corporation
InventorJianli Sun
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and methods for reducing detection time of path failures in a communications network is disclosed. Computing devices are organized into at least three groups based on their connectivity. The computing devices are assigned three identification values based on their group assignments. The identification values for each computing device are stored in a router connected to the communications network. Heartbeat packets are sent from the computing devices to the router on a periodic basis. If the router fails to receive a heartbeat packet from a particular computing device, a communication path from the router to the computing device is determined based on the three identification values.
Claims20
A method for reducing identification time of path failures in a telephone communications network, comprising:
- designating a plurality of internet protocol (IP) phones connected to a layer 2 switch as a multi-path 3 (MP3) group, wherein each of the IP phones in the MP3 group have an identical MP3 identification (MP3-ID);
- designating a plurality of IP phones connected to a plurality of the layer 2 switches that are connected to a subnet as a multi-path 2 (MP2) group, wherein each of the plurality of IP phones in the MP2 group have an identical MP2 identification (MP2-ID);
- designating a plurality of IP phones connected to a plurality of the layer 2 switches that are connected to a plurality of the subnets that are connected to a gateway router as a multi-path 1 (MP1) group, wherein each of the plurality of IP phones in the MP1 group have an identical MP1 identification (MP1-ID);
- providing an internet protocol public branch exchange (iPBX) server connected to the plurality of IP phones in the MP1, MP2, and MP3 groups, wherein the iPBX is configured to receive heartbeat packets from each connected IP phone at a selected periodic rate;
- identifying at least one potential path failure in the communications network based on a failure to receive at least one heartbeat packet at the iPBX from a particular IP phone at the selected periodic rate, wherein the at least one potential path failure is determined based on the MP1-ID, the MP2-ID, and the MP3-ID of the particular IP phone;
- and
- displaying information related to the potential path failure to enable a user to examine the potential path failure.
A system for monitoring heartbeat packets in a telephone communications network, comprising:
- an internet protocol public branch exchange (iPBX) server connected to a plurality of groups of internet protocol (IP) phones, wherein each group includes at least a number (N) of IP phones and the iPBX is configured to receive a heartbeat packet from each of the N IP phones in each group at least once every N intervals, wherein N is a positive integer;
- and
- a timer manager operating in the iPBX server, comprising:
- a partitioned timer module having N+P sections, with a timer pointer indexing through the timer module at a selected frequency, wherein P is a positive integer;
- a phone object list located in each of the N+P sections;
- a separate phone object for each of the N IP phones in each group is attached to one of the phone object lists in the partitioned timer module, wherein the phone object is removed from the phone object list in the section in which it is located when a heartbeat packet from the associated IP phone is received at the iPBX and the phone object is newly appended to a phone object list in the section at which the timer pointer is indexed;
- a potential path failure module configured to monitor each phone object list at which the timer pointer is indexed, wherein each phone object that is on the phone object list that has not been newly appended is considered to be a potential path failure.
A method for reducing identification time of path failures in a communications network, comprising:
- assigning an identical MP3 identification value to a first plurality of computing devices connected to a common L2 switch;
- assigning an identical MP2 identification value to a second plurality of computing devices connected to the common L2 switch and a common subnet;
- assigning an identical MP1 identification value to a third plurality of computing devices connected to the common subnet and the common L2 switch and a common gateway router;
- storing the MP1, MP2, and MP3 identification value for each computing device in a router connected to the communications network, wherein the router is configured to receive heartbeat packets from each connected computing device at a selected periodic rate;
- and
- identifying at least one potential path failure in the communications network based on a failure to receive at least one heartbeat packet at the router from a particular computing device at the selected periodic rate, wherein the at least one potential path failure is determined based on the MP1-ID, the MP2-ID, and the MP3-ID of the particular computing device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.