US 6,205,136 B1Granted

Control of switching in a telecommunication network

AssigneeBritish Telecommunications public limited company

InventorJohn William Shepherd

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Abstract

A telecommunication network includes a local switch for receiving and switching a telecommunication signal to remote switches in the network. A local control arrangement is provided which includes a memory for storing instructions and data and which uses the stored instructions and data to control the switching operation of the local switch. A remote control arrangement is provided which also includes a memory for storing equivalent instructions and data. The remote control arrangement is also adapted to control the switching operation of the local switch and the local switch can be controlled by either the local or the remote control arrangements. A manager is provided for modifying the instructions and data in the memories of the local and remote control means and modify the instructions and data in either the local or remote control arrangements immediately. A marker is then sent to the other of the local or remote control means to mark the instructions and data as being out of date. The manager can then modify the marked instructions and data at a later date. The switch is arranged to initially request control from the local control arrangement and the marker is checked to determine if the instructions and data in the local control arrangement are up to date. If not, control is passed to the remote control arrangement.

Claims49

Dependent claims

A telecommunication network comprising:

local switch means for receiving and switching a telecommunication signal to remote switch means in the network;
local control means including storage means for storing instructions and/or data, said local control means being adapted to use said stored instructions and/or data to control the switching operation of said local switch means;
remote control means including storage means for storing instructions and/or data equivalent to the instructions and/or data stored in said storage means of said local control means, said remote control means being adapted to control the switching operation of said local switch means, said local switch means being controlled by either said local control means or said remote control means;
management means for modifying said instructions and/or data of said storage means of said local and remote control means, said management means being adapted to modify said instructions and/or data of said storage means of one of said local and remote control means immediately, to associate a marker with said instructions and/or data in said storage means of said local control means to indicate whether said storage means of said local control means contains the most recently modified instructions and/or data, and to similarly modify said instructions and/or data of said storage means of the others of said local and remote control means subsequently;
said switching means being adapted to request control from said local control means;
marker checking means for checking said marker to determine if said instructions and/or data in said storage means of said local control means are the most recently modified instructions and/or data;
and
passing means responsive to said marker means for passing the control request from said local switch means to said remote control means if said marker checking means determines that said instructions and/or data are not the most recently modified instructions and/or data.

5 more elements

A method of controlling the switching of a telecommunication signal in a telecommunication network comprising local switch means for switching the telecommunication signal, local control means containing instructions and/or data for controlling the switching operation of said switch means, and remote control means containing equivalent instructions and/or data for controlling the switching operation of said switch means, the method comprising:

control modification steps of
modifying said instructions and/or data in one of said local and remote control means;
associating a marker with said instructions and/or data contained in said local control means to indicate whether said local control means contains the most recently modified instructions and/or data;
subsequently similarly modifying said instructions and/or data of the other of said local and remote control means;
and switching control steps of
said local switch means requesting control from said local control means;
checking said marker to determine if said instructions and/or data of said local control means are the most recently modified instructions and/or data;
and
if it is determined that said instructions and/or data are not the most recently modified instruction and/or data, passing the control request from said local switch means to said remote control means and controlling said local switch means from said remote control means, or if it is determined that said instructions and/or data are the most recently modified instructions and/or data, controlling said local switch means from said local control means;
and
controlling said local switch means from said remote control means;
or if it is determined that said instructions and/or data are the most recently modified instructions and/or data, controlling said local switch means from said local control means.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.