US 7,548,510 B2 · Method of constituting and protecting control channel in IP-based network and status transition method therefor

Abstract

Provided is a method of constituting a highly reliable control network in an IP-based network environment and, more particularly, a protocol technology for automatic control channel constitution and protection. The method includes functions of protection group (PG)-1/3 control channel identification, detour control channel identification, an automatic switchover, a forced switchover, a control channel unavailability notice, a protection/switchover properties information inquiry, an Hello, a protocol error notice, and re-transmission. This invention provides a protection mechanism of control channels without additional overhead and with higher level of resilience capability to improve shortcomings of the LMP and MPLS based schemes.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A method of constituting and protecting a control channel in an Internet Protocol (IP)-based network, the method comprising:

(a) allowing two adjacent nodes to configure a communication environment of protection group (PG)-1 and PG-3 control channels, and to identify an active and one or more standby control channels between two adjacent nodes;
(b) to configure a more powerful control network after the identification of PG-1 and PG-3 control channels, establishing a detour control channel using PG-1 or PG-3 control channels over one or more transit nodes between adjacent nodes;
(c) when a failure on an Active Control Channel (ACC) in use occurs, sending a switchover request on each of the one or more standby control channels and the detour control channel;
and
(d) performing a switchover to the standby or detour control channel that first responds to the switchover requests sent to in response to the failure.

2 more elements

A status transition method for constituting and protecting a control channel, the method comprising:

(a) transmitting a control channel identification message in a Down state that is an initial status and transiting to a Ready state;
(b) receiving a response message in response to the control channel identification message, transmitting one or more hello messages in a Ready state and transiting to an Active state for designating an Active Control Channel (ACC);
(c) receiving one hello message in the Active state and transiting to an Up state for exchanging control packets for exchanging control according to a protection/switchover function and a type of the control channel based on the response message;
(d) when an event that the control channel is no longer available in the Active state or the Up state occurs, transmitting multiple switchover messages to one or more Standby Control Channels (SCCs) and Detour Control Channel (DCC) and transiting to the Down state;
and
(e) performing a switchover to the standby or detour control channel that first responds to the switchover messages sent in response to the event.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method of constituting and protecting control channel in IP-based network and status transition method therefor

Life of this patent

Method of constituting and protecting control channel in IP-based network and status transition method therefor

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims18