US 7,924,702 B2Granted

Method for reconfiguring a communication network

AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft

InventorsVivek Kulkarni, Elie Sfeir

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Abstract

A method for reconfiguring a packet-switched communication network using a network protocol for installing a logic topology of the network formed as a spanning tree is disclosed. The method includes detecting failure of a direct link to a root bridge of the spanning tree by a first bridge; detecting the failure of a direct link to the root bridge by a second bridge; transmitting a first configuration frame generated by the first bridge to other bridges; receiving the first configuration frame by a third bridge and transmitting a second configuration frame, generated by the third bridge, to the other bridges; detecting the first or second configuration frame by the second bridge and transmitting the third configuration frame generated by the second bridge to the other bridges; receiving the third configuration frame by the other bridges of the network and triggering a reconfiguration of the network with detection of a new spanning tree by the network protocol.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A method for reconfiguring a packet-switched communication network which uses a network protocol by which a logical topology is set up for the network in the form of a spanning tree, comprising:

detecting a failure of a direct link to a root bridge of the spanning tree by a first bridge which is directly connected to the root bridge via a link and has no alternative ports;
starting of a timer;
detecting, within a selectable interval of time on the timer, the failure of the direct link to the root bridge by a second bridge which is directly connected to the root bridge via the link and has alternative root ports;
transmitting a first configuration frame generated by the first bridge to the other bridges of the network, the first configuration frame containing as a origin identifier a identifier of the first bridge;
receiving the first configuration frame by a third bridge;
transmitting a second configuration frame generated by the third bridge to the other bridges of the network, where a flag indicating the failure of the direct link from the first bridge to the root bridge is set in the second configuration frame, the second configuration frame containing as a origin identifier the identifier of the first bridge;
detecting the first or second configuration frame by the second bridge;
transmitting a third configuration frame generated by the second bridge to the other bridges of the network, where the flag indicating the failure of the direct link from the first bridge to the root bridge is cleared in the third configuration frame, the third configuration frame containing as a origin identifier a identifier of the second bridge;
receiving the third configuration frame by the other bridges of the network;
and
initiating a reconfiguration of the network with a determination of a new spanning tree using the network protocol.

8 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform a method for reconfiguring a packet-switched communication network which uses a network protocol by which a logical topology is set up for the network in the form of a spanning tree, the method comprising:

detecting a failure of a direct link to a root bridge of the spanning tree by a first bridge which is directly connected to the root bridge via a link and which has no alternative ports;
starting of a timer;
detecting, within a selectable interval of time on the timer, the failure of the direct link to the root bridge by a second bridge which is directly connected to the root bridge via the link and which has alternative root ports;
transmitting a first configuration frame generated by the first bridge to the other bridges of the network, the first configuration frame containing as its origin identifier a identifier of the first bridge;
receiving the first configuration frame by a third bridge;
transmitting a second configuration frame generated by the third bridge to the other bridges of the network, where a flag indicating the failure of the direct link from the first bridge to the root bridge is set in the second configuration frame, the second configuration frame containing as its origin identifier the identifier of the first bridge;
detecting the first or second configuration frame by the second bridge;
transmitting a third configuration frame generated by the second bridge to the other bridges of the network, where the flag indicating the failure of the direct link from the first bridge to the root bridge is cleared in the third configuration frame, the third configuration frame containing as its origin identifier a identifier of the second bridge;
receiving the third configuration frame by the other bridges of the network;
and
initiating a reconfiguration of the network with a determination of a new spanning tree using the network protocol.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/311,388Filed 24 Sep 2007
Priority: EP 0602045228 Sep 2006
Published: US 2010/0110880 A16 May 2010
Granted: 12 Apr 2011
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

H04L 12/462
LAN interconnection over a backbone network, e.g. Internet, Frame Relay: lAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone
H04L 12/14
Details: charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting…
H04L 41/0677
Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications: localisation of faults
H04L 45/22
Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks: alternate routing