Bonding Group Link State Awareness Logic for Backup Channel Switching
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Bonding groups in communication systems experience reduced aggregate data rates and potential failure due to line anomalies, necessitating a backup channel that incurs unnecessary resource costs when not in use.
Innovation Solution
Implementing link state awareness (LSA) logic to monitor communication performance and switch data transmission from a primary bonding group to a backup bonding group before complete failure, using a switching element to enable communication via a backup channel based on measured performance thresholds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a backup channel is maintained separate from the bonding group lines, then network resiliency is enhanced by enabling communication during bonding group failure, but resource costs increase due to idle subscriber lines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the backup channel functionality with the primary bonding group by using the same subscriber lines for both purposes. The bonding group lines serve as primary communication channels when functional and automatically serve as backup channels when needed, eliminating the need for separate dedicated backup lines. This is achieved through monitoring communication performance and dynamically switching between bonding group modes and backup modes using the same physical infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The subscriber lines are designed to perform multiple functions: they serve as primary bonding group communication lines during normal operation and automatically transition to serving as backup communication lines when the bonding group fails. This multi-functionality allows the same physical resources to provide both primary and backup communication services, maximizing resource utilization while maintaining network resiliency.
2Productivity
If subscriber lines are bonded to form a bonding group, then aggregate data rate increases beyond what a single channel can provide, but network vulnerability increases due to line anomalies affecting multiple channels
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary monitoring of communication performance parameters of the bonding group and detects potential failures before they completely disrupt service. By continuously monitoring metrics such as signal quality, error rates, and transmission performance, the system can identify deteriorating conditions and proactively switch to backup communication paths before total bonding group failure occurs, thereby preventing data loss and maintaining service continuity.
Data Source
AI summary
A communication system comprises a plurality of subscriber lines that are bonded to provide a bonding group, referred to as the “primary bonding group.” A data stream comprising a plurality of data packets is transmitted to a port, referred to as the “primary port,” of a network termination unit (NTU) coupled to each subscriber line of the primary bonding group, and a bonding engine of the NTU fragments the data packets for transmission across the bonding group. Logic, referred to as “link state awareness (LSA) logic,” is configured to monitor at least one communication parameter indicative of the communication performance of the bonding group. If the measured communication performance is within a specified range, the LSA logic disables the primary port. Such action signals a switching element to switch communication to another NTU that is coupled to one or more other subscriber lines for backing up the primary bonding group. Thus, communication is switched to a backup channel based on the measured performance parameter before a complete failure of the primary bonding group occurs.