Gatekeeper Split Registration Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
In distributed telecommunications networks, split registrations occur due to network or equipment malfunctions, leading to endpoints being unable to access trunk resources and consuming precious bandwidth, with manual recovery taking hours, and existing solutions only address inbound or station-to-station calls partially.
Innovation Solution
A method where a primary gatekeeper determines the activation of a survivable gatekeeper and unregisters or denies registration to gateways and endpoints, disabling the network region to prevent split registration, forcing components to migrate to the survivable server and later re-register with the primary gatekeeper.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If endpoints are allowed to register with either primary or survivable gatekeeper during network malfunction, then system availability is improved, but split registration occurs causing bandwidth consumption and resource access issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by having the primary gatekeeper proactively send a disablement message to endpoints in the affected network region before they can register with the survivable gatekeeper. This preemptive action prevents split registration from occurring in the first place, eliminating the harmful effect while maintaining the ability to use survivable gatekeepers for availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback through the heart beat mechanism where the primary gatekeeper monitors the survivable gatekeeper's status. When the survivable gatekeeper becomes active (indicating a malfunction), this feedback triggers the primary gatekeeper to send disablement messages to prevent endpoints from registering with the survivable gatekeeper, thus preventing split registration.
2Device complexity
If manual recovery procedures are used for split registration, then system complexity is reduced, but recovery time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by implementing automatic recovery mechanisms where the primary gatekeeper automatically sends re-enablement messages to endpoints when the survivable gatekeeper becomes inactive again. This automated process eliminates the need for manual recovery procedures, reducing recovery time from hours to minutes while adding minimal system complexity.
3Ease of operation
If endpoints registered with primary gatekeeper during malfunction, then registration simplicity is improved, but bandwidth consumption over WAN increases and trunk resource access is blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The patent prevents endpoints from registering with the primary gatekeeper during survivable gatekeeper activation by sending disablement messages beforehand. This eliminates the problem of endpoints consuming WAN bandwidth and being blocked from trunk resources, while still allowing them to register with the survivable gatekeeper for local resource access.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses the disablement message as an intermediary control mechanism that mediates between the primary gatekeeper and endpoints. This message prevents endpoints from making incorrect registration decisions that would lead to bandwidth consumption and resource access issues, while still maintaining registration simplicity through automated control.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is directed to a method and system to forcibly unregister and/or prevent registration of a gateway and/or other endpoint in a network region in response to a survivable gatekeeper servicing the network region becoming active.