Remote Bandwidth Manager for Automatic Network Failover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network connection systems fail to automatically detect and switch to an alternate connection when a primary medium degrades or fails, leading to service disruptions and difficulties for users in determining the cause of service degradation.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that remotely monitor the status of multiple network access media, using a bandwidth manager to determine the quality of service (QoS) metrics and automatically switch from a failing medium to an alternate medium with improved QoS, minimizing service disruptions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual connection switching is implemented, then users can change to an alternate medium, but service disruption time increases due to manual intervention requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously monitoring connection quality metrics before actual failure occurs. The monitoring component tracks packet loss, latency, and error rates in real-time, enabling the system to detect degradation trends and initiate failover before complete connection loss, thereby reducing service disruption time
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where connection quality metrics are continuously measured and fed back to the control logic. This feedback loop enables automatic detection of connection degradation and triggers the failover process without user intervention, resolving the contradiction between reliability and time loss by making the system responsive to real-time conditions
2Reliability
If automatic failover is implemented, then service continuity is improved, but system complexity increases due to monitoring and control mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies self-service by enabling automatic self-monitoring and self-healing capabilities. The monitoring component autonomously tracks connection metrics, the controller automatically determines when failover is needed based on predefined thresholds, and the system executes the switch without external intervention, thereby managing complexity through automation rather than human management
Solution Approach 2:
The system achieves multi-functionality by integrating multiple capabilities into unified components. The monitoring component simultaneously tracks multiple metrics (packet loss, latency, errors), the controller performs both threshold evaluation and failover decision-making, and the same infrastructure supports both primary and alternate connections, reducing overall system complexity through functional consolidation
3Reliability
If multiple network access media are maintained, then failover capability is enabled, but cost increases due to maintaining redundant connections
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by maintaining full functionality on the primary connection while keeping the alternate connection in a reduced-state mode. The alternate connection is monitored but not fully activated, requiring minimal resources until failover is needed. This approach enables failover capability while avoiding the full cost of maintaining two equally robust connections simultaneously
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is a system and method for failing over from a current network access medium to an alternative network access medium. A customer premises equipment (CPE) box has ports for connections to a network through several network access media, such as high speed cable connections, DSL connections and dial-up connections. QoS parameters for each of the connections are monitored from a bandwidth manager remote from the CPE box. When it is determined that a fail-over would be beneficial, a message is sent from the bandwidth manager to the CPE box containing a command to fail-over and an identity of the alternate network access media.