Resilient Network Communication via Pre-established Protection Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication networks face challenges in communication resilience due to significant communication overhead, network failure detection time, and load balancing issues, especially as network size and scale increase.
Innovation Solution
An algorithm for assigning unicast and multicast services to a resilient switching fabric that optimizes service distribution across multiple paths between two endpoints, along with mechanisms for synchronizing multicast forwarding tables and rapidly switching between active and standby paths during network faults.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundant communication paths are established for network resilience, then communication reliability is improved, but communication overhead and bandwidth consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-establishes redundant communication paths and configures them with path selection algorithms before failures occur. The system proactively sets up multiple paths and pre-determines selection criteria, so when a failure occurs, the switch to alternative paths is immediate without requiring real-time path discovery or negotiation, thus maintaining reliability while minimizing ongoing overhead.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates duplicate copies of communication paths for redundancy. Instead of using complex protocols to maintain synchronization between redundant paths, the system uses simplified copying mechanisms where backup paths are direct copies of primary paths, reducing the complexity and overhead of maintaining redundancy while ensuring reliability.
2Reliability
If network failure detection mechanisms are implemented, then communication reliability is improved, but detection time and processing resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous feedback mechanisms through path monitoring algorithms that constantly assess the status of communication paths. The system uses real-time feedback from network elements about path health, enabling rapid detection of failures. This continuous feedback loop allows the system to immediately identify and respond to path failures without significant detection delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs expedited failure detection by skipping traditional lengthy detection protocols. When a failure is suspected, the system rushes through streamlined verification processes to quickly confirm path status and trigger failover, minimizing detection time while maintaining reliable failure identification.
3Productivity
If multiple services are assigned to communication elements for load balancing, then service capacity is improved, but load balancing issues and complexity increase at critical network points
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic service assignment where the allocation of services to communication paths is not static but continuously adjusted based on real-time network conditions, path utilization, and service requirements. This dynamic approach allows the system to optimize load distribution across multiple paths, improving overall service capacity while avoiding the complexity of manual load balancing configurations at critical network points.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes key parameters of service assignment including path selection criteria, service routing weights, and load distribution algorithms. By dynamically adjusting these parameters based on network conditions, the system achieves improved service capacity and load balancing without requiring complex fixed configurations, allowing flexible adaptation to changing network states.
4Reliability
If broadcast of all multicast traffic on redundant paths is implemented, then communication resilience is improved, but bandwidth consumption and network overhead increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively broadcasting multicast traffic only on specific paths where it is needed, rather than uniformly broadcasting on all redundant paths. The system determines which paths require multicast traffic based on local network conditions, service requirements, and receiver locations, thus maintaining multicast communication resilience while significantly reducing overall bandwidth consumption and network overhead.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for resilient network communication are provided. In one aspect, a network includes multiple West NEs, spine elements, and East NEs. Each element has multiple physical communication interfaces. A working communication path connects the West NE to the East NE through a spine element. A protection communication path connects that West NE to that East NE through a different spine element. The working and protection communication paths terminate at the West NE and East NE at maintenance end points. A protection group is formed of the working communication path and the protection communication path. The protection group maintains a state designating an active path and a standby path. Maintenance groups at the spine elements monitor continuity messaging for their associated maintenance end points to determine network health. Faults between the West NEs and East NEs are detected through RDI and CCM.