Patents by Inventor Mark Sees

Mark Sees has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6347074
    Abstract: A method and system for excluding restoral routes from use in bypassing a failed component. Prior to failure of a segment, the restoration system identifies each path in the communications network. A path is a unique sequence of installations that a segment traverses. The restoration system then creates a mapping of the ports of the restoration nodes to the paths of the segments connected to each port. The restoration system then identifies for each path the set of paths that are interdependent. A pair of paths are interdependent when both paths traverse a common pair of installations. Following failure of a segment, the restoration system uses the port on which the failure was detected and uses the mapping to identify the path of the segment that failed. The restoration system then excludes each restoral route that includes a segment that has a path that is interdependent with the identified path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2002
    Assignee: MCI Communications Corporation
    Inventors: William D. Croslin, Lawrence Commerford, Mark Sees
  • Patent number: 6044064
    Abstract: In a restoration network including a distributed restoration algorithm (DRA) enabled network of a telecommunications network, path verification messages are embedded onto traffic bearing signals entering the network and removed from the signals leaving the network. By adding path verification messages to the signals that traverse within the DRA enabled network, the integrity of any communications path that interconnects the various nodes within the restoration network are confirmed. Further, by removing the path verification messages from the signals leaving the restoration network, equipment outside the restoration network are spared of any possibility that their operations may be affected by the path verification messages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2000
    Assignee: MCI Communications Corporation
    Inventors: Ashley Brimmage, Bryan McGlade, Lee D. Bengston, Jasvantrai C. Shah, Mark Sees
  • Patent number: 5959969
    Abstract: A method and system for initiating distributed restoration of a communications network following the failure of one or more network components. Restoration is conducted in a distributed fashion by all the restoration nodes of the network. When a restoration node detects failure of a segment connected to it, the restoration node monitors its segments for a period of time and then sends a failure message to other restoration nodes of the network indicating the number of segments connected to it that have failed. When restoration nodes receive failure messages, they compare the count of failed segments contained in the messages to a range of counts of failures for the detecting node that are locally stored on each restoration node. By this comparison, the restoration nodes can determine whether the network has quiesced to a relatively stable state following a network outage. Once the network has reached a stable state, all the restoration nodes simultaneously initiate a local restoration process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1999
    Assignee: MCI Communications Corporation
    Inventors: William D. Croslin, Steve Sellers, Mark Sees
  • Patent number: 5941992
    Abstract: A distributed method and system for excluding segments from use in bypassing a failed component. Prior to failure of a segment, the restoration system at a central location identifies each path in the communications network. A path is a unique sequence of installations that a segment traverses. The restoration system then creates a mapping of the ports of the restoration nodes to the paths of the segments connected to each port. The restoration system then identifies for each path the set of paths that are interdependent. A pair of paths are interdependent when both paths traverse a common pair of installations. The restoration system then downloads to each restoration node the mappings for its ports along with an indication of the paths that are interdependent with the path of each segment connected to the restoration node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 24, 1999
    Assignee: MCI Communications Corporation
    Inventors: William D. Croslin, Steve Sellers, Mark Sees