Spanning Tree Patents (Class 370/256)
  • Patent number: 9014041
    Abstract: Method and system for configuring a device that has failed to obtain a network address. In one aspect of the invention, a method for remotely configuring a device includes attempting to obtain a network address from a network server over a network, and receiving a valid network address over the network from a remote device connected to the network in response to failing to obtain the network address from the network server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Michael H. Nolterieke, David B. Rhoades, Norman C. Strole
  • Patent number: 9008613
    Abstract: A server and related method embodiments for determining usage on a wireless network are described. The server includes a connection detector, a connection classifier connected with the connection detector, and a usage tracker connected with the connection classifier. The connection detector detects a connection from a mobile station. The connection classifier determines the type of the detected connection. The usage tracker determines usage for each detected connection based on the connection type. A connecting mobile station for accessing the server includes a session controller for controlling a session with the server, a connection controller for controlling a connection related to the session, and an application assigner for controlling assignment of an application executed by the client to a particular connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventor: Xiaohui Du
  • Patent number: 9007944
    Abstract: Some implementations include routing and/or delivering communications within a network system. In one example, a packet source may be configured to recursively encode a data delivery tree so that any sub-tree formed from the data delivery tree compresses a continuous data block of the data delivery tree.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Chuanxiong Guo, Yongqiang Xiong, Yongguang Zhang, Guohan Lv, Jiaxin Cao
  • Patent number: 9007918
    Abstract: Techniques for efficiently updating routing information in a network device such as a router. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the routing information is updated upon creation or deletion of an overlay tunnel without the network device having to regenerate a Shortest Path Tree (SPT) by performing full Shortest Path First (SPF) processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Vamsi Punati, Hasnain Karampurwala, Reshma Sudarshan
  • Patent number: 9007962
    Abstract: An aspect includes deadlock-free routing on arbitrary network topologies using edge-disjoint sub-networks. A network topology of a network is identified. The network includes a plurality of links between a plurality of switches. Each of the links is identified as an edge. A plurality of edge-disjoint sub-networks is constructed from the network topology of the network by routing configuration logic. The plurality of edge-disjoint sub-networks is formed by edges between the switches such that the edges are disjoint relative to each of the edge-disjoint sub-networks. The switches are configured to route traffic on the network with each route staying entirely within one of the plurality of edge-disjoint sub-networks within the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John B. Carter, Colin K. Dixon, Wesley M. Felter, Ankit Singla
  • Publication number: 20150098362
    Abstract: A master Ethernet bridge for use in an Ethernet network that includes a master central processing unit and associated master Ethernet switch, and one or more slave central processing units, each having an associated slave Ethernet switch, each of the associated slave Ethernet switches connected to a plurality of input/output ports, and wherein each of the plurality of ports is assigned a respective port number, each of the ports being connected to one of the one or more of the cascaded Ethernet devices, and wherein each of the master CPU and slave CPUs includes memory that contains a program that embodies a plurality of Ethernet functions adapted to substantially prevent re-routing of Ethernet commands by providing a mapping function that correlates the plurality of ports to respective ones of the one or more slave CPU and slave Ethernet switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2014
    Publication date: April 9, 2015
    Inventors: Christopher Merck, Andrew Salmon, Gennady Pratusevich
  • Patent number: 9001698
    Abstract: Various aspects of the present invention relate to optimizing the distribution of point-to-point and broadcast messages in a layered mesh network of nodes. In one aspect, a node in the mesh network identifies a point-to-point frequency for sending a point-to-point message to a preferred node, which facilitates communication with a collector node. The node also identifies a broadcast frequency of the preferred node that is distinct from the point-to-point frequency. According to one configuration, the broadcast frequency is offset a predetermined number of frequency channels from the point-to-point frequency. In addition to listening on the broadcast frequency, the node further identifies and listens on a receive frequency for point-to-point messages from other nodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Landis+Gyr Innovations, Inc.
    Inventor: Bruce H. Edwards
  • Patent number: 9001669
    Abstract: In one embodiment, in response to a trigger condition being detected at a particular location in a primary directed acyclic graph (DAG) in a computer network, a particular node in the primary DAG at the particular location may be determined to act as a remote stitched (RS)-DAG root for an RS-DAG at the particular location. The determined RS-DAG root may then be instructed to initiate the RS-DAG, the instructing indicating one or more properties for the RS-DAG that are based on the trigger condition and that are different from properties of the primary DAG. In another embodiment, a particular node receives instructions to initiate an RS-DAG as its RS-DAG root, initiates the RS-DAG, and relays messages of the RS-DAG with a primary root of the primary DAG.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Jean-Philippe Vasseur, Shmuel Shaffer, Sandeep Jay Shetty
  • Publication number: 20150092608
    Abstract: Embodiments are provided for utilizing direct and non-direct communication routes based low power operation. A playback device determines that it should enter a low power mode, where the playback device is part of a networked media system. The playback device identifies at least one additional playback device that is part of the networked media system, where the playback device is configured to communicate with the at least one additional playback device via a first route and a second route. The playback device informs the at least one additional playback device not to utilize the first route with the playback device and enters the low power mode. The playback device periodically receives a message from a master device, where the master device is part of the networked media system. Based on the message, the playback device exits the low power mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2013
    Publication date: April 2, 2015
    Applicant: Sonos, Inc.
    Inventor: Hrishikesh GOSSAIN
  • Publication number: 20150092609
    Abstract: An example method is provided in accordance with one embodiment and includes identifying distances for a sub-tree of a leaf node of a plurality of leaf nodes in a network. The method can also include applying the distances for the sub-tree of the leaf node to a plurality of root nodes connected to the leaf node. Additionally, the method can include establishing a plurality of shortest path distances for the plurality of root nodes using the distances for the sub-tree.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2013
    Publication date: April 2, 2015
    Applicant: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Varun Shah, Madhukar Anand
  • Patent number: 8995304
    Abstract: A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored on a non-transitory medium of an upstream node in a network system comprising a plurality of nodes that when executed by a processor cause the node to advertise an upstream assigned label to a downstream node, receive a message from the downstream node, and if the received message confirms that no conflict with the upstream assigned label exists at the downstream node, assign the upstream-assigned label, or if the received message confirms that a conflict with the upstream-assigned label exists at the downstream node, either select a new upstream-assigned label or wait until indication is received that the label resource has become available.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Qianglin Quintin Zhao, Katherine Zhao, Tao Zhou, Ying Chen
  • Patent number: 8995270
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an asynchronous communication method in a wireless sensor network comprising a tree structure. For each node of the network, the communication is organized as a sequence of time frames, each frame including a listening phase possibly followed by a receiving phase and/or a transmitting phase. The method, of the preamble sampling type, enables a node to make a time appointment to its child node to transmit them a time window allocation message, each child node then transmitting at least one data packet in the window it has been allocated to. By minimizing the collision risk between packets and by maximizing the time during which the sensors go to sleep, the communication method both reduces the latency and the consumption within the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Commissariat à l'énergieatomique et aux énergies alternatives
    Inventors: Giorgio Corbellini, Emilio Calvanese Strinati
  • Publication number: 20150085706
    Abstract: An example method for convergence of multi-destination traffic in a network environment is provided and includes receiving a first type-length-value (TLV) message from a true broadcast root in a Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) network, where the first TLV message indicates a first subset of multi-destination trees in the TRILL network, receiving a second TLV message from the true broadcast root indicating a second subset of multi-destination trees in the TRILL network, such that a union of the first subset and the second subset indicates at least one inactive multi-destination tree in the TRILL network, and deleting the inactive tree from a hash table of active trees.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2013
    Publication date: March 26, 2015
    Applicant: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Lester C. Ginsberg, Varun Shah, Lakshmi Priya Sarma, Ramkumar Parameswaran
  • Patent number: 8989198
    Abstract: Mechanisms are provided for automatic address range detection for an IP network. Flow data is obtained comprising the source or destination IP addresses for the flow and one of: the other of the source or destination IP addresses; or direction data identifying the flow direction across the network boundary. A tree is generated representing IP addresses in the flow data. IP addresses with initial portions in common are represented in the tree with a node in common. Weights are assigned to nodes in the tree based on occurrences of the represented IP addresses in the flow data. The IP address range of the network is detected by identifying, based on the assigned weights, the node associated with the last initial address portion common to all IP addresses in the network. A device is automatically configured with the IP address range to differentiate IP addresses inside and outside the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Bernhard Jansen, Andreas Kind, Marc P. Stoecklin
  • Patent number: 8982734
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus and systems for routing information flows in networks based on spanning trees and network switching element resources. One or more controllers are used to assign information flows to network switching elements (NSEs) through use of spanning trees derived from link path costs. NSEs generate status information relating to resources they employ to facilitate information flows that is sent to the controller(s). The status information is used to derive link costs, which are then used to generate spanning trees that support routing between the NSEs without any path loops. Information flows are assigned to the NSEs such that the routing paths for the flows use the links in the spanning tree. The link costs and spanning trees are dynamically computed during ongoing operations, enabling the network routing and flow assignments to be reconfigured in response to dataplane events and changes to the information flow traffic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Iosif Gasparakis
  • Patent number: 8982733
    Abstract: A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving a spanning tree protocol topology change notification (STP TCN) in a network; removing topology data for a first plurality of gateways associated with a first network segment ID that is shared by a particular gateway that communicated the STP TCN; and communicating an edge TCN to a second plurality of gateways associated with a second network segment ID and for which topology data has not been removed based on the STP TCN.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Shekher Bulusu, Sanjay Sane, Ronak Desai
  • Patent number: 8976788
    Abstract: Avoiding duplicative forwarding of multicast traffic is disclosed. A join message received at a first router is directed to a peer router of the first router from a first downstream node of the first router and the peer router without passing through the peer router. The join message indicates that one or more downstream nodes of the peer desire to receive from the peer multicast traffic specified in the join message. It is determined whether the join message from the first downstream node to the peer would result in duplicative forwarding by the peer of multicast traffic from an upstream source upstream of the peer and the first router based on the join message. Based at least in part on a determination that the join message would result in duplicative forwarding of the multicast traffic, an election procedure is initiated to avoid such duplicative forwarding of the multicast traffic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventor: Venugopal V. Hemige
  • Patent number: 8973132
    Abstract: Pluggable network security modules provide a collaborative response across plural networks by allowing modules associated with detection and neutralization of a network security threat to plug into a network security platform of other networks. Plugging the security modules in provides an automated insertion of detection and neutralization tools into the network security platform to respond to potential threats based upon proven successful responses at other networks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Click Security, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian Smith, Donovan Kolbly, Marc Willebeek-LeMair
  • Patent number: 8971210
    Abstract: A configurable network adapter has N analog front ends, each generating a receiver output and a transmitter input. In a first mode of operation, the analog front end receiver outputs are coupled to a MIMO equalizer, which is coupled to an outer receiver and to a first MAC input, with the first MAC having an output coupled to an outer transmitter, a MIMO modulator, and to the analog front end transmitter inputs. In a second mode of operation, one or more of the analog front ends is directed to a SISO modulator fed by a second outer transmitter coupled to a second MAC transmitter output. An associated one or more of the analog front end receivers is coupled to a SISO equalizer, and thereafter to an outer receiver and to the second lower MAC, thereby providing a first mode for a single MIMO adapter and a second mode for a MIMO plus independent PAN interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Redpine Signals, Inc.
    Inventors: Partha Sarathy Murali, Logeshwaran Vijayan
  • Patent number: 8971209
    Abstract: A method for configuring a router is disclosed. The method comprises providing router configuration information. The router configuration information is sent to the router over a cellular data network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Cradlepoint, Inc.
    Inventors: Phillip T. Magnuson, David Alan Johnson, Gordon McNutt, Jeff Buttars
  • Patent number: 8964528
    Abstract: For a network that includes several managed edge switching elements and several managed non-edge switching elements that are for implementing a logical switching element, some embodiments provide a method of distributing packet processing across the several managed non-edge switching elements. The method receives a packet for processing through the logical switching element. Based on a determination that the packet needs to be processed by a managed non-edge switching element, the method determines a particular managed non-edge switching element of the several managed non-edge switching elements to forward the packet. The method forwards the packet to the particular managed non-edge switching element for the particular managed non-edge switching element to process the packet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Nicira, Inc.
    Inventors: Martin Casado, Teemu Koponen, Pankaj Thakkar, W. Andrew Lambeth, Alexander Yip, Keith E. Amidon, Paul S. Ingram
  • Publication number: 20150049645
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes rapid convergence of an Access Network (AN). A VLAN forwarder is allocated to a first Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) and traffic for the first VLAN is forwarded to and from the AN via the VLAN forwarder. When detecting that the VLAN forwarder satisfies a VLAN reallocation condition, the VLAN forwarder blocks traffic of the first VLAN to and from the AN via the VLAN forwarder, and calculates a characteristic value of the VLAN forwarder. A packet carrying the characteristic value of the VLAN forwarder is transmitted to each neighbor VLAN forwarder such that VLAN reallocation is performed by a VLAN allocator if the characteristic value of the VLAN forwarder is the same as that of each neighbor VLAN forwarder. After receiving information that the VLAN forwarder is reallocated to a second VLAN, the VLAN forwarder allows the traffic of the second VLAN to and from the AN via the VLAN forwarder.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 4, 2013
    Publication date: February 19, 2015
    Inventor: Wan Zhou
  • Publication number: 20150049644
    Abstract: Provided are methods by which multiple devices self-form a wireless communication network and self-coordinate their access to communication media. In these methods, an individual node maintains its knowledge of other nodes in its vicinity and knowledge of those nodes' scheduled activities to an adequate degree of details. Such knowledge can be obtained by receiving control signals from nodes that are within the range of wireless communication. Examples of such knowledge include the identities of the nodes in the vicinity, the nodes' scheduled times of control message transmission and/or reception, the nodes' scheduled times of application data transmission and/or reception, etc. Such knowledge can be embodied in the form of a memory module of a computing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2013
    Publication date: February 19, 2015
    Inventor: Daniel Chonghwan Lee
  • Patent number: 8958298
    Abstract: A novel method for logically routing a packet between a source machine that is in a first logical domain and a destination machine that is in a second logical domain is described. The method configures a managed switching element as a second-level managed switching element. The method configures a router in a host that includes the second-level managed switching element. The method communicatively couples the second-level managed switching element with the router. The method causes the router to route a packet when the router receives a packet from the first logical domain that is addressed to the second logical domain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Nicira, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronghua Zhang, Pankaj Thakkar, Jesse E. Gross, IV, Justin Pettit, Keith E. Amidon, Daniel J. Wendlandt, Teemu Koponen, Martin Casado
  • Patent number: 8958337
    Abstract: A network device determines whether the network device has a local link for a link aggregation group (LAG), and identifies, when the network device has a local link for the LAG, the network device as a designated forwarder for the LAG. The network device also identifies, when the network device does not have a local link for the LAG, a closest network device to the network device, with a local link for the LAG, as the designated forwarder for the LAG.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Juniper Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Shankar Ramanathan, Srinivas Chinnam, Manish Singh, Harshad Nakil
  • Patent number: 8958427
    Abstract: A distributed switch may include a hierarchy with one or more levels of surrogate sub-switches (and surrogate bridge elements) that enable the distributed switch to scale bandwidth based on the size of the membership of a multicast group. Moreover, each surrogate may optimize the hierarchy according to one or more optimization criteria. For example, each surrogate in the hierarchy may have the necessary information to ensure that if the next surrogate in the hierarchy is unavailable, the data may be routed to a backup surrogate. The selected hierarchy may be further optimized by skipping surrogates (or a surrogate level) such that the data intended for a skipped surrogate is sent to a surrogate in a lower-level of the hierarchy. This may better utilize the connection interfaces in the transmitting sub-switches and eliminate any unnecessary surrogate-to-surrogate transfers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Claude Basso, Todd A. Greenfield, Bruce M. Walk
  • Patent number: 8958339
    Abstract: A method for supporting routing decisions in a wireless mesh network, wherein the network (1) includes a multitude of wireless mesh nodes (2) and wherein at least two of the multitude of wireless mesh nodes (2) function as wireless mesh gateways (3) being connected to a wired infrastructure network (5) via wired and/or wireless links. With respect to an efficient routing of intra-mesh traffic that avoids congestions at the mesh gateways (3) as far as possible, the method includes the steps of performing a discovery mechanism for the wireless mesh gateways (3) to find and/or identify each other, establishing virtual wireless mesh links between the wireless mesh gateways (3) via the wired infrastructure network (5), determining the characteristics of the virtual wireless mesh links, and announcing the characteristics to the wireless mesh nodes (2). Further, a corresponding wireless mesh network with routing decision support is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: NEC Europe Ltd.
    Inventors: Long Le, Frank Zdarsky
  • Patent number: 8958286
    Abstract: Network devices provide Internet Protocol (IP) and Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) fast reroute for unicast and multicast traffic. The approach described herein for fast reroute for IP and LDP uses maximally redundant trees (MRTs). MRTs are a pair of trees where the path from any node X to the root R along the first tree and the path from the same node X to the root along the second tree share the minimum number of nodes and the minimum number of links. A network device, such as a router, computes a pair of MRTs for each destination and installs one or more MRT alternate next-hops in its forwarding plane for use in forwarding network traffic to a destination in the event a failure occurs that renders a primary next-hop unusable for reaching the destination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Juniper Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Alia Atlas, Maciek Konstantynowicz, Robert Kebler
  • Patent number: 8953619
    Abstract: A distributed switch may include a hierarchy with one or more levels of surrogate sub-switches (and surrogate bridge elements) that enable the distributed switch to scale bandwidth based on the size of the membership of a multicast group. Moreover, each surrogate may optimize the hierarchy according to one or more optimization criteria. For example, each surrogate in the hierarchy may have the necessary information to ensure that if the next surrogate in the hierarchy is unavailable, the data may be routed to a backup surrogate. The selected hierarchy may be further optimized by skipping surrogates (or a surrogate level) such that the data intended for a skipped surrogate is sent to a surrogate in a lower-level of the hierarchy. This may better utilize the connection interfaces in the transmitting sub-switches and eliminate any unnecessary surrogate-to-surrogate transfers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Claude Basso, Todd A. Greenfield, Bruce M. Walk
  • Patent number: 8953499
    Abstract: The invention includes a method and apparatus for configuring a spanning tree. Specifically, one method according to the present invention includes determining a network topology associated with at least a portion of a network where the network topology includes at least one bridge and at least one link, obtaining network information associated with the network, and computing the spanning tree according to the network topology information and the network information. The network information is operable for evaluating the at least one bridge and the at least one link for inclusion in the spanning tree. The spanning tree includes at least one spanning tree segment, where the at least one spanning tree segment includes at least one communication path operable for supporting network traffic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Ronald van Haalen, Arie Johannes de Heer
  • Patent number: 8953500
    Abstract: Techniques are described for establishing a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) label switched path (LSP) using a branch node-initiated signaling model in which branch node to leaf (B2L) sub-LSPs are signaled and utilized to form a P2MP LSP. The techniques described herein provides a scalable solution in which the number of sub-LSPs for which the source node or any given branch node need maintain state is equal to the number of physical data flows output from that node to downstream nodes, i.e., the number of output interfaces used for the P2MP LSP by that node to output data flows to downstream nodes. As such, unlike the conventional source node-initiated model in which each node maintains state for sub-LSPs that service each of the leaf nodes downstream from the device, the size and scalability of a P2MP LSP is no longer bound to the number of leaves that are downstream from that node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Juniper Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Yimin Shen, Ina Minei, Raveendra Torvi
  • Publication number: 20150036545
    Abstract: Disclosed is a self-construction system of a wireless sensor network, and a method for self-construction of a wireless sensor network using the same. Also disclosed is a method for self-construction of a cluster tree structure-based wireless sensor network (WSN). The present invention can connect devices distributed densely in a wide area to a network while maintaining the advantages of a conventional tree-structured network, such as the reduction of time required for network construction, traffic by the exchange of control command messages, and a load for a routing path search, and thus can provide a WSN having an improved self-construction performance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2012
    Publication date: February 5, 2015
    Applicant: SNU R&DB FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Yong-Hwan Lee, Hyung Sin Kim, Seung Hwan Lee
  • Patent number: 8948050
    Abstract: The control node, on the basis of the connection information between the distribution nodes and the load information of the distribution nodes, determines a distribution node of the distribution destination to which one of a plurality of distribution nodes subsequently distributes the data, and the data type which is distributed to the distribution node of the distribution destination. The control node distributes node information which specifies the distribution node of the determined distribution destination and type information which specifies the determined data type. The distribution node receives the node information and the type information distributed from the control node. The distribution node, when it receives the data distributed from the other distribution nodes, selects the data of the type specified by the type information from the received data. The distribution node transmits the data of the selected type to the distribution node specified by the node information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Kazumine Matoba
  • Patent number: 8948056
    Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a local database, a packet processor, a data management module, and a tree construction module. The packet processor extracts spanning tree information associated with a remote switch. The data management module stores the extracted spanning tree information in the local database. The tree construction module assigns an interface state associated with a spanning tree to a local interface based on the extracted spanning tree information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: Brocade Communication Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Tse Yu Lei, Ning Song, Vardarajan Venkatesh, Mythilikanth Raman
  • Patent number: 8948168
    Abstract: A network system includes lower switches and upper switches connected to the lower switches. Each of the upper switches transmits a first notification frame containing a connected lower switch number information indicative of the number of the lower switches connected to each of the upper switches, to the lower switches connected to each of the upper switches. Each of the lower switches configures a link aggregation group for ports which received the first notification frames each of which contains a maximum value of the connected lower switch number information among the connected lower switch number informations contained in the received first notification frames.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: Hitachi Metals, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoyoshi Tatsumi, Shingo Sugawara, Koichiro Seto
  • Patent number: 8942140
    Abstract: In order to parameterize, within a communication network, a bridge to be put in communication with at least one element to be connected to the bridge, the bridge comprising at least one created port, a parameter representing a predetermined waiting period and corresponding to a time for detection by the bridge, during a phase of listening to the data received by the at least one created port, of the presence of any communication loop within the network, is determined. A filtering of the at least one created port is activated, the filtering being adapted to prevent the sending and reception by the at least one created port of inter-bridge management messages. The bridge is configured with the parameter thus determined, a new port of the bridge is created with a view to setting up communication with the at least one element, and the filtering is deactivated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Stéphane Baron, Pascal Viger
  • Patent number: 8938247
    Abstract: Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate configuring a sounding reference signal transmission in a wireless communication environment. A UE can employ coordinated multi-point transmission and/or reception such that multiple cells collaborate to transmit data to the UE and/or receive data from the UE. To support the coordinated multi-point transmission and/or reception, the UE can transmit a sounding reference signal that is configured to enable reliable reception of the sounding reference signal by members of a cooperating set. In addition, configuration of the sounding reference signal can be coordinated to enable more efficient transmission and utilization of the sounding reference signal. Configuration of the sounding reference signal can be based upon information exchanged between the multiple cells. Moreover, the multiple cells can coordinate to set and control a transmit power of the sounding reference signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Alexei Y. Gorokhov, Juan Montojo, Wanshi Chen
  • Publication number: 20150009807
    Abstract: In general, various capabilities related to fault-resilient services within communication networks are presented. The services may include broadcast services, multicast services, unicast services, or the like, as well as various combinations thereof. A capability for providing local protection to unicast traffic at a node associated with a pair of redundant trees is presented herein. A capability for providing local protection to multicast traffic at a node associated with a pair of redundant trees is presented herein. A capability for constructing a pair of redundant trees is presented herein. A capability for constructing a pair of redundant trees includes partitioning a graph into a pair of partitions based on a link coloring mechanism and constructing the pair of redundant trees based on the pair of partitions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2013
    Publication date: January 8, 2015
    Applicant: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc.
    Inventors: Yigal Bejerano, Pramod V. Koppol
  • Patent number: 8929228
    Abstract: Redundant, non-overlapping paths or routes for a sensor signal in a mesh network are selected based on predetermined metrics. In one embodiment, a wireless sensor transmits a signal that is received by two separate infrastructure nodes. The signal is retransmitted by the two intermediate nodes via the selected non-overlapping routes to a controller node. Routes are identified for at least two infrastructure nodes that receive signals from an added sensor. Performance metrics are calculated for each route. The two routes with the best performance metrics are selected in one embodiment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Ramakrishna S Budampati, Patrick S Gonia, Soumitri N. Kolavennu
  • Patent number: 8929254
    Abstract: An Ethernet Tree (E-Tree) service is described instantiated on an Ethernet switch and in an Ethernet network. The E-Tree service is implemented using Private Forwarding Groups (PFGs), asymmetric Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs), virtual switches, and port configurations. The use of PFGs in addition to asymmetric VLANs provides higher levels of security in the described E-Tree systems and methods. The E-Tree systems and methods also can utilize Access Control Lists (ACLs) at Network-Network Interfaces (NNIs) for controlling unknown unicasts from reaching wrong ports. The E-Tree systems and methods can also seamlessly interoperate with packet switches using an IEEE 802.1Q-2011 approach.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Ciena Corporation
    Inventors: Jie Hu, Raghuraman Ranganathan, David Gilson
  • Patent number: 8923164
    Abstract: A node and a method are described herein for computing forwarding trees to distribute traffic in a network. In addition, a network is described herein that has a plurality of nodes interconnected to one another by a plurality of network links, and each node is configured to perform multiple rounds of forwarding tree computations to distribute traffic load on one or more of the network links to the other nodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ)
    Inventors: János Farkas, David Ian Allan, Scott Mansfield
  • Patent number: 8918631
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a first identifier and a private key after a network device has been included in a data center switch fabric control plane, authenticating the network device based on the private key, sending a second identifier to the network device, and sending a control signal to the network device based on the second identifier. The first identifier is associated with the network device and unique within a segment of the data center switch fabric control plane. The second identifier is unique within the segment of the data center switch fabric control plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: Juniper Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Jainendra Kumar, Vineet Dixit, Prabhu Seshachellum
  • Patent number: 8917630
    Abstract: Contextual information for wireless communications is managed in terms of management objects (MO) using device management (DM) protocol. Contextual information management is performed by determining a need to change from an old configuration to a new configuration, retrieving profile information necessary to make a decision about the new configuration, and making a decision about the new configuration based upon the retrieved profile information. The new configuration may include information about access technology and changes in one or more defined profiles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventor: Remi Feuillette
  • Patent number: 8917610
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for detecting intermittent network link failures. A tracking module tracks link failures of a network link of a network over a specified time interval. A failure module determines the network link is failing in response to a number of link failures exceeding a specified failure threshold. A mitigation module mitigates communications over the network link.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Tara Astigarraga, Louie A. Dickens, Daniel J. Winarski
  • Patent number: 8914503
    Abstract: Embodiments provide systems, methods, and computer program products for inferring the switch port connectivity of discovered but unmanaged devices in a network without direct access to the devices. Embodiments operate by generating a physical address-to-port map based on collected operational data and then pruning the generated map based on switch port connectivity information and/or inferred link connectivity information. The switch port connectivity of discovered unmanaged devices is then generated or updated based on the pruned map. The switch port connectivity information can be used by various other tools to enable diagramming, asset inventory, and network planning, design, and optimization workflows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Riverbed Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Sivaramakrishna Prasadam, Raghavendra Uppalli, James Mark Shaw
  • Patent number: 8914560
    Abstract: An IOP 14 includes a path-state determining unit 54 and a path selecting unit 55. The path-state determining unit 54 determines whether there is any path which is neither in process of data transmission nor in a prohibition period in which data transmission is prohibited for a predetermined time since the last data transmission has been completed out of multiple paths connecting a device to a communication partner device. When the path-state determining unit 54 determines that there is no path which is neither in process of data transmission nor in the prohibition period, the path selecting unit 55 selects a path which completes data transmission but does not pass through the prohibition period as a path for data transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Tadasuke Katoh
  • Patent number: 8913483
    Abstract: In a hierarchical switching architecture that includes at least one lower level managed switching element that connects to several higher level managed switching elements, some embodiments provide a method of identifying a higher level managed switching element to which the lower level managed switching element forwards a packet for further processing. The method computes a value based on a set of attributes of the packet. The method identifies a record from a hierarchy traversal table based on the computed value. The record specifies (1) a first higher level managed switching element as a primary higher level managed switching element and (2) a second higher level managed switching element as a secondary higher level managed switching element. The primary and secondary higher level managed switching elements are for forwarding the packet for further processing. The method forwards the packet to one of the higher level managed switching elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Nicira, Inc.
    Inventors: Benjamin L. Pfaff, Ethan J. Jackson, Teemu Koponen, Pankaj Thakkar
  • Publication number: 20140362709
    Abstract: A system and method for base topology selection includes a network controller including a control unit and one or more ports coupled to the control unit and configured to couple the network controller to one or more network switching devices of a network. The network controller is configured to receive initiation messages from the network switching devices, receive configuration and status messages from the network switching devices, transmit discovery requests to the network switching devices, receive discovery responses from the network switching devices, determine a network topology of the network based on information associated with the initiation messages, the configuration and status messages, and the discovery responses, apply heuristic rules to the network topology, and select a base topology based on results of the applied heuristic rules.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2013
    Publication date: December 11, 2014
    Inventors: Prakash Kashyap, Arun Sarat Yerra
  • Patent number: 8909418
    Abstract: Control devices in a motor vehicle, having first sequence-controlled control devices being connected to a first data bus and second sequence-controlled control devices being connected to a second data bus, are networked. A first control device sends a first message via the gateway device into the first and second data buses. At least a second control device receives the first message and checks whether the receiving of the first message is required for the corresponding control device. The second control device sends out a response message, which indicates whether the second control device has a corresponding need to receive the first message. In the event of such a need, a routing default is established and/or an existing routing default is changed in a gateway device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Otmar Siefermann, Frank Wende
  • Patent number: 8908509
    Abstract: A flow admission control module for IP traffic types monitors network topology and usage. A new flow is not admitted if it is determined that the flow would push the utilization of available bandwidth reserved for the traffic type on a link in the associated path beyond a predetermined threshold. The admission control module may, as a result of dynamic changes to network topology capacity, re-compute the link utilization for effected active flows The admission control module may also account for protection regimes in flow admission calculations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Rockstar Consortium US LP
    Inventors: Allan Sand, Jozef Babiarz, Dany Sylvain