Patent ID: 11943134
Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC G  H

Claim 4:
5. A transfer method performed by a first transfer apparatus, the method comprising:
centrally controlling a transfer apparatus group comprising a plurality of transfer apparatuses including the first transfer apparatus and one or more second transfer apparatuses, wherein the plurality of transfer apparatuses are connected to each other with communication routing in accordance with external routing information notified from an external communication apparatus outside the transfer apparatus group, wherein an external port of the first transfer apparatus is configured to receive the external routing information;
performing autonomous decentralized control for autonomously constructing routing for each of the plurality of transfer apparatuses in accordance with internal routing information exchanged only between the transfer apparatuses in the transfer apparatus group, wherein an internal port of the transfer apparatus is configured to receive and output the internal routing information;
storing, in a first data base (DB), a destination address obtained by resolving the internal routing information through the autonomous decentralized control;
storing, in a second DB, the external routing information;
transferring the external routing information and the internal routing information to one of the second transfer apparatuses via the internal port, and storing, in a third DB, the external routing information or the internal routing information transferred from one of the second transfer apparatuses; and
acquiring, from the first DB, a destination address of the external routing information and transferring the external routing information via the internal port to one of the second transfer apparatuses that is designated by the acquired destination address;
wherein performing the autonomous decentralized control comprises performing control of (i) detecting a destination address of the internal routing information from the first DB, (ii) transferring the internal routing information to one of the second transfer apparatuses that is designated by the detected destination address, and (iii) storing, in the third DB, the internal routing information or the external routing information transferred from one of the transfer apparatuses via the internal port; and
wherein centrally controlling the transfer apparatus group comprises performing control of (i) storing the external routing information received by the internal port in the second DB, (ii) storing, in the third DB, the external routing information read from the second DB, and (iii) transferring the external routing information to one of the second transfer apparatuses via the internal port.