Patent ID: 9264303
Filing Date: 2016-02-16
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A protection switching method in a communication network, the communication network including a plurality of communication devices connected logically to receive traffic from at least one traffic source, the method comprising: defining a traffic bit (t-bit) as part of a common message structure used between all the communication devices in the network; assigning at least one communication device as a master node and other devices as slave nodes; determining a fault when a continuity check message is not received in a predetermined time period between the master node and the traffic source; transmitting and receiving status information, reliably, between the master and slave nodes; notifying the slave nodes about a fault (or clearance of fault) between the traffic source and the master node, wherein the master node broadcasts the status information with traffic bit=1 (or ‘t’=0) from the master node to all other slave nodes; and receiving the traffic from the traffic source by the other available slave nodes when the master node's link towards traffic source fails.