Patent ID: 9369409
Filing Date: 2016-06-14
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method for providing hitless protection in a packet switched network having source nodes and destination nodes, the method comprising: enabling a working path and a protecting path between the source and destination nodes, the working path being non-overlapping with respect to the protecting path; replicating traffic in a given one of the source nodes to generate replicated traffic; forwarding the traffic and the replicated traffic through the working path and the protecting path, respectively, from the given one of the source nodes to a particular one of the destination nodes; delivering a hitless-protected service in the particular one of the destination nodes by selecting traffic packets received from either the working path or the protecting path; checking whether an expected one of marker packets has been received by the particular one of the destination nodes, wherein in addition to traffic replication, the given one of the source nodes also inserts the maker packets in at least one of the traffic and the replicated traffic; checking the marker to determine whether an intended transmission has occurred between the given one of the source nodes and the particular one of the destination nodes using one of the working path and the protecting path, when the expected one of the marker packets has been received by the particular one of the destination nodes; using packets from the one of the working path and the protecting path when the intended transmission has occurred; and using packets from another one of the working path and the protecting path when the intended transmission has failed to occur.