Patent ID: 9288140
Filing Date: 2016-03-15
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method for operating a dual homed communications network, comprising: configuring a backup multi-service router in accordance with a configuration of a primary multi-service router; detecting a failure in a first communication path that includes the primary multi-service router; activating a second, backup communication path that includes the backup multi-service router, in response to the detecting; and in response to the activating, negotiating with a router so that traffic forwarded by the router is provided to the second, backup communication path instead of the first communication path, wherein the negotiating occurs between the backup multi-service router and the router and includes (i) actively transmitting an IP address of the backup multi-service router from the backup multi-service router to the router, (ii) receiving the IP address of the backup multi-service router at the router, (iii) updating a forwarding address of the router from an IP address of the primary multi-service router to the received IP address of the backup multi-service router, and (iv) forwarding traffic from the router to the second, backup communication path using the updated forwarding address.