Patent ID: 7076564
Filing Date: 2006-07-11
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for resolving anomalies within a network topology map, the method comprising: identifying an anomaly including a conflicting link within a received topology map, the conflicting link comprising a source port on a network device and one or more conflicting destination ports on one or more other network devices; resolving the conflicting link by inserting one or more virtual devices within the topology map, the one or more virtual devices being representative of one or more of the network devices not identified in the received topology map as linked to the source or destination ports wherein resolving the conflicting link comprises first determining whether the source or a destination in the conflicting link is linked to a first virtual device; replacing the conflicting link with a resolved link to the one or more virtual devices based upon the resolution of the conflicting link wherein replacing the conflicting link with a link to a virtual device only if neither the source nor a destination is linked to the first virtual device; and wherein if a destination in the conflicting link is linked to a first virtual device, creating a link from the source to the first virtual device if the source in the conflicting link is not a virtual device.