Patent ID: 7978615
Filing Date: 2011-07-12
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a data network of the type in which a number of router devices forward received packets of data towards a destination node using the Internet Protocol wherein: each router maintains a routing table, indicating the next hop to choose in respect of different ultimate destinations, in accordance with a routing protocol wherein neighboring routers periodically communicate with one another and wherein such communications are used by routers as confirmation that they are still able to communicate with one another, and each router compares the time since it last communicated in this way with each of its neighbors with a router dead interval and determines that the respective neighboring router, or the currently designated route thereto, has gone down in the event that the comparison indicates that the router dead interval has elapsed without such a communication having been received from the respective router, and each router performs an adaptive algorithm to modify the or each corresponding router dead interval dynamically in accordance with one or more properties of the network as measured by the router.