Patent ID: 6240463
Filing Date: 2001-05-29
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method for re-designing a packet-based communications network from an existing packet-based communications network employing a first type of router such that a portion of the re-designed network employs a second type of router in place of the first type of router, comprising the steps of:specifying replacement parameters as a mixed integer programming representation defined as: ##EQU38##where V' represents a set of nodes corresponding to a set of the first type of routers, E' represents a set of links connecting the routers in V', Q.sub.i is an upgrade cost value for a router i of the first type, S.sub.i,j is a cost savings value, x.sub.i is a binary decision variable such that xi equals one if the router i is selected to be replaced by a router of the second type, yij is a dependent variable to reflect the realization of cost savings associated with a link l equal to (i,j) according to two of the constraints, and N.sub.max is a parameter specifying the maximum number of routers of the first type allowed to be replaced; anddetermining one of an optimal number of routers of the first type to be replaced by routers of the second type and corresponding replacement locations in the network from the mixed integer programming representation to form the re-designed packet-based communications network such that S.sub.i,j is substantially maximized.