Patent ID: 6021111
Filing Date: 2000-02-01
Classification: H04B,H04L

Abstract:
A unit switching apparatus comprising:a plurality of current communication units, each of said current communication units including first communication means for performing communication in accordance with an operation mode data, and failure detection means for detecting and notifying of a failure occurrence in said first communication means;a spare communication unit including second communication means for performing communication in accordance with an operation mode data, storage means for storing the operation mode data set in the first communication means of said plurality of current communication units, and control means for reading out from said storage means the operation mode data corresponding to a faulty, current communication unit having a failure occurrence in its first communication means and setting the read out data in said second communication means; andunit switching means for switching from the faulty communication unit having the failure occurrence to said spare communication unit when the failure occurrence is notified by said failure detection means of the faulty communication unit,wherein said control means comprises initial value setting means for setting the operation mode data that is set in one of said current communication units, as an initial value in said second communication means of the spare communication unit, determination means for determining whether said one of said current communication units coincides with said faulty communication unit when the failure occurrence is notified by said failure detection means of the faulty communication unit, read means for reading out the operation mode data of said faulty communication unit from said storage means when the determination means indicates non-coincidence, and setting data changing means for setting the data read out by said read means in said second communication means.