Patent ID: 9178804
Filing Date: 2015-11-03
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
1. A switching domain, comprising: a switch fabric; and first and second ingress line cards each configured to (i) send path quality words to each other via the switch fabric, (ii) compare the path quality words against path quality words received from the other of the first and second ingress line cards, and (iii) determine whether to transmit traffic to a third line card via the switch fabric based on the comparison of the path quality words; wherein the switching domain is configured to have either of the first or second line cards transmit traffic for a protected path, and wherein the first and second line cards are each further configured to determine independently whether to transmit traffic based on whether the path quality word it sent represents a higher path quality than the path quality word sent by the other of the first and second line cards.