Patent ID: 6285670
Filing Date: 2001-09-04
Classification: H04Q

Abstract:
A communications network comprising:A) a plurality of switching nodes each of which provides connections between the communications network and subscriber lines or other switching networks;B) an internal network interconnecting the switching nodes for conveying switched telecommunications data between them;C) a primary host computer and at least one secondary host computer that run supervisory host applications with different priorities, the host applications exercising supervisory control over the nodes, and the primary host computer running a host application with higher priority than the host applications on the secondary hosts;D) a host network linking each host computer with the switching nodes;E) each node having a host-node interface means comprising a plurality of host network ports for establishing virtual connections between applications running on one of said host computers and applications running on said node, and one of said host network ports being a primary port and the remaining host network ports being secondary ports for communications with the host computers connected to the host network;F) means in each switching node for assigning higher priority to incoming messages received on the primary port than the messages received on a secondary port; andG) means for restricting the primary port to communications between the switching nodes and the primary host.