Patent ID: 7899934

Claim:
A method for determining when a network becomes unpartitioned, the method comprising: assigning a value to each node in the network using a computer, in response to the detection of a failure of a link that enables communication between nodes, such that all nodes in a given group of nodes are assigned the same value, wherein the network is partitioned into a first group of nodes and a second group of nodes, each node in the first group of nodes is assigned a first value, each node in the second group of nodes is assigned a second value, and the first value is different than the second value; determining that a new link has been added to the network using the computer, wherein the link enables a first node to communicate with a second node; comparing the value assigned to the first node to the value assigned to the second node using the computer; and determining that the value assigned to the first node is different than the value assigned to the second node using the computer, wherein said determining that the value assigned to the first node is different than the value assigned to the second node indicates that the network has become unpartitioned.