Patent ID: 7430735

Claim:
A method for providing a software upgrade in a network node that includes primary and secondary control modules comprising: downloading a computer software upgrade onto said secondary control module; selecting said computer software upgrade to use on reboot of said secondary control module; rebooting said secondary control module using said computer software upgrade; switching control of said network node from said primary control module to said secondary control module after said rebooting; and mapping of data between different versions of computer software operating on said primary control module and said secondary control module, wherein said mapping of data between said different versions of said computer software further comprises: appending said data to a header to form a package; appending a field of additional data to said package for translation purposes; sending said package and said field of additional data to said secondary control module from said primary control module; decoding said package in said secondary control module; and interpreting, if necessary, said data in said secondary control module using said field of additional data.