Patent ID: 7992142

Claim:
A method of upgrading firmware installed on network elements of a communications network, comprising the steps of: loading a firmware upgrade onto a source network element on the communications network; and broadcasting the firmware upgrade through the communications network to network elements to which the firmware upgrade applies, including sending a notification message identifying a type of the network element to which the firmware upgrade applies to network elements that are adjacent the source network element by sending the notification message from the source network element by a network upgrade protocol (NUP) software agent comprised in the source network element, broadcasting the notification message through the communications network by each network element that receives the notification message passing the notification message to the adjacent network elements, and switching the network element of the type identified in the notification message to a receiving state for receipt of the firmware upgrade upon receipt of the notification message, sending an apply message from the source network element to the adjacent network elements, by sending the apply message from each network element at which the apply message is received to the adjacent network elements, the apply message instructing the network elements to which the firmware upgrade applies to apply the firmware upgrade, and periodically sending an inventory message from a given network element to the adjacent network elements, the inventory message comprising a list of firmware stored at the given network element, and, at the adjacent network elements that receive the inventory message, comparing the received firmware list with its own firmware list and, if the comparison indicates that the given network element sending the inventory message does not have all the firmware in the receiving network element's list, sending the missing firmware to the given network element originating the inventory message.