Patent ID: 8059526

Claim:
A system (e.g., 100 ) comprising: two or more working units including a first working unit and a second working unit, each working unit configurable to provide a set of signal-routing connections; a processor-based protection unit configurable to provide the set of signal-routing connections of any one of the working units; and a controller unit that detects failure of one of the working units and transmits a protection-switch command to the protection unit to make a protection switch, wherein the protection unit comprises: a multi-service processor (MSP) device configurable to provide signal-routing connections; a local memory configurable to store, for each working unit, a replica device handle representing the set of signal-routing connections of the working unit including (i) a first replica device handle representing the set of signal-routing connections of the first working unit and (ii) a second replica device handle representing the set of signal-routing connections of the second working unit; and a programmable processor that, in response to receipt of the protection-switch command from the controller unit, causes (i) the replica device handle for the failed working unit to be retrieved from the local memory and (ii) the MSP device to be reconfigured based on the replica device handle to provide the set of signal-routing connections of the failed working unit, such that: if the failed working unit is the first working unit, then the programmable processor, in response to receipt of the protection-switch command from the controller unit, causes (i) the first replica device handle for the failed first working unit to be retrieved from the local memory and (ii) the MSP device to be reconfigured based on the first replica device handle to provide the set of signal-routing connections of the failed first working unit; and if the failed working unit is the second working unit, then the programmable processor, in response to receipt of the protection-switch command from the controller unit, causes (i) the second replica device handle for the failed second working unit to be retrieved from the local memory and (ii) the MSP device to be reconfigured based on the second replica device handle to provide the set of signal-routing connections of the failed second working unit.