Patent ID: 8724455

Claim:
An apparatus for a mobile data network comprising: a breakout system for communicating with a basestation that transmits and receives radio signals to and from user equipment, wherein the basestation is part of a radio access network that communicates with a core network in the mobile data network, the breakout system having an enclosure; the breakout system further comprising: a fail-to-wire (FTW) module with a primary network data path that connects an upstream computer to a downstream computer and a breakout network data path that connects the upstream computer and the downstream computer to the breakout system; a plurality of switches that switch between the primary network data path and the breakout network data path, wherein the switches in an inactivated state preserve the primary data path and in an activated state route input connections from the upstream computer and the downstream computer on the breakout data path to the breakout system; a control input to the switches driven by a system health signal that activates the plurality of switches to connect the breakout data path when the breakout system is operational; a health monitor that receives health inputs from a plurality of intelligent subsystems of the breakout system to determine a health of the breakout system and in response drive the health signal to activate the plurality of switches; a heartbeat mechanism and a periodic signal from the health monitor, wherein the heartbeat mechanism requires the periodic signal from the health monitor to indicate that the health monitor is running properly, and the heartbeat mechanism indicates a failure and causes the breakout system to enter a fail to wire state by inactivating the switches in the FTW module when the periodic signal fails to satisfy at least one timing criteria; a second heartbeat mechanism in a subsystem containing the health monitor, wherein the second heartbeat mechanism requires the periodic signal from a FTW control mechanism to indicate that the FTW control mechanism is running properly and indicates a failure if the periodic signal fails to satisfy at least one timing criteria; and a FTW control module that receives a health signal from the health monitor and a health signal from the FTW control mechanism, wherein the FTW control module activates the health signal to the FTW module if one or both of the first heartbeat mechanism and the second heartbeat mechanism indicates a failure.