Patent ID: 7778191

Claim:
A method for reducing identification time of path failures in a telephone communications network, comprising: designating a plurality of internet protocol (IP) phones connected to a layer 2 switch as a multi-path 3 (MP3) group, wherein each of the IP phones in the MP3 group have an identical MP3 identification (MP3-ID); designating a plurality of IP phones connected to a plurality of the layer 2 switches that are connected to a subnet as a multi-path 2 (MP2) group, wherein each of the plurality of IP phones in the MP2 group have an identical MP2 identification (MP2-ID); designating a plurality of IP phones connected to a plurality of the layer 2 switches that are connected to a plurality of the subnets that are connected to a gateway router as a multi-path 1 (MP1) group, wherein each of the plurality of IP phones in the MP1 group have an identical MP1 identification (MP1-ID); providing an internet protocol public branch exchange (iPBX) server connected to the plurality of IP phones in the MP1, MP2, and MP3 groups, wherein the iPBX is configured to receive heartbeat packets from each connected IP phone at a selected periodic rate; identifying at least one potential path failure in the communications network based on a failure to receive at least one heartbeat packet at the iPBX from a particular IP phone at the selected periodic rate, wherein the at least one potential path failure is determined based on the MP1-ID, the MP2-ID, and the MP3-ID of the particular IP phone; and displaying information related to the potential path failure to enable a user to examine the potential path failure.