Patent ID: 7079481

Claim:
A redundant network management system for assigning a master port network controller to control the operation of at least one of a plurality of network ports in response to received call requests, the system comprising: two call processing devices, wherein one of the two call processing devices is active and the other one of the two call processing devices is inactive; interconnecting means for connecting the two call processing devices, wherein the active one of the two call processing devices receives call requests, generates a call routing instruction, and sends a copy of the received call requests to the inactive call processing device; at least two port network controllers connected to the two call processing devices for receiving call routing instructions from the active one of said two call processing devices to control the operation of at least one said plurality of network ports in response to said received call requests; and port network controller selection means, connected to said at least two port network controllers and operating independent of said interconnecting means functioning to interconnect said two call processing devices, for assigning one of the at least two port network controllers as the master port network controller, wherein the one of the at least two port network controllers that is assigned as the master port network controller processes the call routing instructions received from the active one of said two call processing devices.