A method and system for routing frames in a multi-ring local area network

Claim 1

A method for routing frames between stations in a telecommunication network system wherein a plurality of serial loop networks are being interconnected by a plurality of bridges and each serial loop having one or more utilization stations connected thereto, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) transmitting from a source station through the loop connected to it, a frame including a first indicia having at least two states and a Routing Information (RI) field; said RI field including one or more routing addresses adaptable for identifying the bridges through which the frame is being routed, a pointer (PTR) field for identifying the order in which the bridges will process the frame and a Length (LTH) field for indicating the length of the RI field; (b) receiving the frame at a bridge; (c) determining the relative order for processing frames through the bridges; (d) incrementing the value of the pointer field only if the bridges process the frames in an ascending order; (e) decrementing the value of the pointer field only if the bridges process the frame in the opposite order; and (f) retransmitting at the next opportunity given to the bridges by the network the frame including the adjusted pointer field whereby the steps recited in (b)-(f) above are being repeated successively at the bridges whose identity appears in the RI field until the last bridge in said field receives the frame with the pointer being set to a predetermined value, thus indicating that said bridge is at a target ring.

Claim 2

A method for routing frames between stations in a telecommunication network system wherein a plurality of serial loop networks are being interconnected by a plurality of bridges and each serial loop having one or more utilization stations connected thereto, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) transmitting from a source station through the loop connected to it, a frame including a first indicia having at least two states and a Routing Information (RI) field; said RI field including one or more routing addresses adaptable for identifying the bridges through which the frame is being routed, a pointer (PTR) field for identifying the order in which the bridges will process the frame and a Length (LTH) field for indicating the length of the RI field; (b) receiving the frame at a bridge; (c) determining the relative order for processing frames through the bridges; (d) incrementing the value of the pointer field only if the bridges process the frames in an ascending order; (e) decrementing the value of the pointer field only if the bridges process the frame in the opposite order; and (f) retransmitting at the next opportunity given to the bridges by the network the frame including the adjusted pointer field whereby the steps recited in (b)-(f) above are being repeated successively at the bridges whose identity appears in the RI field until the last bridge in said field receives the frame with the pointer being set to a predetermined value, thus indicating that said bridge is at a target ring.

Claim 7

A method for routing frames between stations in a telecommunication network system wherein a plurality of serial loop networks are being interconnected by a plurality of bridges and each serial loop having one or more utilization stations connected thereto, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) transmitting from a source station through the loop connected to it, a frame including a first indicia having at least two states and a Routing Information (RI) field; said RI field including one or more routing addresses adaptable for identifying the bridges through which the frame is being routed, a pointer (PTR) field for identifying the next bridge to process the frame and a Length (LTH) field for indicating the length of the RI field; (b) receiving the frame at a bridge connected to the loop; and examining the first indicia for determining the state of said first indicia; (c) determining the position of the bridge relative to the route; (d) incrementing the value of the pointer field only if the bridges process the frames in an ascending order; (e) decrementing the value of the pointer field only if the bridges process the frame in the opposite order; and (f) retransmitting at the next opportunity given to the bridges by the network the frame including the adjusted pointer field whereby the steps recited in (c)-(f) above are being repeated successively at the bridges whose identity appears in the RI field until the last bridge in said field receives the frame with the pointer being set to a predetermined value, thus indicating that said bridge is at a target ring.

Claim 8

A method for routing frames between stations in a telecommunication network system wherein a plurality of serial loop networks are being interconnected by a plurality of bridges and each serial loop having one or more utilization stations connected thereto, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) transmitting from a source station through the loop connected to it, a frame including a first indicia having at least two states and a Routing Information (RI) field; said RI field including one or more routing addresses adaptable for identifying the bridges through which the frame is being routed, a pointer (PTR) field for identifying the next bridge to process the frame and a Length (LTH) field for indicating the length of the RI field; (b) receiving the frame at a bridge connected to the loop; and examining the first indicia for determining the state of said first indicia; (c) determining the position of the bridge relative to the route; (d) incrementing the value of the pointer field only if the bridges process the frames in an ascending order; (e) decrementing the value of the pointer field only if the bridges process the frame in the opposite order; and (f) retransmitting at the next opportunity given to the bridges by the network the frame including the adjusted pointer field whereby the steps recited in (c)-(f) above are being repeated successively at the bridges whose identity appears in the RI field until the last bridge in said field receives the frame with the pointer being set to a predetermined value, thus indicating that said bridge is at a target ring.

Claim 10

A method for routing information through a network having a plurality of independently interconnected rings characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) transmitting from a source station a frame having a first indicia set to a first state, a second indicia having at least two states and a Routing Information (RI) field; said RI field further characterized by an LTH field for containing data representative of the size of the RI field, a PTR field, at least one two-state indicia and an address space for carrying the addresses of switching stations; (b) receiving the frame at a switching station and examining the first indicia for determining the state of said first indicia; (c) analyzing the RI field only if the first indicia is set to the first state; (d) incrementing the value of the PTR only if the two state indicia of the RI field is being set to a predetermined value and the PTR is being set to a first predetermined value; (e) retransmitting the frame; (f) receiving the frame at a switching station identified by the PTR value; (g) incrementing the PTR value only if the PTR is being set to a second predetermined value; (h) retransmitting the frame and repeating steps (f)-(h) successively at the switching stations whose address appears in the address space until the last switching station identified in said address space receives the frame with the PTR value being set to a third predetermined value, thus indicating that said frame has arrived at the target ring.

Claim 11

A method for routing information through a network having a plurality of independently interconnected rings characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) transmitting from a source station a frame having a first indicia set to a first state, a second indicia having at least two states and a Routing Information (RI) field; said RI field further characterized by an LTH field for containing data representative of the size of the RI field, a PTR field, at least one two-state indicia and an address space for carrying the addresses of switching stations; (b) receiving the frame at a switching station and examining the first indicia for determining the state of said first indicia; (c) analyzing the RI field only if the first indicia is set to the first state; (d) incrementing the value of the PTR only if the two state indicia of the RI field is being set to a predetermined value and the PTR is being set to a first predetermined value; (e) retransmitting the frame; (f) receiving the frame at a switching station identified by the PTR value; (g) incrementing the PTR value only if the PTR is being set to a second predetermined value; (h) retransmitting the frame and repeating steps (f)-(h) successively at the switching stations whose address appears in the address space until the last switching station identified in said address space receives the frame with the PTR value being set to a third predetermined value, thus indicating that said frame has arrived at the target ring.

Claim 15

A method for routing frames between stations in a telecommunication network system wherein a plurality of serial loop networks are being interconnected by a plurality of switching stations and each serial loop having one or more utilization stations connected thereto, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) generating and transmitting from a source station a frame having at least a Routing Information field; said Routing Information field including an LTH field, an indicia having at least two states, a PTR field and an address space having one or more switching station addresses; (b) receiving the frame at the switching station identified by the P TR; (c) adjusting the value of the PTR only if the indicia is in a first state and the PTR is being set to a first predetermined value; (d) retransmitting the frame; (e) receiving the frame at a switching station identified by the PTR; (f) adjusting the value of the PTR only if the PTR is being set to a second predetermined value; (g) retransmitting the frame and repeating steps (e)-(g) successively at the switching stations whose addresses appear in the address space until the last identified switching station receives the frame.

Claim 16

A method for routing frames between stations in a telecommunication network system wherein a plurality of serial loop networks are being interconnected by a plurality of switching stations and each serial loop having one or more utilization stations connected thereto, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) generating and transmitting from a source station a frame having at least a Routing Information field; said Routing Information field including an LTH field, an indicia having at least two states, a PTR field and an address space having one or more switching station addresses; (b) receiving the frame at the switching station identified by the P TR; (c) adjusting the value of the PTR only if the indicia is in a first state and the PTR is being set to a first predetermined value; (d) retransmitting the frame; (e) receiving the frame at a switching station identified by the PTR; (f) adjusting the value of the PTR only if the PTR is being set to a second predetermined value; (g) retransmitting the frame and repeating steps (e)-(g) successively at the switching stations whose addresses appear in the address space until the last identified switching station receives the frame.

Claim 17

A method for obtaining the addresses of the switching stations through which a message is to be routed in a telecommunication network system wherein a plurality of serial loop networks are being interconnected by a plurality of switching stations and each serial loop having one or more stations thereon, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) generating and transmitting from a source station a frame including the address of a destination station and an RI field, said RI field having at least a two-state indicia set to a first state, an LTH field set to a predetermined value; (b) receiving the frame at a switching station; (c) writing the address of the switching station in the frame at a location identified by the LTH field only if the value of the LTH field is less than the Hop-count or the address of the switching station is not recorded in the frame; (d) adjusting the LTH field value; (e) retransmitting the frame; and (f) repeating steps (b)-(f) until the frame is received at the destination station.

Claim 18

A method for obtaining the addresses of the switching stations through which a message is to be routed in a telecommunication network system wherein a plurality of serial loop networks are being interconnected by a plurality of switching stations and each serial loop having one or more stations thereon, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) generating and transmitting from a source station a frame including the address of a destination station and an RI field, said RI field having at least a two-state indicia set to a first state, an LTH field set to a predetermined value; (b) receiving the frame at a switching station; (c) writing the address of the switching station in the frame at a location identified by the LTH field only if the value of the LTH field is less than the Hop-count or the address of the switching station is not recorded in the frame; (d) adjusting the LTH field value; (e) retransmitting the frame; and (f) repeating steps (b)-(f) until the frame is received at the destination station.

Claim 21

A method for using a single copy message to identify the routing address of a selected station in a telecommunication network system wherein a plurality of serial loop networks are being interconnected by a plurality of switching stations and each serial loop having one or more stations thereon characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) generating and forwarding from a source station a frame including a destination address, source address and an RI field; said RI field including two two-states control indicia, each being set to a common predetermined value; (b) receiving the frame at a switching station; (c) examining the RI field to determine the state of the two indicia; (d) writing the identification number of the switching station in the location identified by the LTH field only if the two indicia are being set to a common predetermined value; (e) adjusting the length (LTH) field value; (f) forwarding the frame; (g) repeating steps a-f until the value of the LTH field exceeds the Hop-count setting of a switching station or the address of the staiton is already recorded in the RI field.

Claim 22

A method for using a single copy message to identify the routing address of a selected station in a telecommunication network system wherein a plurality of serial loop networks are being interconnected by a plurality of switching stations and each serial loop having one or more stations thereon characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) generating and forwarding from a source station a frame including a destination address, source address and an RI field; said RI field including two two-states control indicia, each being set to a common predetermined value; (b) receiving the frame at a switching station; (c) examining the RI field to determine the state of the two indicia; (d) writing the identification number of the switching station in the location identified by the LTH field only if the two indicia are being set to a common predetermined value; (e) adjusting the length (LTH) field value; (f) forwarding the frame; (g) repeating steps a-f until the value of the LTH field exceeds the Hop-count setting of a switching station or the address of the staiton is already recorded in the RI field.

Claim 23

A system for carrying messages within a digital communication network wherein a plurality of data terminal equipment (DTE) are coupled to a serial transmission path means and a plurality of the serial transmission path means are interconnected by one or more switching stations, characterized in that it comprises : a frame code signal generating means disposed within the DTE and adapted to generate the message transport mechanism; said message transport mechanism having at least a Routing Information (RI) field divided into a control (C) section adapted for carrying control information and a routing section adapted for carrying the identity of the switching stations through which the message is to be routed; a first two-state indicia disposed outside of the RI field and operable for indicating the presence of the RI field when it is set in one of its states; and a second set of two-state indicia disposed outside of the RI field and operable for indicating that the message has passed through the last switching station when it is set in a predetermined state.

Claim 24

A system for carrying messages within a digital communication network wherein a plurality of data terminal equipment (DTE) are coupled to a serial transmission path means and a plurality of the serial transmission path means are interconnected by one or more switching stations, characterized in that it comprises : a frame code signal generating means disposed within the DTE and adapted to generate the message transport mechanism; said message transport mechanism having at least a Routing Information (RI) field divided into a control (C) section adapted for carrying control information and a routing section adapted for carrying the identity of the switching stations through which the message is to be routed; a first two-state indicia disposed outside of the RI field and operable for indicating the presence of the RI field when it is set in one of its states; and a second set of two-state indicia disposed outside of the RI field and operable for indicating that the message has passed through the last switching station when it is set in a predetermined state.