Patent US6836756B1 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
← Back to Patent Explorer
US6836756B1 Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Time simulation techniques to determine network availability

Assignee: Nortel Networks Ltd
•
Filing: 2000-11-13
•
Granted: 2004-12-28
•
Expires: 2020-11-13
📄 Original PDF 🌐 Google Patents 🔄 Sync Now

Abstract

Abstract A time simulation technique for determining the service availability (or unavailability) of end to and network connections (or paths) between source and sink nodes is disclosed. The method includes skips of (a) selecting a link between two network nodes; (b) performing a simulated link failure on the selected link; (c) sell sting a connection bet two network source and sink nodes; and (d) determining the unavailability and availability of the connection on under the simulated link failure condition. The method further includes (e) of repeating (c) and (a) and (b); and (f) of summoning the unavailability and availability of connections after each repetition until a predetermined number of connections have been selected, and until a simulated link failure has been performed on all links; or until the summed unavailability and availability has been determined to converge, whichever is earlier.

Inventors

  • 👤 John G. Gruber

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-04 17:26
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L41/00; H04L41/14; H04L41/145; H04L41/50; H04L41/5003; H04L41/5009; H04L41/5012; H04L43/00; H04L43/08; H04L43/0805; H04L43/0811

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim 123 words
A time simulation method of determining service availability of a communications network having a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links, comprising steps of: (a) selecting a link between two network nodes; (b) performing a simulated link failure on the selected link; (c) selecting a connection between a network source node a network sink node; (d) determining and summing the unavailability and availability of the selected connection under the simulated link failure condition; (e) repeating steps (c), and (d) for all connections of the network; and (f) repeating steps (a) to (e) until either a link failure has been simulated on all links of the network or the summed availability has been determined to converge to a constant value, whichever is earlier.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 123 words
A time simulation method of determining service availability of a communications network having a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links, comprising steps of: (a) selecting a link between two network nodes; (b) performing a simulated link failure on the selected link; (c) selecting a connection between a network source node a network sink node; (d) determining and summing the unavailability and availability of the selected connection under the simulated link failure condition; (e) repeating steps (c), and (d) for all connections of the network; and (f) repeating steps (a) to (e) until either a link failure has been simulated on all links of the network or the summed availability has been determined to converge to a constant value, whichever is earlier.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 28 words
The time simulation method according to claim 1 , further comprising steps of: averaging the service availability across all connections to generate the service availability of the network.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 25 words
The time simulation method according to claim 1 , wherein all steps are performed in response to clock increments, which proportionally correspond to actual times.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 46 words
The time simulation method according to claim 1 , the links of the communication network further having attributes in relation to failure, recovery and repair values, wherein the step of selecting a link further comprising: randomly selecting a link based on the attributes of the links.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 24 words
The time simulation method according to claim 4 , wherein the attributes are in relation to their distance, time-to-failure parameter and time to recover/repair.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 139 words
A computer program product, comprising: a memory having computer-readable code embedded therein for determining service availability of a communications network having a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links comprising: code means for selecting a link between two network nodes; code means for performing a simulated link failure on the selected link; code means for selecting a connection between a network source node and a network sink node; code means for determining and summing the unavailability and availability of the selected connection under the simulated link failure condition; code means for repeating steps (c), and (d) for all connections of the network; and code means for repeating steps (a) to (e) link failure has been simulated on all links of the network or the summed availability has been determined to converge to a constant value, whichever is earlier.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 139 words
A computer program product, comprising: a memory having computer-readable code embedded therein for determining service availability of a communications network having a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links comprising: code means for selecting a link between two network nodes; code means for performing a simulated link failure on the selected link; code means for selecting a connection between a network source node and a network sink node; code means for determining and summing the unavailability and availability of the selected connection under the simulated link failure condition; code means for repeating steps (c), and (d) for all connections of the network; and code means for repeating steps (a) to (e) link failure has been simulated on all links of the network or the summed availability has been determined to converge to a constant value, whichever is earlier.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 29 words
The computer program product according to claim 6 , further comprising: code means for averaging the service availability across all connections to generate the service availability of the network.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 25 words
The computer program product according to claim 6 , further comprising: code means for randomly selecting a link based on the attributes of the links.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 25 words
The computer program product according to claim 8 , further comprising: code means for randomly selecting a link based on distance, time-to-failure parameter and time-to-recover/repair.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

GB234722A Cited
US5699403A Cited
US6327669B1 Cited
US6003090A Cited
US6009079A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 2007-12-28 2008-06-28 2008-12-28 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2011-12-28 2012-06-28 2012-12-28 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2015-12-28 2016-06-28 2016-12-28 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

Assigned Categories & Tags

No categories assigned to this patent yet.

Assign Category Tag