DESC:FORM-2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rule 13)

Title: A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCELERATING SWITCH OVER TIME OF NETWORK PORT LINKS

APPLICANT DETAILS:
(a) NAME: BHARAT ELECTRONICS LIMITED
(b) NATIONALITY: INDIAN
(c) ADDRESS: Outer Ring Road, Nagavara, Bangalore-560045, Karnataka, India

PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION:
The following specification (particularly) describes the nature of the invention (and the manner in which it is to be performed):

A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCELERATING SWITCH OVER TIME OF NETWORK PORT LINKS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION:
This invention is related to the field of telecommunication and more particularly relates to link switch over in Ethernet based communication networks such as, but not limited to, Ethernet WAN (wide area network) or MAN (Metropolitan Area Network).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
The following background discussion includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Ethernet network redundancy is the ability of the network to survive a failure in its peer-to-peer links. The network survives by providing alternate data path(s) when any wherein a system or process that is highly integrated and a failure in the communication link can result in disastrous consequences such as production loss, poor quality, equipment damage or danger to personnel.
Consequently, redundancy can take place at many different layers within the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking. At layer 2, otherwise known as the data link layer, aggregation can occur between ports, virtual or physical, that transfer frames from one network device to another. In addition, at layer 4, otherwise known as the transport layer, links transferring segments, such as TCP connections, can also be aggregated.
In the existing Ethernet based networks, the link redundancy and recovery is handled through use of various protocols such as IEEE 802.3ad (Link Aggregation Control Protocol), IEEE 802.1D bridge protocol (Spanning Tree Protocol) that provides path redundancy while preventing undesirable loops in the network. For a Layer 2 Ethernet network to function properly, only one active path can exist between any two stations. This is achieved by exchanging keep alive L2 PDUs at a periodic interval to assess the link status and switch over. Further to the link redundancy, 802.3ad has provision for load balancing and fault tolerance. Due to their inherent mechanism of link assessment by way of sending keep-alive messages or by exchanging PDUs, link failure detection and switch over time takes several seconds for protocol convergence and switch over.
US patent US7577089 B2 discloses an apparatus for fast failure switch over in an ETHERNET switch includes redundant switch (trunk) ports (a main and a backup) and hardware and software logic for redirecting traffic to the backup port when the main port (or the link associated with it) fails. The switchover is immediate and is based on the content of a local status register, which indicates the port (link) status. Thus, frames addressed to the dead port are redirected to the backup port and few frames are lost. The STP function may proceed concurrently and eventually no more frames are addressed to the dead port.
US patent US 8169893 B1 discloses a technique that involves operating an electronic device having data communications ports. Each data communications port includes PHY circuitry to provide Physical Layer network functionality to the electronic device. The technique includes monitoring a particular PCS status signal from the PHY circuitry. The PCS status signal has (i) a PCS OK value when a first data communications port is operating reliably in data mode and (ii) a PCS NOT OK value when the first data communications port is not operating reliably in data mode.
The present invention provides a system and method which achieves rapid link failure detection and switch over to a next standby port with the highest priority in the case where there is a fault or failure in the network device/link/peer node amongst a shared group of Ethernet adapters.

OBJECT/S OF THE INVENTION:
The primary object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks associated with prior art.
In an objective the present invention provides a system and method which achieves rapid link failure detection and switch over to a next standby port with the highest priority in the case where there is a fault or failure in the network device/link/peer node amongst a shared group of Ethernet adapters.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
In an aspect, the present invention provides a system for accelerating switch overtime of network port links comprising:
a) an ethernet physical layer group (104), where each ethernet physical layer interfaces to a physical link on an Ethernet line side and maintains the link, where ethernet physical layer interfaces have a dedicated management path and a data path;
b) a PHY handler (105), where for each ethernet physical layer group (EPHY) (104) there is one PHY handler (105) which queries the EPHY for the physical link status;
c) a switcher engine (102), where the data path of each EPHY of the EPHY group (104) is connected to the switcher engine (102); and
d) a priority check engine (103), where the priority check engine (103) stores a priority pertaining to various link speeds, modes, and ports for each EPHY in the EPHY group (104);
wherein the PHY Handler (105) is configured to ascertain the physical link status of each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) at a command of a control engine (101) or upon reception of an interruption from the EPHY, whereby the management path of the EPHY, the PHY Handler (105) queries the EPHY for link status and forwards the response to control engine (101).
In an embodiment, the PHY handler (105) does not require exchanging any PDUs amongst connected peer devices and thereby reduces network overhead and enables rapid switch over and thus transparency in switch over amongst EPHYs are achieved.
In an embodiment, the switcher engine (102) is controlled by the control engine (101), where the switcher engine (102) performs the switch over of data path from current inactive EPHY to active EPHY, while doing switch over, it ensures glitch free operation towards EPHY receive path as well as data link layer receive path.
In an embodiment, the data paths of EPHY group (104) are interfaced and controlled by the switcher engine (102).
In an embodiment, the control engine (101) is configured to select the PHY Handler (105) processing frequency to do rapid switchover where it continuously monitors the PHY Handler (105) to check the active link status through a polling or an interrupt-based mechanisms.
In an embodiment, the control engine (101) has a configurable timer to periodically generate the polling interval to trigger the PHY Handler (105) for link status determination.
In an embodiment, the trigger of the polling interval or the interrupt the control engine (101) reads the link status via the management path of each PHY Handler (105), where on receiving the indication from PHY Handler (105), the control engine (101) checks the condition of the remaining EPHY in the EPHY group (104) through PHY Handler (105).
In an embodiment, upon detecting the change of any physical link status the control engine updates the current EPHY link status in priority check engine (103) and issues command to the priority check engine (103) to re-compute the active port, based on the priority response received from the priority check engine (103), the control engine issues necessary commands to the switcher engine (102) for activation of the particular EPHY.
In an aspect the present invention provides a method for accelerating switch over time of network port links, comprising steps of:
a) interfacing to a physical link on an ethernet line side and maintains the link each ethernet physical layer, where ethernet physical layer interfaces have a dedicated management path and a data path;
b) querying the EPHY for the physical link status by a PHY handler (105);
c) connecting the data path of each EPHY of the EPHY group (104) to the switcher engine (102); and
d) storing a priority pertaining to various link speeds, modes, and ports for each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) in a priority check engine (103);
wherein the PHY Handler (105) is configured to ascertain the physical link status of each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) at a command of a control engine (101) or upon reception of an interruption from the EPHY, whereby the management path of the EPHY, the PHY Handler (105) queries the EPHY for link status and forwards the response to control engine (101).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:
The advantages and features of the present disclosure will become better understood with reference to the following detailed description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:
Fig. 1 illustrates the system of the present invention.
It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative system and method of embodying the principles of the present disclosure. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:
The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The exemplary embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
The terms “a” and “an” herein do not denote a limitation of quantity but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item.
The terms “having”, “comprising”, “including”, and variations thereof signify the presence of a component.
Typically network redundancy in Ethernet based communication networks works between network elements like computers, laptops, workstation, VoIP Phones, switches, routers, gateways, etc., which are connected in a mesh, ring or star topology as defined in IEEE standard.
The present invention achieves rapid link failure detection and switch over in a case where there is a fault or failure in the network device/link/peer node amongst shared group of Ethernet adapters. The method is a hardware-based approach for link failure detection and switch over, by way of reading local EPHY status over a high-speed management path, hence eliminates transfer of additional PDUs and handshaking messages. The present disclosure significantly reduces network overhead and drastically reduces switch overtime. The method supports priority based auto-switchover to a pre-configured high priority standby port, when link up is detected for multiple standby Ethernet adapters.
In an embodiment, the system and method of the present invention comprises of a control engine (101), a switcher engine (102), a priority check engine (103), EPHY (Ethernet Physical layer) group (104) (comprises of individual EPHY) and respective PHY Handler (105) for each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) as illustrated in Figure 1.
In an embodiment, the present invention provides a system for accelerating switch overtime of network port links comprising:
a) an ethernet physical layer group (104), where each ethernet physical layer interfaces to a physical link on an Ethernet line side and maintains the link, where ethernet physical layer interfaces have a dedicated management path and a data path;
b) a PHY handler (105), where for each ethernet physical layer group (EPHY) (104) there is one PHY handler (105) which queries the EPHY for the physical link status;
c) a switcher engine (102), where the data path of each EPHY of the EPHY group (104) is connected to the switcher engine (102); and
d) a priority check engine (103), where the priority check engine (103) stores a priority pertaining to various link speeds, modes, and ports for each EPHY in the EPHY group (104);
wherein the PHY Handler (105) is configured to ascertain the physical link status of each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) at a command of a control engine (101) or upon reception of an interruption from the EPHY, whereby the management path of the EPHY, the PHY Handler (105) queries the EPHY for link status and forwards the response to control engine (101).
In an embodiment, the PHY handler (105) does not require exchanging any PDUs amongst connected peer devices and thereby reduces network overhead and enables rapid switch over and thus transparency in switch over amongst EPHYs are achieved.
In an embodiment, the switcher engine (102) is controlled by the control engine (101), where the switcher engine (102) performs the switch over of data path from current inactive EPHY to active EPHY, while doing switch over, it ensures glitch free operation towards EPHY receive path as well as data link layer receive path.
In an embodiment, the data paths of EPHY group (104) are interfaced and controlled by the switcher engine (102).
In an embodiment, the control engine (101) is configured to select the PHY Handler (105) processing frequency to do rapid switchover where it continuously monitors the PHY Handler (105) to check the active link status through a polling or an interrupt-based mechanisms.
In an embodiment, the control engine (101) has a configurable timer to periodically generate the polling interval to trigger the PHY Handler (105) for link status determination.
In an embodiment, the trigger of the polling interval or the interrupt the control engine (101) reads the link status via the management path of each PHY Handler (105), where on receiving the indication from PHY Handler (105), the control engine (101) checks the condition of the remaining EPHY in the EPHY group (104) through PHY Handler (105).
In an embodiment, upon detecting the change of any physical link status the control engine updates the current EPHY link status in priority check engine (103) and issues command to the priority check engine (103) to re-compute the active port, based on the priority response received from the priority check engine (103), the control engine issues necessary commands to the switcher engine (102) for activation of the particular EPHY.
In an embodiment, the present invention provides a method for accelerating switch over time of network port links, comprising steps of:
a) interfacing to a physical link on an ethernet line side and maintains the link each ethernet physical layer, where ethernet physical layer interfaces have a dedicated management path and a data path;
b) querying the EPHY for the physical link status by a PHY handler (105);
c) connecting the data path of each EPHY of the EPHY group (104) to the switcher engine (102); and
d) storing a priority pertaining to various link speeds, modes, and ports for each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) in a priority check engine (103);
wherein the PHY Handler (105) is configured to ascertain the physical link status of each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) at a command of a control engine (101) or upon reception of an interruption from the EPHY, whereby the management path of the EPHY, the PHY Handler (105) queries the EPHY for link status and forwards the response to control engine (101).
In an embodiment, the EPHY group (104) comprises of a group of EPHY, which interfaces to the physical link on the Ethernet line side and maintains the link. It has a dedicated management path and a data path. The management path of each EPHY is connected to a dedicated PHY Handler (105). The data path of each EPHY of the EPHY group (104) is connected to the switcher engine (102). All the data paths of EPHY group are interfaced and controlled by the switcher engine (102).
In an embodiment, the PHY Handler (105) ascertains the physical link status of each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) at the command of control engine (101) or upon reception of interrupt from the EPHY. Using the management path of the EPHY, the PHY Handler (105) queries the EPHY for link status and forwards the response to control engine (101).
In one of the embodiments the PHY Handler’s processing frequency is suitably configured to achieve the switch overtime of less than 10ms.
In an embodiment, using the said mechanism, the PHY Handler (105) does not require exchanging any PDUs amongst connected peer devices. Hence, reduces the network overhead and enables rapid switch over and thus transparency in switch over amongst EPHYs are achieved.
In an embodiment, the control engine (101) decides the PHY Handler’s processing frequency to do rapid switch over. It continuously monitors the PHY Handler (105) to check the active link status through polling or interrupt-based mechanisms. The control engine (101) has a configurable timer to periodically generate a polling interval to trigger the PHY Handler (105) for link status determination. At the trigger of polling interval or the interrupt, it reads the link status via the management path of each PHY Handler (105). On receiving the indication from PHY Handler (105), the control engine (101) checks the condition of the remaining EPHY in the EPHY group (104) through PHY Handler (105). Upon detecting the change of any physical link status, the control engine updates the current EPHY link status in priority check engine (103) and issues command to the priority check engine (103) to re-compute the active port. Based on the priority response received from the priority check engine (103), the control engine issues necessary commands to the switcher engine (102) for activation of the particular EPHY.
In an embodiment, the priority check engine (103) stores the priority pertaining to various link speeds, modes, and ports for each EPHY in EPHY group (104). Upon receiving the command from the control engine, the priority check engine re-computes the active port based on the pre-configured priorities stored in the priority check engine (103). The updated high priority active port shall be sent to the control engine (101). The user can change the priority of each EPHY of the EPHY group (104) connected.
In an embodiment, the switcher engine (102) is controlled by the control engine (101). The switcher engine (102) performs the switch over of data path from current inactive EPHY to active EPHY. While doing switch over, it ensures glitch free operation towards EPHY receive path as well as data link layer receive path.
In an embodiment, the redundancy can be achieved by eliminating PDUs and keep-alive messages. This significantly reduces network overhead and drastically reduces switch overtime. This method and system supports priority based auto-switchover to a high priority standby port, when link up is detected for multiple standby Ethernet adapters. With this, fast detection and maximum switch overtime of less than 10ms is achieved.
,CLAIMS:We Claim:

1. A system for accelerating switch over time of network port links comprising:
a) an ethernet physical layer group (104), where each ethernet physical layer interfaces to a physical link on an Ethernet line side and maintains the link, where ethernet physical layer interfaces have a dedicated management path and a data path;
b) a PHY handler (105), where for each ethernet physical layer group (EPHY) (104) there is one PHY handler (105) which queries the EPHY for the physical link status;
c) a switcher engine (102), where the data path of each EPHY of the EPHY group (104) is connected to the switcher engine (102); and
d) a priority check engine (103), where the priority check engine (103) stores a priority pertaining to various link speeds, modes, and ports for each EPHY in the EPHY group (104);
wherein the PHY Handler (105) is configured to ascertain the physical link status of each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) at a command of a control engine (101) or upon reception of an interruption from the EPHY, whereby the management path of the EPHY, the PHY Handler (105) queries the EPHY for link status and forwards the response to control engine (101).
2. The system for accelerating switch over time of network port links as claimed in claim 1, wherein the PHY handler (105) does not require exchanging any PDUs amongst connected peer devices and thereby reduces network overhead and enables rapid switch over and thus transparency in switch over amongst EPHYs are achieved.
3. The system for accelerating switch over time of network port links as claimed in claim 1, wherein the switcher engine (102) is controlled by the control engine (101), where the switcher engine (102) performs the switch over of data path from current inactive EPHY to active EPHY, while doing switch over, it ensures glitch free operation towards EPHY receive path as well as data link layer receive path.
4. The system for accelerating switch over time of network port links as claimed in claim 1, wherein all the data paths of EPHY group (104) are interfaced and controlled by the switcher engine (102).
5. The system for accelerating switch over time of network port links as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control engine (101) is configured to select the PHY Handler (105) processing frequency to do rapid switchover where it continuously monitors the PHY Handler (105) to check the active link status through a polling or an interrupt-based mechanisms.
6. The system for accelerating switch over time of network port links as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control engine (101) has a configurable timer to periodically generate the polling interval to trigger the PHY Handler (105) for link status determination.
7. The system for accelerating switch over time of network port links as claimed in claim 1, wherein at the trigger of the polling interval or the interrupt the control engine (101) reads the link status via the management path of each PHY Handler (105), where on receiving the indication from PHY Handler (105), the control engine (101) checks the condition of the remaining EPHY in the EPHY group (104) through PHY Handler (105).
8. The system for accelerating switch over time of network port links as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upon detecting the change of any physical link status the control engine updates the current EPHY link status in priority check engine (103) and issues command to the priority check engine (103) to re-compute the active port, based on the priority response received from the priority check engine (103), the control engine issues necessary commands to the switcher engine (102) for activation of the particular EPHY.
9. A method for accelerating switch over time of network port links, comprising steps of:
a) interfacing to a physical link on an ethernet line side and maintains the link each ethernet physical layer, where ethernet physical layer interfaces have a dedicated management path and a data path;
b) querying the EPHY for the physical link status by a PHY handler (105);
c) connecting the data path of each EPHY of the EPHY group (104) to the switcher engine (102); and
d) storing a priority pertaining to various link speeds, modes, and ports for each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) in a priority check engine (103);
wherein the PHY Handler (105) is configured to ascertain the physical link status of each EPHY in the EPHY group (104) at a command of a control engine (101) or upon reception of an interruption from the EPHY, whereby the management path of the EPHY, the PHY Handler (105) queries the EPHY for link status and forwards the response to control engine (101).