Selector switch control using priority table

United States Patent [w]

Henderson

US005920542A [ii] Patent Number: [45] Date of Patent:

5,920,542 Jul. 6,1999

[54] SELECTOR SWITCH CONTROL USING PRIORITY TABLE

[75] Inventor: Gregory Scott Henderson, Piano, Tex.

[73] Assignee: MCI Communications Corporation,

Washington, D.C.

[21] Appl. No.: 08/673,272 [22] Filed: Jun. 28, 1996

Related U.S. Application Data

[63] Continuation-in-part of application No. 08/605,597, Feb. 22, 1996, Pat. No. 5,726,979.

Int. CI. IKI4J 3/02

U.S. CI 370/217; 370/228

Field of Search 370/216, 217,

370/218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 360, 375, 377, 378, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 389, 392, 444, 433; 340/825.22, 825.03, 825; 379/93.09

[56] References Cited

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Primary Examiner—Huy D. Vu

[57] ABSTRACT

A system and method for reducing undesirable phase transients caused by revertive switchover in a telecommunications network. Selector switch settings are assigned priorities. The priorities indicate an order ol prelerence in which to assign selector switch source inputs or outputs. Selector switch sources connected to equipments that are to be used as backups ol one another are assigned the same priority level. Assignment ol the same priority level prevents undesirable phase transients by controlling revertive switchovers. In addition, network topology is controllable using the priority table. The controllable characteristic ol the network topology provides flexibility to a network designer to provide diversity among network paths such that the network is made more robust.

3 Claims, 16 Drawing Sheets