US Patent 11528183 EMS assisted split-brain resolution in virtual network function components

A method or system, comprising receiving, at a virtual network function component instances (VNFCI), a heartbeat message from a peer VNFCI with current operational state of active, sending the heartbeat message to the peer VNFCI with a current operational state of active, constructing and sending a next state request message to an element management system (EMS) with one or more of: an active parameter, and a split-brain parameter, starting a response timer, sending a heartbeat message to the peer VNFCI with a current operational state of active and a desired operational state of active when a receive next state response message is received and the VNFCI response state is active.