Patent attributes
A system and method of failure detection in rings includes a switch including a control unit, one or more first ports coupled to the control unit and configured to couple the switch to a ring of switches in a first direction, and one or more second ports coupled to the control unit and configured to couple the switch to the ring of switches in a second direction opposite the first direction. The control unit is configured to detect a failure in the ring of switches in the second direction, transmit a request message in the first direction using one of the one or more first ports, receive a response message on one of the one or more first ports, extract reachability data from the response message, and determine one or more first switches in the ring of switches that are reachable in the first direction based on information associated with the reachability data.
