Patent ID: 9628367
Date: 2017-04-18
CPC Classifications: H04J,H04L,H04Q

Claim:
1. An asymmetrical network switch, comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable medium, including: instructions executable by the processor to auto-discover and advertise into a traffic engineering, TE, domain a switch detailed connectivity matrix, SDCM, containing for each allowed switching combination of interfaces of said asymmetrical network switch at least one switch detailed connectivity matrix entry, SDCME, each SDCME representing a potential connection internal to said asymmetrical network switch and interconnecting the interfaces of said interface switching combination, an SDCME advertisement by said switch including a switch detailed connectivity matrix entry cost vector, SDCME CV, comprising a set of attributes describing cost penalties as various service characteristics that a network service incurs if said network service selects a path or a tree traversing the asymmetrical switch in accordance with the SDCME, and an auto-discovery unit adapted to auto-discover cost attributes of the said potential connection internal(s) to said asymmetrical network switch, wherein the cost attributes include at least one of a data propagation delay penalty, a data loss ratio penalty, a traffic engineering, TE, cost penalty, or an optical signal quality penalty.