Patent ID: 7525907
Filing Date: 2009-04-28
Classification: H04J,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a meshed communications network comprising: establishing a working path for carrying traffic between a source node and a destination node using a path establishment protocol to thereby reserve first network resources along the working path for carrying the traffic, said traffic being transported across said network in compliance with a network protocol; upon occurrence of a fault along said working path, establishing a protection path between said source and said destination node using said path establishment protocol to thereby reserve second network resources along the protection path for carrying the traffic between the source node and destination node, while also maintaining the established working path between the source node and destination node such that the first network resources associated with the working path continue to be reserved to carry the traffic along the working path through the network; switching carriage of traffic from said working path to said protection path using an automatic protection switching mechanism while maintaining the reservation of both the first network resources and the second network resources on the network; upon restoration of said working path, switching carriage of said traffic from said protection path to said working path using the automatic protection switching mechanism while maintaining the reservation of both the first network resources and the second network resources on the network; and after switching carriage of traffic from the protection path to the working path, tearing down said protection path by causing the reservation of the second network resources to be released.