Patent ID: 7545735
Filing Date: 2009-06-09
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of providing multicast service protection in a hierarchical ring based network, said method comprising the steps of: provisioning a protected multicast connection as two Label Switched Paths (LSPs) including a primary point-to-multipoint (P2MP) LSP comprising a primary sub-LSP in each ring traversed by the connection and originating at a primary port, and a secondary P2MP LSP comprising a secondary sub-LSP in each ring traversed by the connection and originating at a secondary port, wherein said secondary sub-LSP travels in a direction opposite to that of said primary sub-LSP; in each ring of said protected multicast connection, provisioning at least one point-to-point (P2P) protection tunnel in one or both directions for each node to be protected, said P2P protection tunnel starting at a neighboring node upstream of said node to be protected and ending at a neighboring node downstream of said node to be protected; and in the event of a failure of a link or node, directing packets over said P2P protection tunnel, wherein packets are transported to a different LSP, including secondary LSPs on descendant rings for which the downstream node is the secondary node and to the primary LSP on descendant rings for which the downstream node is the primary node.