Patent ID: 6215867
Filing Date: 2001-04-10
Classification: H04Q

Abstract:
In a communications network comprised of a plurality of nodes, each pair of nodes connected by at least one linking path that carries signals therebetween, a method for providing a restoration path between said pair of nodes upon an inability of a piece of actual traffic to pass therebetween without the need to make a separate continuity test prior to restoring traffic, the method comprising the steps of:monitoring the network and reporting to a central facility upon the failure of a piece of actual traffic to pass between a pair of nodes;establishing, at the central facility, a restoration route including at least one linking path, for passing traffic between said pair of nodes;directing a command from the central facility to the nodes in the network to establish said restoration path;uniquely identifying at a first node on the restoration path at least a piece of actual traffic to be routed on the restoration path; anddetermining at a second node on the restoration path whether said uniquely identified piece of actual traffic was received on the restoration path to establish the continuity of at least that portion of the restoration path between said first and second nodes without the need to make a separate continuity test prior to restoring traffic.