Patent ID: 7957365

Claim:
A method comprising: generating a signaling message in a local sending node of a local peer group to initiate routing of a virtual circuit connection through a remote peer group that includes a receiving node and a remote peer group link; generating an information element having a predefined format, the information element representing a link utilization threshold value comprising a predetermined maximum utilization percentage of a maximum information carrying capacity to be used in evaluating the remote peer group link for inclusion in the virtual circuit connection; and formatting the generated signaling message to contain the information element, a presence of the information element in the predefined format to trigger the remote receiving node to use the link utilization threshold value to determine whether a remote peer group link utilization value exceeds the link utilization threshold value based on a ratio of a current amount of information carried on the remote peer group link with respect to the maximum information carrying capacity, wherein the remote peer group link utilization value accounts for an additional bandwidth required to form the virtual circuit connection.