Patent ID: 7272313

Claim:
A system, comprising: a source node apparatus; a destination node apparatus; said source node apparatus and said destination node apparatus both being in an Internet Protocol/Wavelength Division Multiplexing network; an initial path connecting the source node apparatus to the destination node apparatus; a first router associated with the source node apparatus; a second router associated with the destination node apparatus; a optical cross-connect associated with the source node apparatus and configured to add and delete n additional paths between the first and second routers without signaling the destination node apparatus, n being a positive integer, wherein in said source node apparatus, each additional path has i optical delay lines, i being a positive integer that is equal to a corresponding sequential number of said n additional paths, in said destination node apparatus, said initial path has n optical delay lines, each additional path has an amount of optical delay lines equal to a difference between n and i, and each optical delay line is configured to delay packets for a period of time equal to a time to add one additional path.