Patent ID: 8687519

Claim:
An Ethernet bridge for setting up a point-to-point path comprising a plurality of hops from a Path Originating Node (PON) to a Path Terminating Node (PTN) in a communications network, said bridge having a plurality of input/output ports for data communication and being an intermediate bridge between the PON and the PTN, said Ethernet bridge comprising: a first port for receiving from the PTN, a first path learning frame constructed by the PTN by running a path computation algorithm on network topology information received from a network management system or Path Computation Element (PCE), wherein the first path learning frame includes path learning information defining the complete path from the PON to the PTN, wherein a plurality of elements define hops of the path in reverse order from the PTN to the PON, with forwarding information for the PTN removed; wherein the Ethernet bridge is configured to: add to a database in the Ethernet bridge, learned path information defining the received frame hop; construct a second path learning frame which includes path learning information, wherein to construct the second path learning frame, the Ethernet bridge is configured to: remove forwarding information for the Ethernet bridge from the elements of the received path learning frame; and utilize the remaining elements as the path learning information for the second path learning frame; if a next Previous Hop Bridge (PHB) in the path is not the PON, the Ethernet bridge is configured to send the second path learning frame to the next PHB through a port specified in the forwarding information, wherein the next PHB adds the learned path information for the received frame hop and constructs a next path learning frame with the forwarding information for the next PHB removed; and if the next PHB in the path is the PON, the Ethernet bridge is configured to send the second path learning frame to the PON through a port specified in the forwarding information, wherein the path learning information has no elements remaining, wherein the PON is configured to add to a database in the PON, learned path information defining the received frame hop, thereby completing setup of the path from the PON to the PTN.