Patent ID: 7558215

Claim:
In a data communication network comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by links to form communications paths between said nodes, each node capable of transmitting and storing network topology information at least about itself to one or more nodes in said network, a method comprising the steps of: receiving a path set-up request identifying nodes and links assigned to a communication path being established in the network; updating network topology information within the node in response to the path set-up request to generate a locally updated set of said network topology information reflecting link and node characteristic changes caused within the network by the path set-up request; receiving a globally updated set of said network topology information; comparing said globally updated set to said locally updated set in order to generate a difference set of network topology information; and analyzing said difference set in order to assign a reliability factor for characteristics of each node and each link in said network topology information, the reliability factor being indicative of the difference between said globally updated set and said locally updated set.