Patent ID: 8149714

Claim:
An automated routing system for designing a route in a communications network through which a communication line may be installed between a source location and a destination location as specified in a service request for the communication line, the system comprising: one or more computer processors in communication with at least one memory, wherein the at least one memory stores a plurality of modules comprising: a find module filtering all possible capacity links capable of transporting data between the source location and the destination location within the communication network, wherein the find module filters the capacity links to generate a filtered set of capacity links that satisfy a service type and a bandwidth specified in the service request; a build module creating a list of one or more possible routes from the filtered set of capacity links, each route including a plurality of the capacity links that are each connected to an adjacent capacity link such that one or more possible routes are defined between a source node representing the source location and a destination node representing the destination location, and attaching a weight to each capacity link in the routes, wherein each weight represents one or more parameters that distinguish the associated capacity link based on cost factors; a select module selecting an optimal route from the one or more possible routes based on the weights attached to the capacity links in the one or more possible routes; a provisioning module configured to provision and assign network elements to routes; a test module testing whether the optimal route is available for use by the communication line; and a command and control module engaging the provisioning module to provision and assign elements to the optimal route of the communication line if the test module determines that the optimal route is available for use by the communication line.