Patent ID: 8259584

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a broadcast of an available bandwidth from a first routing device; detecting a congestion of traffic along a primary downstream path to a second routing device, the second routing device being an immediate downstream neighbor; generating a random time period; delaying an establishment of an alternate path for the random time period; detecting a continued congestion of the traffic after the delay; after detecting the continued congestion, establishing the alternate path to the second routing device by way of the first routing device based on the available bandwidth; transmitting a portion of the traffic along the alternate path; after establishing the alternate path, detecting a non-congestion condition along the primary downstream path to the second routing device; after detecting the non-congestion condition, generating a second random time period; detecting a continued non-congestion condition along the primary downstream path after the second random time period; and after detecting the continued non-congestion condition, removing the alternate path.