Patent ID: 7852754

Claim:
A method of managing faults in a ring network, comprising: disabling distribution of media via a first communications link between a selected pair of adjacent nodes among multiple nodes coupled by communications links to form a ring network; disabling distribution of media via a second communications link between a pair of adjacent ingress nodes among the multiple nodes, each of the adjacent ingress nodes being configured to receive the media via communications links external from the ring network; configuring (i) primary communications paths to traverse the communications links other than the first and second communications links and (ii) primary connections to distribute the media to each of the nodes on the primary communications paths, including the selected pair of adjacent nodes; configuring first backup communications paths that use the primary connections between adjacent nodes, other than between the selected pair of adjacent nodes and between the pair of adjacent ingress nodes; and configuring second backup communications paths and secondary connections between non-adjacent nodes.