Patent ID: 7460469

Claim:
In a communication circuit switched mesh network comprising two or more cross-connecting nodes, a method for rerouting a data stream comprising a plurality of data frames each associated with at least one overhead byte, wherein the rerouting comprising preliminary steps of: pre-provisioning, for said data stream, of a working path and at least one alternative path in the network via said two or more cross-connecting nodes; providing a predetermined path identifier for said data stream for identifying and switching the data stream at said two or more cross-connecting nodes to said one out of said at least one alternative path, said path identifier being carried by said at least one overhead byte associated with at least one of said plurality of data frames; said rerouting being initiated by receiving at a specific cross-connecting node out of said two or more cross-connecting nodes, at least one notification of a fault occurring in the working path of said data stream; said rerouting being performed by the following steps; distinguishing, at said two or more cross-connecting nodes, one or more predetermined values of the path identifier at each incoming data frame, at said specific cross-connecting node, identifying said data stream using the predetermined path identifier of said data stream, and, upon receiving said at least one notification of a fault, switching the data stream to one out of said at least one alternative path pre-provisioned for said data stream via said specific cross-connecting node; at least at one additional cross-connecting node out of said two or more cross-connecting nodes, located downstream from said specific node along one out of said at least one alternative path, switching an incoming stream to one out of said at least one alternative path pre-provisioned via said additional cross-connecting node for the data stream, in case of identifying the incoming stream as being said data stream carrying the predetermined path identifier, thereby performing the rerouting at data plane, without interaction with control/management plane.