Patent ID: 7406033

Claim:
A method of combining protection paths on a mesh network, the method comprising the steps of: defining a first protection path between a first source node and a first destination node via at least one intermediate node; reserving bandwidth on first links along the first protection path that extends from the first source node, through the intermediate node, and ending at the first destination node, to form first channels on the first links between the nodes along the first protection path, wherein each of the first channels comprises a first reserved bandwidth on a particular link between a pair of first nodes on the first protection path; defining a second protection path between a second source node and a second destination node via at least one of the intermediate nodes of the first protection path; assessing, by one of the intermediate nodes shared by the first protection path and a second protection path, if it is proper for the second channel on the second protection path to use the reserved bandwidth allocated to the first channel associated with the first protection path; and allocating the first reserved bandwidth associated with the first channel to both the first protection path and second protection path if it is determined during the step of assessing that the second channel on the second protection path can use the reserved bandwidth allocated to the first channel associated with the first protection path.