Patent ID: 6952395

Claim:
A method for protecting traffic in a network against a failure, the method comprising: provisioning a dedicated Management Control Flow (“MCF”) in each of an active Path Protection Group (“PPG”) and a corresponding protect PPG; wherein the active PPG comprises only active Virtual Flows (VFs) along a first physical path and the corresponding protect PPG comprises a plurality of protect VFs that correspond to the active VFs in the active PPG, the protect PPG and the protect VFs contained therein taking a second physical path different from the first physical path taken by the active PPG; wherein at least each active VF carries traffic between an ingress node and an egress node of the network; sending protected traffic between the ingress node and the egress node via at least the active PPG; receiving the protected traffic at the egress node via at least the active PPG; generating a protection switching signal (“PSS”) in response to detection of a failure in a path of an active VF; transmitting the PSS in the dedicated MCF of the active PPG containing the active VF to at least one of the ingress node and the egress node; and at least one of the ingress node and the egress node receiving the PSS and respectively switching at least one of the sending and the receiving of the protected traffic, from via the active PPG to via the protect PPG, in response to the PSS.