Patent ID: 6850483

Claim:
A method for protecting frame relay traffic on a SONET ring, comprising the steps of: detecting a defect during the frame relay traffic on a working fiber path on the SONET ring by a first of a plurality of nodes, said detecting a defect including determining whether the defect is a remote defect, a local defect, or both; generating an operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM) frame from the first node, the OAM frame including a type of the defect and a location of the defect on the SONET ring; transmitting the OAM frame from the first node to each of the plurality of nodes on the SONET ring, the OAM frame indicating to each of the plurality of nodes the detected defect on the working fiber path; and switching the working fiber path to a protection fiber path at the location between each of the plurality of nodes where a defect is detected.