Patent ID: 8391133

Claim:
A transport network element in a network system, the transport network element comprising: a traffic selector configured to switch the transport network element between receiving traffic over a primary traffic circuit and receiving traffic over a secondary traffic circuit; a split module configured to send traffic either to the primary traffic circuit or to the secondary traffic circuit; and an agent configured to control the traffic selector to switch between the primary traffic circuit and the secondary traffic circuit, and to control activation and deactivation of the secondary traffic circuit by exchanging messages with a corresponding remote agent associated with a remote transport network element, the agent being further configured to: switch the traffic selector to receive traffic on the secondary traffic circuit, and send an Activate message to the remote agent to activate the secondary traffic circuit if the secondary traffic circuit is not already activated, responsive to detecting a failure on the primary traffic circuit; switch the traffic selector to receive traffic on the primary traffic circuit, and send a RevertRequest message to the remote agent to request the remote agent to deactivate the previously activated secondary traffic circuit, responsive to detecting that the failure on the primary traffic circuit no longer exists; and send a Revert message to the remote agent to deactivate the secondary traffic circuit if the traffic selector is already switched to receive traffic on the primary traffic circuit, responsive to receiving a RevertRequest message from the remote agent.