Patent ID: 7457233

Claim:
A method for forwarding packets from a source device to a destination device in a network of interconnected elements including nodes and links, comprising: determining an initial route, the initial route including at least one alternative-route-enabled node and at least one non-alternative-route-enabled node, the at least one alternative-route-enabled node and the at least one non-alternative-route-enabled node storing an initial route from the source device to the destination device, where the determining an initial route includes: determining a short path from the destination device to the source device within the network, refining the path according to administrative constraints, where the administrative constraints include bandwidth and hop limits, and establishing the path as the initial route; determining an alternative route by identifying the at least one alternative-route-enabled node in the initial route, identifying downstream interconnected elements, and generating the alternative route based on the identified at least one alternative-route-enabled node and the identified downstream interconnected elements, where the determining the alternative route includes: checking bandwidth allocation; forwarding packets on the initial route; detecting a failed element; and automatically forwarding packets on the alternative route without communicating with either the source device or the destination device.