Patent ID: 8041799

Claim:
A method of routing a network-element status indication (status indication) within a communication network, the method comprising: receiving, at a routing device of the communication network, the status indication; generating a received status indication an identifier from attributes of the status indication, the received status indication identifier being the same as another status indication identifier when the received status indication identifier and the other status indication identifier are based on attributes that are common to a group of redundant status indications; determining whether the other status indication identifier that is the same as the received status indication identifier is currently stored in a first data structure embodied in a memory; when it is determined that the other status indication identifier that is the same as the received status indication identifier is not currently stored in the first data structure, storing the received status indication identifier in the first data structure; when it is determined that the other status indication identifier that is the same as the received status indication identifier is currently stored in the first data structure, removing the currently stored status indication identifier from the first data structure, without storing the received status indication identifier in the first data structure; periodically referencing the first data structure to determine whether one of a plurality of status indications needs to be routed, each of the status indications being associated with a first variable that indicates whether a respective status indication has been evaluated for routing; determining that one of the plurality of status indications needs to be routed based on referencing the first variable; determining whether the status indication is new; and when the status indication is new, then (1) retrieving a routing identifier associated with the status indication, wherein the routing identifier was generated according to user-defined rules; (2) identifying a destination based on the routing identifier by identifying the routing identifier, referencing a second structure embodied in the memory that associates the routing identifier with the destination, and retrieving the destination; (3) routing the status indication to the destination; and (4) updating an attribute of the status indication to indicate that the status indication has been routed; wherein the received status indication identifier and the currently stored status indication identifier are generated from attributes that are common to the group of redundant status indications.