Patent ID: 7313094

Claim:
An electrical border node for use with an optical/electrical path integrated network which includes a plurality of electrical sub-networks comprising electrical border nodes and electrical core nodes which are interconnected by electrical paths and which perform routing based on packet header information and a photonic core network comprising photonic border nodes and photonic core nodes which are interconnected by optical paths, the photonic core network and the plurality of electrical sub-networks being interconnected by optical paths, the electrical border node comprising: an outputting device which comprises a measuring device which measures traffic guantity between an own electrical sub-network to which the electrical border node belongs and other electrical sub-networks, and a notification device which notifies the photonic border nodes within the photonic core network about information relating to traffic guantity based on a result from the measuring device; a storage device which stores topology information of a network constructed from optical paths established over the photonic core network; a calculating device which calculates a shortest path between the electrical border nodes based on the topology information stored in the storage device; an establishment device which establishes an electrical path over the shortest path calculated by the calculating device; and a detection device which detects two electrical sub-networks which are exchanging a highest quantity of traffic from among electrical sub-networks which are not yet connected by an optical path.