Patent ID: 7167445

Claim:
A method for allowing a network element having network connections to a ring network to manage the network connections, the method comprising: sending a connection state message from the network element around the ring network when the network element adds, deletes or modifies at least one timeslot within at least one of the network connections; receiving the connection state message from the ring network, the connection state message having been updated by intermediate network elements that are part of the ring network; managing the network connections connecting the network element to the ring network by using the received connection state message; and at the intermediate network elements, using the received connection state message to manage their respective network connections to the ring network; wherein the network connections including working and protect network connections, wherein the network connections are permitted to be of different bandwidths, wherein the connection state message includes timeslot concatenation information; detecting failure of a span carrying one or more network connections; reconfiguring, based on the connection state message, network elements adjacent to the failed span to reroute network traffic over the protect network connections; and reconfiguring, based on the connection state message, the non-adjacent network elements not adjacent to the failed span to pass through network traffic entering from the protect network connections.