Patent ID: 7639631

Claim:
A method of computing a path through a network between a source node and a destination node, the method comprising steps of: at the source node, selecting from among links hosted by the source node each link that satisfies at least transitive constraints of the path, and launching an explore message into each selected link hosted by the source node, the explore message including an incomplete path vector containing a node identifier of the source node; and at an intermediate node intermediate between the source node and the destination node, wherein the intermediate node has a database containing information detailing the availability of each link hosted by the intermediate node: receiving the explore message; identifying each link hosted by the intermediate node that is operably addable to the path; adding a respective node identifier of the intermediate node to the incomplete path vector of the explore message; and forwarding the explore message through each identified link; and at the destination node: receiving at least one explore message, thereby completing the path vector of the at least one received explore message; extracting the respective path vector from at least one received explore message.