Patent ID: 7983195

Claim:
A method for routing virtual links in a frame switching network including a plurality of source terminals and destination terminals of frames, frame switches being connected together through physical connections, each virtual link being defined for a point-to-point type, by a path through the network between a source terminal and a destination terminal and, for a multipoint type, by a plurality of paths through the network between a source terminal and a plurality of destination terminals, the method comprising: (a) searching for oriented loops in the network, up to a circular permutation of the switches they contain; (b) selecting a triplet of consecutive switches within each oriented loop, each triplet defining a forbidden routing path; (c) determining a routing solution for the virtual links not following the forbidden paths; and (d) verifying determinism of the network on the basis of the thus routed virtual links by: computing flow envelopes at the output of the switches crossed by the thus routed virtual links, computing the latency times relative to these links, and comparing the thus obtained latency times with set latency limits.