Patent ID: 8767530

Claim:
A communications network component comprising: a processor configured to: monitor a plurality of parallel links that connect a first node to a second node, wherein the links carry data for a path through the network, and wherein an original bandwidth reserved for the path is less than an available capacity of the links when no faults are present; detect a partial fault caused by a failure along one of the links, wherein the partial fault reduces the available capacity of the links; send a fault message regarding the path, wherein the fault message indicates that an available bandwidth for the path is greater than zero but less than the original bandwidth reserved for the path, wherein responsive to sending the fault message, the original bandwidth reserved for the path is modified such that a total bandwidth reserved for the path is reduced to be less than or equal to the available bandwidth indicated by the fault message, and wherein the available bandwidth for the path corresponds to the reduced available capacity of the links following the failure along one of the links.