Patent ID: 8149692

Claim:
A method for automatically discovering a topology of a communication network ring, the ring including a plurality of nodes, each node including a first port and a second port, the ring implementing Ring Automated Protection Switching (R-APS) messages for protection switching, the method comprising: receiving at least one of a ring topology request and a response to the ring topology request from at least one node on the ring, the at least one of the ring topology request and the response to the ring topology request including an identification of the at least one node and an indication of a hop count needed to reach the at least one node, the ring topology request and the response to the ring topology request being of the form of the Ring Automated Protection Switching (R-APS) messages; forwarding the at least one of the ring topology request and the response to the ring topology request to at least one neighboring node on the ring through the first port; and determining the topology based on the identification of the at least one node, the hop count, and an identification of the first port through which the at least one of the ring topology request and the response to the ring topology request is forwarded.