Patent ID: 7031299

Claim:
A method for lightpath provisioning in a reconfigurable optical network having a current topology and current resources, wherein an IP address is assigned to network addressable elements in said reconfigurable optical network, the method comprising the steps of: maintaining information regarding a state of said reconfigurable optical network; receiving a request to create a lightpath from a source; selecting a route for data to be transmitted between said source and a destination based on said current resources of said reconfigurable optical network and said current topology of said reconfigurable optical network; generating an API call to create a lightpath, said API call comprising parameters and resulting in a message; forwarding said message to each network addressable element along said selected route; selecting an output channel at each node to be used as an input channel at a next node; reconfiguring an OLXC input channel at a current node connected to said output channel at said current node; and receiving a response from said destination that said selected route is available.