Patent ID: 7385917

Claim:
A method for providing protection for connectionless signals in a telecommunications network comprising a plurality of nodes each comprising at least two egress ports, where at least one of the egress ports comprises a protection egress port for a specified ingress port and a specified destination node, the method comprising: generating a working path for connectionless signals from each of the nodes to a destination node; generating a first protection path for connectionless signals from each of the nodes to a destination node; generating a second protection path for connectionless signals from each of the nodes to the destination node, the portion of the second protection path between any particular node and the destination node is distinct from the portion of the first protection path between that particular node and the destination node such that the portions of the first and second protection paths do not have any common nodes or links other than that particular node and the destination node; and routing protection traffic along one of the protection paths to the destination node; wherein generating the first protection path and generating the second protection path each comprise decomposing the telecommunications network into a ring and at least one ear transmitting protection traffic received at the specified ingress port for the specified destination node from the protection egress port; and discarding protection traffic received at the specified ingress port for the specified destination node when the status for the protection egress port is unavailable.