Patent ID: 7171120

Claim:
A method of implementing an optical switch controller (“OSC”) at a node of an optical network, the method comprising the steps of: responsive to receipt at the node of a Label Request message identifying a Label Set comprising a plurality of wavelengths, for each wavelength of the Label Set: determining whether the wavelength is an element of an Available Pool (“AP”) of the OSC; responsive to a determination that the wavelength is not an element of the AP, determining whether the wavelength is an element of a Flagged Pool (“FP”) of the OSC; responsive to a determination that the wavelength is not an element of the FP, updating the Label Request message by removing the wavelength from the Label Set; responsive to a determination that the wavelength is an element of the FP, determining whether a local clock time at the node minus a time stamp associated with the wavelength in the FP is less than a short threshold; responsive to a determination that the local clock time at the node minus the time stamp associated with the wavelength is shorter than a short threshold, updating the Label Request message by removing the wavelength from the Label Set; and responsive to a determination that the local clock time at the node minus the time stamp associated with the wavelength is not shorter than a short threshold, updating the Label Request message by removing the wavelength from the Label Set and including the wavelength in a Flagged Set identified in the Label Request message.