Patent ID: 8488963

Claim:
A method comprising: building, by a computing device, a network topology map identifying a plurality of digital nodes and a plurality of optical express-thru nodes within a network, the plurality of digital nodes including a first digital node and a second digital node connected via a plurality of paths, the plurality of paths including one or more paths that include a particular optical express-thru node of the plurality of optical express-thru nodes, and the network topology being based on: first binding information identifying the first digital node, the first binding information being sent via the plurality of paths from the first digital node and being received: at the particular optical express-thru node via the one or more paths, and at the second digital node via other paths, of the plurality of paths, that exclude the particular optical express-thru node, and combined binding information that includes the first binding information and particular binding information identifying the particular optical express-thru node, the combined binding information being sent by the particular optical express-thru node and received by the second digital node via the one or more paths; identifying, by the computing device and based on the network topology map, a first path between the first digital node and the second digital node; identifying, by the computing device, a second path between the first digital node and the second digital node, the first path and the second path including a third digital node that is between the first digital node and the second digital node; determining, by the computing device and based on the network topology map, whether the first path is included in the one or more paths that include the particular optical express-thru node; determining, by the computing device and based the network topology map, whether the second path is included in the one or more paths that include the particular optical express-thru node; and when both the first path and second path include the particular optical express-thru node, identifying, by the computing device and based on the network topology map, a third path between the first digital node and the second digital node, the third path being included in the other paths that exclude the particular optical express-thru node.