Patent ID: 7023796

Claim:
A method for identifying the current route of paths in a telecommunications MS-SPRINGS network, the MS-SPRING network comprising: network elements or nodes, each node comprising a controller, the controller comprising controller status; fiber optic spans interposed between the network elements to form a ring, each network element being connected to adjacent network elements through said fiber optic spans allowing a bidirectional communication therebetween; at least one path connecting two or more network elements of the ring, the at least one path, in a network free-of-failure condition, following a corresponding at least one Path Nominal Route; a network manager; and a mechanism for protecting traffic travelling in the network, said protection mechanism being shared in the network and being operated by the network manager, the method comprising: (a) providing the network manager with information relating to the Nominal Route of the at least one path; and (b) providing the network manager with information of current status of the at least one network element, wherein it comprises the step of: (c) processing, at the network manager, the information provided through steps (a) and (b) so as to calculate the current route of the at least one path, by: (c1) analyzing the Path Nominal Route of the at least one path; (c2) making a determination as to whether at least one of the Nominal Route spans comprises a node requesting the intervention of the protection mechanism to serve a failure or a user command resulting in a span re-routing; (c3) when the determination in (c2) is in the affirmative, declaring that the current route coincides with the nominal route, with a main span being replaced by a spare span; and (c4) when the determination in (c2) is in the negative, checking for ring re-routing by determining whether at least one of the spans of the Nominal Route is bounded by a node requesting the intervention of the protection mechanism to serve a failure or a user command resulting in a ring re-routing.