Patent ID: 7848651

Claim:
A method to update a network topology specific to a first of a plurality of access nodes based on a topology change in network resources, the method comprising: detecting the topology change in a wavelength division multiplexing optical network including the plurality of access nodes, wherein said topology change is one of addition of a channel, removal of a channel, addition of a link, addition of an access node, and removal of an access node; responsive to detecting the topology change, at least a first of said plurality of access nodes performing the following, transmitting a message regarding said topology change to others of said plurality of access nodes in said optical network based on a database representing communication paths from said first node to others of the plurality of access nodes, said topology change message identifies a topology change type and which ones of the plurality of access nodes are directly affected by the topology change, and transmitting a connectivity request message to a set of one or more adjacent ones of said plurality of access nodes to discover changes to said communication paths; and the other access nodes, responsive to receiving said topology change message, each performing the following, transmitting an updated version of the topology change message to those of said plurality of access nodes with which there is communication path and that are not already identified in the received message, and determining any adjacent nodes of said plurality of access nodes to which an identified communication path that the received connectivity request message has already collected can be extended to form additional communication paths having the first access node as the source node, and transmitting back to the first access node a connectivity response message, wherein the connectivity response message includes that determination for incorporation into the database.