Patent ID: 7171124

Claim:
A method for automatically routing and switching a connection in a WDM network, comprising: receiving a request for connecting a source node and a destination node; engineering a plurality of routes between said source and destination nodes, based on constraints in said request and on current network configuration and loading, wherein each route is capable of carrying a signal from the source to the destination node, said engineering further comprising; constructing ‘n’ valid link routes for connecting said source node and said destination node based on constraints in said request and on the current network configuration; for each valid link path, configuring ‘m’ groups of routes corresponding to a respective associated link path based on current regenerator availability data and operational parameters of said regenerators, wherein ‘n’ and ‘m’ are selected for said WDM networks, said configuring further comprising constructing a plurality of routes including a regenerator at (k) nodes along said associated link path, wherein k is an integer between 0 and the number of links along said associated link path, and grouping said routes according to the number ‘k’ of regenerators; and selecting a best route from said plurality of regenerator routes to serve said connection.