Patent ID: 7978687

Claim:
A method of controlling routing in a packet network supported by a transport network allowing the dynamic creation/destruction of links for transporting packets of the packet network, the method comprising, for a first router: determining, as a function of a metric assigned to each link of the packet network, the shortest path between the first router and a second router; informing other routers of the packet network of the metric assigned to each link of the packet network; and creating/destroying a link between the first router and the second router if the first and second routers can be connected directly and traffic between the first and second routers fulfills creation/destruction conditions, the link, once created, being in a real connection state and assigned a real metric, wherein if the first and second routers can be directly connected but the traffic between the first and second routers does not fulfill creation conditions, the link is assigned a virtual metric, the link being in a virtual connection state, and the virtual metric assigned to the link is advertised to the other routers without indication of the virtual character of the link.