Patent ID: 7009934

Claim:
A method for automatically generating a route between an originating optical network switch and a destination optical network switch in response to a line failure, comprising: receiving, at the originating optical switch, notice of a line failure; determining, at least at the originating optical switch, whether the line failure affects a current route between the originating optical network switch and the destination optical network switch; automatically selecting a new route to pass messages from the originating optical network switch to the destination optical network switch through an intermediate optical network switch based on a pre-existing topology database stored in the optical network switches; sending a connection request message requesting a connection along the new route selected by said selecting step from the originating optical network switch to the destination optical network switch through the intermediate optical network switch, wherein the connection request message requests a connection along the new route in order to set up a logical connection along the new route; sending a connection message in response to the connection request message from the destination optical network switch to the originating optical network switch, wherein the step of sending a connection message comprises: directing the intermediate optical network switch and the originating optical network switch to reserve bandwidth for the new route between the originating optical network switch and destination optical network switch.