Patent ID: 7545736

Claim:
A method for determining a new restoration path corresponding to a new primary path for a new service in a mesh network having a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links, the network having one or more existing primary paths and one or more corresponding existing restoration paths for one or more corresponding existing services, the method implemented by a network manager for the mesh network and comprising: generating, by the network manager, a path cost for each of a plurality of candidate restoration paths associated with the new service, wherein the network manager is implemented in one or more nodes of the mesh network; and selecting, by the network manager, the new restoration path for the new service based on the path cost for each candidate restoration path, wherein generating the path cost for a candidate restoration path comprises: determining, by the network manager, for each link Li of one or more links in the candidate restoration path, a set B-Li-set of links in the one or more existing primary paths that are already protected by link Li; determining, by the network manager, for each link Li, a set I-Li-set of links in the set B-Li-set that are also in the new primary path; calculating, by the network manager, for each link Li, a link cost Cost_Li based on the set B-Li-set and the set I-Li-set; and calculating, by the network manager, the path cost based on a sum of the one or more link costs Cost_Li.