Patent ID: 6963995

Claim:
A method for recovering from a failure in an optical network using switch state tables, the optical network including a plurality of optical links coupled through a plurality of optical switches for exchanging telecommunications traffic, the method comprising: generating and storing connection information in a plurality of switch state tables that are associated with the plurality of optical switches of the optical network, wherein the connection information defines optical link connections to be made through the plurality of optical switches in the event of the failure in the optical network; monitoring the status of the optical network to determine when the failure in the optical network occurs; refreshing the plurality of switch state tables by continuing to generate and store connection information in the plurality of switch state tables that are associated with the plurality of optical switches of the optical network until the failure in the optical network occurs; automatically performing optical switching in the plurality of optical switches based on the determination of the failure in the optical network and based on the connection information in the plurality of switch state tables that are associated with the plurality of optical switches and that define optical link connections to be made through the plurality of optical switches in the event of the failure; and determining whether any of the telecommunications traffic in the plurality of optical links of the optical network was not restored due to the automatically performing optical switching.