Patent ID: 7881183

Claim:
A method for operating a communication network, the communication network comprising a first node for providing connections for data traffic, a control plane comprising a first control means operative to allocate labels for said connections and to maintain connection-related label information, a second control means, and a control channel therebetween, the method comprising: A) providing a copy of the connection-related label information maintained by the first control means to the second control means to store therein, the connection-related label information including first information related to currently unallocated labels and second information comprising information related to labels currently in use; B) following an interruption in the control plane, updating the connection-related-label information maintained at the first control means by: (a) transmitting a copy of the first information from the second control means to the first control means; (b) receiving the copy of the first information at the first control means and updating therewith the connection-related label information stored at the first control means; (c) operating the control plane for allocating the currently unallocated labels to data traffic at the first node by the first control means; and, (d) with the control plane operative to allocate the currently unallocated labels, updating, at the first control means, the second information using a copy of the second information stored at the second control means.