Patent ID: 7180866

Claim:
A method of rerouting a connection in a network having plurality of interconnected nodes defining a first domain, the connection being along a path between an originating node and a terminating node from the plurality of interconnected nodes, the first domain having a plurality of second domains defined by a subset of said plurality of interconnected nodes, said method comprising: detecting a request to reroute a first section of the path of the connection in a reroute domain, wherein said reroute domain is one of either the first domain or one of the plurality of second domains; determining a new first section for the path in said reroute domain; determining if the connection can be established along the path through said new first section; and requesting rerouting of the connection along a second section of the path in the other of either the first domain or one of the plurality of second domains when the connection along the path through said new first section is not established; the step of detecting said request includes determining if said request is a request for detected failure rerouting or a request for path optimization; and said request for detected failure routing is based on a failure in the network and indicates rerouting in one of the first domain, one of the plurality of second domains, or any of the first domain and one of the plurality of second domains; and the step of detecting said request further includes: determining if said request for detected failure routing indicates rerouting in the first domain, one of the plurality of second domains or any of the first domain and one of the plurality of second domains.