Patent ID: 7688758

Claim:
A method comprising: transmitting, from a first network element to a second network element, one or more packets to obtain a first network topology; identifying, at the first network element, a pair of nodes from the first network topology; merging, at the first network element, the pair of nodes identified from the first network topology, wherein merging the pair of nodes is based, at least in part, on: i. determining that an intermediary node connects a first node to a second node of the pair of nodes, ii. determining that a first value of a first edge satisfies a threshold, wherein the first edge connects the first node to the intermediary node, and iii. determining that a second value of a second edge satisfies the threshold, wherein the second edge connects the second node to the intermediary node; wherein if: i. the first value is greater than the second value, assigning the first value to a third edge that connects the intermediary node to the merged pair of nodes, and ii. the first value is less than the second value, assigning the second value to the third edge that connects the intermediary node to the merged pair of nodes; and generating, at the first network element, a representation of a second network topology based, at least in part, on merging the pair of nodes from the first topology.