Patent ID: 8023424

Claim:
A communication node for use in a communication network in which data can be transmitted between a sender and a receiver via at least two different routes, each route comprising at least one link, said node comprising: a link management function unit (LMF) arranged to: calculate a metric value for each link; calculate a reliability parameter value for each metric value; discard any link from consideration when the reliability parameter value for the link is less than a defined minimum reliability parameter value; calculate a sensitivity parameter value for each remaining metric value, said sensitivity parameter value being indicative of how the metric value for each link would change with a given change of a performance parameter of each link; calculate a modified metric value for each link as the sum of the metric value for the link plus the product of the sensitivity parameter value and the change of the performance parameter for each link; sum the modified metric values for all of the links in each route to obtain a modified metric sum for each route; and select a lowest cost route through the communication network by selecting the route with the lowest modified metric sum.